Returning _driver different from selenium

I am writing my appium like Selenium code I have. in one of the Classes I have protected static AppiumDriver GetElement(By by) {
return _driver.FindElement(by);

_driver does not exist in the current context. in the other class I have instance of _driver
public class Tests
{
public AppiumDriver _driver;
and
_driver = new AndroidDriver(new Uri(“http://localhost:4723/wd/hub”), driverOption);
In Selenium
I usually write public static IWebElement GetElement(By by)
{
return driver.FindElement(by);
}
in my class and then in the other I have protected static IWebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver();