Staff Spotlight: Madi Lindgren

For some, pandemic teaching isn’t a “new” normal … it’s just normal

What if you started your teaching career during the pandemic? Instead of COVID dramatically changing your normal day-to-day routines, social distancing, masks, and remote learning would be your norms.

That’s where Madi Lindgren finds herself.

This is Lindgren’s second year of teaching, and her second year at Cedarcrest Middle School. At the start of the pandemic, she was still in school herself and actually had to transition to online learning to finish her teaching degree.

“I believe this helped me prepare for teaching during the pandemic because I had similar experiences to my students,” she said. “Navigating how to be motivated for school work, turning your camera on, or even coming to class in the world of Zoom.”

Lindgren said flexibility is key in the new educational landscape.

“We are constantly adapting to meet the needs of our students both emotionally and academically. We are constantly thinking creatively about the different routes we can take to help our students be successful.”

Even without a pandemic, middle school can be a challenging time for students. The district’s Advisory program helps them navigate life during these formative years.

“We spend time learning how to set and meet our goals, navigate bullying, and learning how to ask teachers for help,” Lindgren said. “We just celebrated the ending of trimester one and reflected on all of the things we have accomplished in the school year so far.”

She said she and her students are planning to make trimester two even better, and that positivity doesn’t stop in Advisory. No matter the subject she’s teaching, Lindgren said she wants to be the kind of teacher she was looking for to support her when she was her students’ age.

“I simply want to be a consistent support for students who need someone they can trust and come to on their bad days and their good days, somebody that I really needed in middle school,” she said.