By Gilana Steckel

In Room 522C, the second smallest in the school, where twenty-five tenth graders sat knee to knee at small tables, we had the richest discussions. The class was about human rights, and the teacher, Amanda Marzan, was in her first year of teaching in New York City. On March 13, when the pandemic forced schools to close, Amanda, along with the 75,000 other public school teachers in the city, had to scramble to adapt to the new reality of remote learning. Earlier this year I talked to Amanda one on one, to understand the challenges she has faced.

This podcast season, “Students in a Pandemic,” is produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

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Music for this season includes original tracks from Brooklyn teens Lens Louis and Joshua Senior.