Education Commons^™

Helping The Helpers: Tending To Kansas Educators’ Social-Emotional Needs And Self-Care During A Pandemic, Jessica J. Lane Dr., Leah Mckeeman Dr., Laura Bonella

The Advocate

On a typical day, pre-COVID 19, educators are pulled in many directions, making hundreds, if not thousands, of quick decisions. Today those dynamics are heightened with varied and additional competing needs. However, what has not changed is the essential role of an educator. Caring for students in a time of such uncertainty seems critical. However, while there is serious and necessary demand for caring for the students and families, one population that is gravely being overlooked are the helpers. The educators. Less emphasis is being placed on the wellness and self-care of those who are offering those needed social-emotional supports. …

A Spiritual Vision For Catholic Educator Prep In A Time Of Disruption: A Reflective Essay, Angela T. Moret, Ronald R. O'Dwyer S.J.

Journal of Catholic Education

This essay reflects on the spiritual lessons learned as a Catholic graduate-level teacher prep program guided novice teachers through the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic. We observed the importance of articulating a clear spiritual vision rooted in scripture, history, and personal experience. The guiding spiritual lens has been the Emmaus story which helps us look to the past and to the future as we form and support early-career educators in Catholic schools.

Online Language Arts Instruction In An Elementary Methods Course: Successes And Challenges, Charlotte A. Mundy-Henderson, Callie Martin

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education

This paper describes the successes and challenges of an assistant professor and her students as they were forced to pivot mid-semester from a traditional face-to-face Elementary Language Arts Methods course to a completely online course due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Increased communication, identifying and sharing valuable resources, and adopting a more flexible attitude when it comes to writing instruction were among the successes of this now online course. While ensuring that online field experiences were meaningful was one of the biggest challenges. Takeaways were that increased communication and flexibility are vital parts of online learning, especially when in an unexpected …

Cultivating Staff Culture Online: How Edith Bowen Laboratory School Responded To Covid-19, Nathan Justis, Breanne Krystine Litts, Laura J. Reina, Shannon Rhodes

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

Purpose: As educators across the globe are tasked with taking teaching online, this article shares a culture-centered approach to transitioning to education at a distance. Specifically, in this essay, a focus is placed on how one school preserved their collaborative culture among administrators, teachers, and staff. The purpose is to provide guidance to school leadership during this public health crisis.

Approach: To ensure trustworthiness in this naturalistic inquiry, a triangulation was made of contributing authors’ perspectives to present theory-informed insights.

Findings: This school’s transition to online education was guided by a shared goal to not only move content online, but …

Understanding Educators’ Experiences During Long-Term School Closures, Jessica Pryor, Jessica Pryor

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

In the spring of 2020, many public places closed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most public schools in the United States suddenly closed buildings as educators and students scrambled to adapt to distance education. This phenomenological, qualitative study holistically explores elementary educators’ experiences during the extended school closures. The 18current elementary educators who participated in individual interviews, served rural, elementary students. Individual interviews allowed participants to discuss and explain their experiences concerning methods, materials, time commitments, and communication with colleagues, parents, and students. They also discussed how they used feedback to alter their teaching. The interviews were conducted during …