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.

Victoria Love was the executive pastry chef at The Water Club, a world-renowned Manhattan restaurant. Now, she bakes delicacies like maple apple pandowdy and tropical coconut cheesecake with her special needs students at Manhattan School for Career Development.