MILWAUKEE, Wis. (SPECTRUM NEWS) -- When Erin McCarthy was awarded 2020 Teacher of the Year in the fall, she never imagined she'd be ending the school year in a pandemic. 

“I had stopped what we were learning and had taken that morning to say when has this ever happened before and what can we learn and how can we stay calm and how can we keep our best foot forward," shared McCarthy about the last day she was physically in her classroom with students in March.

That's the optimism this middle school social studies teacher instills in her students, setting them up for success in these trying times.

“She’s actually made a website for all of us to still be engaged and make sure we have the confidence and are motivated to do our work, so she gives us a whole bunch of quotes, what her experiences are right now, and how she’s doing and what we can do to help ourselves during this time," explained Evie Skibicki. 

Mrs. McCarthy knows how to reach her students and capture their attention very well. She uses Twitter as an ally to keep students up to speed with lessons and recently recorded a podcast. It focuses on making this time in history easier to cope with. 

“I was thinking specifically of my students as I was recording it from the home of how you’ve done this before you can be self-directed, nothing is going to be easy about this experience," added McCarthy.

She's going the extra mile for her fellow teachers as well.

“We were able to kinda turn it into a message for teachers, so you’ve never done this before teachers and you’re not gonna get it right on the first try and that’s totally ok because we’re modeling for students, this is how we’re resilient, this is how we keep trying even when things don’t work on the first attempt," continued McCarthy.

Her students feel very fortunate to have been in her class and even though they don't see her in person now, they have great memories of how she made learning fun.

“She has a unique teaching style, she likes to make everything a lot more fun and easier, so if we have a discussion she’ll make it a dinner party and brings us food. It’s fun and she makes it easy," shared Skibicki.

Greendale School District parents certainly agree she's made a huge impact on their kids' enthusiasm for school. 

“Its been neat to see the shift over from having to do school work to wanting to do school work, instead of being I have to do my homework, now I get to do this, I get to work on this," said Greendale Schools parent, Aleks Skibicki.

Mrs. McCarthy wants students to take one of her favorite quotes with them wherever life takes them. 

“From Winnie the Pooh, I think it’s Christopher Robin saying, you are so much smarter than you think you are and you’re really strong, and you’re gonna do great," finished Mrs. McCarthy.

Greendale Schools will be celebrating all of their teachers and staff members this week with various activities, thanking them for their hard work during these unprecedented times.