Pandemic learning curve: Top marks for rookie teachers who started new jobs in an unusual time

CBC Edmonton and CBC Calgary have teamed up to launch a pop-up Red Deer bureau to help us tell your stories from central Alberta. Reporter Heather Marcoux will bring you the news from Red Deer and the surrounding area. Story ideas and tips can be sent to heather.marcoux@cbc.ca.

The first year of a teaching career isn't expected to be easy, but the 2020-21 school year might go down as one of the most challenging on record.

The COVID-19 pandemic saw schools pivot repeatedly between in-school and online learning while dealing with protective health measures and outbreak protocols. 

For some newcomers to the profession, the learning curve was made a whole lot easier by experienced colleagues who offered support and mentorship as they, too, managed the new hurdles.

"The reason why I feel like I'm so successful in my first year teaching is all due to the mentors," said Rahna Dad Mohammad, a first-year teacher at Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School in Red Deer, Alta.

Respect is mutual

Teaching in a pandemic is all the social studies teacher has known. The Toronto native graduated last year from the University of Calgary's Werklund School of Education. 

Being away from family and making it on her own in a new city — Dad Mohammad had never even been to Red Deer when she applied for the job — added personal challenges to the professional ones. 

She's grateful to her Thurber colleagues for helping her find success in what could have been chaos. And her feelings of respect and gratitude are mutual. 

Amanda Wilson, the school's vice-principal, says Dad Mohammad is a phenomenal teacher who seamlessly transitioned from classroom to online learning and whose enthusiasm helped ease a stressful time. 

"Obviously teachers are having a really hard time with COVID. It's been a struggle this year. And she keeps saying, like, 'Oh, I think it's fine' because she just doesn't know any better," Wilson said. 

Thanks to support from her colleagues, Dad Mohammad is Red Deer Public School's nominee for this year's Edwin Parr award, which recognizes six outstanding first-year teachers in Alberta.

"We just keep telling her, 'It's all up from here,'" Wilson said. "She's been an amazing addition."

'They don't have a roadmap' 

The resilience of first-year teachers during the pandemic has been impressive, said Amy Burns, associate dean at the Werklund School of Education.

"Undeniably, COVID-19 has provided some additional complexity for us all. But they're ready," Burns said.

"These are teachers who are coming into the profession with an entire skill set that I didn't have when I graduated from my teacher education program."  

But Burns agrees that success is a group effort.

"I would be looking at who were their mentor teachers, who were the principals that supported them, who were the parents that gave them their support in a time that was really difficult. Because it is a community of people that makes up education." 

Burns predicts this year's first-year teachers will pave the way for innovation in education. 

"They don't have a roadmap, they're drawing their own map. And we're going to learn things from this experience that, actually, we're going to keep well into the future."

A future in central Alberta 

As for Dad Mohammad, she says a return to Toronto isn't on her roadmap. 

"If you were to ask any of my family members, this is so unlike me to take a position away from family, to take a position away from home," she said

Exploring Red Deer and forging new relationships have become part of her personal growth during the pandemic, she said. 

"I see myself here. And I see myself here for a very long time."