With snow days, schedule changes and lots of school events, it’s been hard for both students and teachers to stay on track. Math and business teacher George Adair said he faced a big challenge, making sure his students didn’t fall behind.

“This year has been challenging with many missed days due to snow, meetings, and track meets, particularly affecting my fourth period,” Adair said. “So, it’s probably been the biggest challenge just to make sure I can get the students caught up to everything.”

While a few days off here and there might sound nice, they added up quickly — 13 AMI and snow days. Soon, there was a lot of missed class time and more pressure on both students and teachers. Adair said he started noticing the effect early in the semester, especially with the last block of the day. Even though it was stressful, Adair said he stayed focused and tried not to let it get to him. His main goal was to help students stay caught up and make sure they understood the material.

“I think that I just try not to stress out too bad,” Adair said. “I just want to make sure I do as much work as possible to get the information to the students so that we don’t get behind.”

To make things work, Adair used whatever tools and resources he had. He posted lessons and notes on Canvas, shared videos and gave extra help when students needed it.

“I think just sitting down, you know, and just focusing on what I had for resources helped me to get the information that I need to help the students further,” Adair said.

But it wasn’t just about using tools, it was also about staying calm and keeping the right attitude.  Adair said he learned how to handle tough situations better and stay positive.

“I think I just learned to calm down and not stress out about it and just talk to the student and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing and just stay positive about it,” Adair said.

Teachers all over the school had to figure out new ways to deal with all the missed time. Like Adair, many of them tried to stay flexible and focus on helping students one step at a time.

“Thing is to stay positive and don’t let the little things you can’t control bug you and try to fix them as you can,” Adair said.

Even with all the setbacks, Adair said he was proud of how hard his students worked.

“They’ve shown a lot of resilience,” Adair said. “Even when we had to make adjustments or move fast through material, most of them were right there with me, doing their best.”