From the Editor: Without question, the heart of GYTO are the thousands of phenomenal educators that have attended conferences, engaged on social media, or made magic happen for their students. One of my personal goals with GYTO: The Blog is to ensure that it is a reflection of our community, and a celebration of you, the reader. Each week, a member of the GYTO family will invite us into their classroom and life, sharing a little bit of themselves with us. I hope that through these teacher features you can find common ground and perhaps even a new friend… and if you’re willing to put yourself out there - we’d love to have you too. Be on the lookout for a submission form next week.

This week I have the honor of introducing you to one of my friends - a friend that I would have never found without GYTO - and likely a familiar face, Ryne Gammon. Ryne is an elementary educator in southern Virginia, known for his positive energy and incredible work ethic. Ryne recently graduated with his Masters in Educational Leadership PK-12.

I know Ryne to be a thoughtful and empathetic friend, someone that cares deeply about those around him - particularly his school community. Ryne is the type of person that you want on your team: dependable, creative, and 100% real. He was gracious enough to agree to be the first of our teacher features, and answered some questions I posed to him about his experiences as an educator teaching during the pandemic.

What has been your biggest takeaway from your virtual teaching experiences thus far? “My biggest takeaway would be to learn everything you can when you can. It has been definitely a challenge to ensure that our students can still be successful in the classroom, as well as in their homes. I think that it is important to realize that not every student has the same resources and you need to be flexible with that.”

What do you wish you would have known or been able to do before virtual learning became a necessity? “I wish there were more ways for the students in my district to be able to access technology. At my school, there is very limited internet access (even less phone reception). I wish that I would have known better ways to communicate with my students.”

What has lesson-planning looked like for you? “Lesson planning is not just you write it down and forget about it. My lesson plans have so many markings on them from changing the way that I teach something, to having to look back at a topic again. I have adapted my lessons with virtual teaching by sharing skeleton lesson plans with parents so that they are able to fully understand the concepts.”

What has collaboration looked like in your building? What strategies for collaboration have been most effective? “Collaboration is HUGE in my building. Anyone that asks about my school, I tell them that the first thing that we are is a family. We work with the grade levels above us and below us each week to make sure that we are all using the same vocabulary when we are teaching a subject, but we also talk about what students may need help with from the previous grade level. We could definitely improve on making sure that we are all working on the same page when it comes to virtual learning, and not using multiple platforms. It is easier for parents and students when everyone is working on the same type of platform.”

We learn the most from our failures. I’d love for you to share a story of a time when you experienced failure but learned from it. “As a technology lover, I assume that everyone has a great deal of technology that they use. But, to find out, there are some families that do not even have cell phones. I had to adapt my way of contacting these families and sharing the same important information and plans with them as I would do with a student's parent who could text me. I had to learn from that to show that it is not always one way that works best for all students, but you have to differentiate even when it does not come to a lesson. Everyone has a different way that they can support each and every family and I learned so much from that experience.”

What one piece of advice would you give to first year teachers this year? “Take it one step at a time. The training, PD, etc. will drain you some days. Take everything you may learn and apply it. Use everything that they give you and teach to the best of your ability. Don't compare yourself to anyone else in your building or someone in another school. Each school and teacher has its own way of doing things, and don't feel like you have to do everything someone else does. Use your talents and your expertise and make it the best that YOU can!”

We’ll end with some rapid fire questions!

• Favorite physical teacher tool? “STEM bins.”

• Favorite digital teacher tool? “Google ANYTHING! I’m a sucker for some Google products!”

• Go-to for self-care? “An easy afternoon sitting on my back porch and watching Netflix on my laptop!”

• Song that pumps you up? “September” by Earth, Wind, and Fire

• Best thing to come out of this mess? “The ability to slow down and take time with my family that I have not been able to have in the past!”

Thank you, Ryne, for sharing yourself with us. I am so grateful to call you friend and hope that more people in our GYTO community get to know you as I have! If you want to follow Ryne on social media, you can find him on Instagram as @teachingwithmrgammon.