Keeping Up With The Teachers Of Bellwood-Antis: Mr. Andrekovich
Mr. Andrekovich has had a long and successful career as a teacher at Bellwood-Antis Middle School.
Welcome to the beginning of the second marking period! This week, I had the privilege of speaking to the long time wrestling coach and teacher Mr. Andrekovich. Mr. A teaches 7th grade geography and 8th grade American Cultures along with coaching middle school and high school wrestling.
Half-day-Fridays have been a blessing for most teachers. Half-day-Fridays occur every week we have five days of school. What happens is that seventh through twelfth graders are able to leave at eleven so that teachers are able to have more time for planning and grading work. When Adrekovich was asked about the half-day-Fridays, he said, “I agree, they’re very helpful. The teachers and I are very appreciative of them. I think we’re all appreciative of the extra time for planning and grading. And as for Myers, they have more substitutes for their virtual kids so that The Teachers can focus more on their in-class students while still giving the online kids the attention and help that they need. Overall, I feel like we can’t thank the school board enough for this.” He responded with a laugh.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Bellwood-Antis may eventually have to go Hybrid, which is when half the students go to the school and the other half of the students go virtual for two days and then they switch, or completely virtual. When Andrekovich was asked about going Virtual or Hybrid, he started with, “I’ll do it if we have to,” he started before laughing along with me. He then continued, “I mean, I would rather be in front of the kids teaching, but if we have to do it at some point or another, and it will probably happen, but we’ll adjust if we have to. Last spring wasn’t the greatest but now that we have the proper training, we understand how to use (Microsoft) terms and google classroom, so it will run better which I’m sure makes the teachers happier.” I agree greatly with him. Last spring’s virtual learning was not great, and I’m glad the teachers have more training in case of emergencies.
All in all, Mr. Andrekovich seemed to be doing just fine this school year. He seemed happy with his students and his student teacher! His classroom looked a bit different since he’s moving around to the kids, but he still seemed to be as happy as ever! I hope to be able to catch up with him again soon!
