GREENSBORO, N.C. — It's the official first day of work for Guilford County Schools teachers. While they were not expected back in the school building yet, many started work remotely from home.
The optional teacher workday had many of them eagerly preparing for students to return to a school year like no other.
"I just keep hearing over and over in my mind, patience, on the part of everybody involved," Michelle Harris-Jefferson said. Harris-Jefferson is a social studies teacher at Kiser Middle School.
"This process, even though we were kind of thrown into it in the spring, this is going to be very very different going into the fall," Harris-Jefferson said.
Nearly 73,000 students will learn remotely or via virtual academies the first nine weeks of the academic year.
Teachers are finalizing and fine-tuning their lessons and connection plans.
"I'm learning to build my Bitmoji for my classroom so that my students can see my avatar and interact with my canvas stuff as well," she added.
"Going in and starting to upload lessons for after the first three weeks and let students know we're going to jump right into instructions," Tammy White said. White is also a teacher at Kiser Middle School but teaches band.
"Right now, the most important thing for me is to be able to make connections to my students," White said. White was also the GCS teacher of the year for the past school year.
"I understand that I'm going to have to do more than what I've done in the past," White added.
Unlike the spring semester, when students got a 'complete' or 'incomplete', remote learning will be graded and go towards their GPA.
Some GCS students are still waiting for their laptops and devices while some parents said they haven't heard from their children's school and want more information before lessons start.
Teachers, as well as school administrators, are asking for patience as they get on board with the reality of the new school year.
"I am making sure my parents know how to reach me, sending out reminders I have made an introductory video so students that are new to me can see my face, and know my voice," added White.
The teachers hope the community and health officials can curb the pandemic so students can return to classrooms.
"I just think everyone expected to return to some sense of normalcy much quicker and now it just seems that is still going to be a ways off," White said.
Teachers are expected to report to their schools or as directed by the principal on Wednesday while students resume remote and virtual academy classes on August 17.