Opp is in his second year of teaching, not necessarily an ideal time to be getting your feet in the field.

“The idea of what a normal day is when everything is so different–you gotta sit kids farther apart,” Opp said. “When you go to PE, you can’t do the normal things with equipment and things like that because you need to sanitize everything. You have to come up with a bunch of different ways to do the normal things while you’re all six feet apart.”

Part of the new approach to educating during a pandemic includes using technology, something the kids have embraced.

“We would be explaining a project or a way to do something on the computer, and a kid will raise their hand and say ‘actually, you can do it this way,'” Opp said. “Me being one of the younger teachers, I thought I was well versed in all this stuff, but I had a kid showing me things on the computer I had no idea.”

“That’s good, because it makes the kids feel more part of the classroom. They’re helping out in ways like ‘hey, the teacher didn’t know this and I did.’ It’s fun for them, and it helps us,” Opp added.

While the use of technology and other different ways of doing things will go forward beyond the pandemic, Opp says another lesson learned isn’t necessarily something you can see.

“When things haven’t gone right, whether for the teachers or for the kids, they’ve had to learn how to adjust,” Opp said. “Learning to adjust on the fly has been good for the teachers as well as the kids. Sometimes things change at the drop of a hat, and you’ve gotta make an adjustment and figure it out.”

Opp says the team effort from the teachers and staff at Ashley Grade School is making a difference.

“It’s kind of a community here,” Opp said. “They say it takes a village, well, this is our little village here. We’re just trying to figure out what we can do as a whole school to do what’s best for all these kids.”

In his nomination, Hayden Kraus told us, “Mr. Opp is the Most Valuable Teacher because he can make you laugh on a bad day. He also makes learning fun and makes me want to come to school everyday.”

If you know of a Most Valuable Teacher, let us know. You can nominate a Most Valuable Teacher here.