Education from a Distance

/ Drew

JRN.422 COVID story

Jay Gross, a teacher at Shepherd High School for 21 years, has nine dogs – all rescues, Monday, Nov. 16, 2020. Jay leads his dogs back into the house after a walk and handing out treats.
Jay often hosts his online class times from the MEA building’s conference room in Mt. Pleasant, MI, Saturday, Nov. 14. Due to COVID restrictions, classes moved exclusively online in Michigan as of Sunday, Nov. 15, until Jan. 8, 2021.
After teaching an online class, Jay reveals his intentions to retire, Saturday, Nov. 14. “I just can’t do it anymore,” Jay said. “It’s just so impersonal.”
Jay plays chess with his son, Jayson, while Shiloh, one of his nine dogs, lovingly interrupts, Monday, Nov. 16.
Jay hands out treats to his nine rescue dogs Monday, Nov. 16. “My dogs are my world,” Jay said. “There’s no better way to unwind after a long day than curling up on the couch with a nine-dog blanket.”
Jay walks two of his dogs – Crash (left) and Odin (right) – while pondering retirement Monday, Nov. 16. “This year just keeps getting harder,” Jay laments.

As an educator, Jay Gross is the head of the Teachers’ Union and the Head of English. He’s spoken around the country on a variety of topics including technology in education and the importance of relationship-building as an educator. He has nine dogs – all rescues – and three kids – whom he and his wife adopted.

Jay has been an educator at Shepherd High school for over 21 years, teaching kids everything from English to public speaking in a variety of classes. But after all of his years of dedication, with the entrance of COVID-19 and the departure of face-to-face learning, the medium of which Jay thrives, Jay admits that he quickly realized he couldn’t do it anymore; “It’s the kids that make it worthwhile – seeing the realization on their faces as they come to understand Frankenstein’s monster or Hamlet… with my kids, I can put up with anything.”

The stresses of online school led him to officially retire Wednesday, Nov. 18. “It’s just so impersonal… I can’t do it, dude,” Jay revealed to me after teaching what would be one of his last class sessions Saturday, Nov. 14.

He spends what time he can at home, back in the woods with his loved ones; “This is my safe space – I mean look around. I love it out here.”

This project was easy enough – finding a subject who has been effected by COVID is an easy task, but finding someone who has a meaningful story because of it was more challenging. Or perhaps I’m just picky. The only real challenge that I faced during this project was coming home to my dog after spending a day with nine new dogs, my boy seemed to get rather upset at me after he was able to discern all the new smells. And if that’s the only problem you face while shooting, that means it went pretty smoothly.

After the Midland project was finalized, I had less than two weeks to find a subject and get the story done – I hadn’t even given the COVID story much thought because the Midland project had my full attention for so long. So, needless to say, this was a welcome break from tradition, a healthy change-of-pace.

I only got to go out a handful of times – Jay is a very busy man, especially now – and then he retired the day after I went out last; being my favorite teacher I’ve ever had, it hurt me to see him suffering while doing what he loved.

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