HOLIDAY, Fla. — This week’s A+ Teacher is showing us all the lengths educators are going to stay virtually connected while under executive order to physically keep separate.

It’s a time when we have to keep far away.

But Sheila O’Brien is one of many teachers turning to Facebook Lives, Zoom conferencing and so many other forms of social media to stay connected to her students.

“My worry was how was I going to get my kids to learn.” O’Brien said.

O’Brien teaches at Gulf Trace Elementary in Pasco County. When covid-19 hit, she and her fellow teachers didn’t miss a key stroke.

 The response has been amazing.

From home family pictures, to comment after comment, it turns out the students miss their teachers just as much right now.

“I had a Zoom session with my students the other night, and it was just so wonderful to be able to see them," O’Brien said. "And they were laughing and giggling, and playing jokes on each other, and writing little chats with each other, and it was like we were right back in the classroom.”

It’s this amazing social media presence during a time of social distancing that made O’Brien and her peers our latest A+ Teachers.

 “Thank you for recognizing us," O’Brien said of the honor. "I really appreciate that, and from everybody here, thank you.”