COVID-19 Diaries: Pandemic Lesson Planning in New York

Andrew Franz, a 2017 Milken Educator from Buffalo, New York, was on parental leave taking care of his infant son when the COVID-19 pandemic started to grow in the U.S. He teaches earth science and biology, and before his leave, he did a unit with his students on pathogens called "Horror in Wuhan," in which students researched the new virus that was taking hold in China and compared it to the seasonal flu. "Everything we did in January will need to be redone for next year," he says. "It's weird how the relevancy of what we do in the classroom can relate to our own lives."