Anita Rivera

This interview took place on April 29, 2021 and was recorded remotely via Zoom. Anita Rivera is an English, ESL, and AVID educator at Fox Lane High School in Bedford, NY. In this interview, Anita began by speaking about the current physical space of her classroom, mentioning the social distancing and, especially, the heavy barriers that the students have to carry around. She spoke about the beginning of the year, when school was all remote and the decisions made by the administration on how school would function, the shortening of class periods, camera policies, etc. Particularly, she mentioned the loss of intimacy with students that the format of remote learning necessitates. Many students, she said, who were on the edge before, have totally disappeared. She shared a story of the difficulty of holding students accountable. She worried about next year, when deadlines would return and it will be more possible to fail. Teachers, she said, have had to struggle with being and feeling ineffectual. Many teachers are going to leave the profession, and dissuade young people from joining it in the first place. Speaking of the future, though, Anita said she is hopeful. She said she has six years left to retire and that she will really appreciate and cultivate the medium of classroom learning.