Howard school system doubles down on teacher training as classes get ready to go into virtual mode full time

It’s been 17 years since Faith Lewis has felt this way. The excitement, the nerves, the slight uncertainty — they’re all coming back to her in a similar way.

Lewis remembers that combination of eagerness and anxiety about being a first-year teacher from when she started as a second-grade teacher at Jeffers Hill Elementary School in Columbia in 2004.

Now, 17 years later, Lewis said she feels the same way as the Howard County Public School System prepares for virtual learning this fall because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

“Everything is so new. I feel like a first-year teacher all over again,” said Lewis, 39 and now a fifth-grade teacher at Northfield Elementary School in Ellicott City. “I’m eager and excited because I’m that kind of teacher who is excited about learning something new. But it’s also nerve-wracking because there’s so much to take in, and it’s all new to me.”