Former paraprofessional Sherwin Persaud made the transition to teacher last school year, finding his niche working with autistic children and those with behavioral issues in the early grades at P233 in Forest Hills, Queens.

Teaching remotely has forced second-year special education teacher Abby Normandin "to be more creative; to see learning in a new way." For her 6th-graders at Mott Hall III in the Bronx that meant getting everything they needed for a tasty science lesson in the mail.

Long-time student Jillian Demery is now a second-year teacher, making the grade at the front of the classroom, teaching 5th-grade special ed students. Her accounting background, she says, has helped prepare her for remote learning. A self-described organizer, she makes numbers, spreadsheets and technology work for her.

Paulo Chalco, a kindergarten teacher at PS 108 in Brooklyn, has a 5-year-old son who often serves as his sounding board. “If I prepare a lesson, I put it on his table and see what he does. If he gets into the material, then I have an idea it might be a good lesson to use with my kids,” he says.

Two things define Phylicia Stone, a third-year teacher at IS 364 in Starrett City, Brooklyn. First, she can’t sit still. “I don’t waste a minute,” she says. Second, she is self-reliant. “If I want to do something, I sit down and figure it out.”

Jerry Kane says he's had the three best jobs anyone could have. "I coached basketball, I was a sports reporter and now I'm a phys ed teacher," says Kane, a second-year educator at PS 38 on Staten Island.