Education Commons^™

Teacher Candidates' Perspectives On Self-Care: Lessons From The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mary S. Thomas, Penny B. Howell

Kentucky Teacher Education Journal: The Journal of the Teacher Education Division of the Kentucky Council for Exceptional Children

How are teacher candidates conceptualizing self-care during the COVID 19 pandemic?

We initiated focused attention on educator self-care for teacher candidates after identifying this content as a missing yet necessary component of trauma-informed teaching (Authors, 2019). In the fall of 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic affecting every element of candidates’ lives including our now remotely-delivered course, we reconsidered how that content needed to fit into the realities of learning to teach during a pandemic. Following these revisions, we explored the research question, how are candidates conceptualizing self-care during the COVID-19 pandemic? We describe findings and provide recommendations and resources for …

Remote Teaching In Nepalese Higher Education During Covid-19: Teachers' Perspectives, Suman Laudari, Sojen Pradhan, Sanjay Lama

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objectives: The purpose of the study was to examine the factors that supported or inhibited teacher participation in remote teaching. Teaching and learning in Nepal was predominantly face-to-face prior to the pandemic, and the previous studies showed that the use of educational technology in higher education was limited.

Method: This exploratory case study draws on data derived from focus group discussions with teachers in higher education. Thematic analysis was employed to explore the impacts of different factors in sudden transition to remote teaching.

Findings: Findings show that personal factors such as teachers’ sense of duty and their attitude towards technology …

What Is The Impact Of Work-From-Home (Wfh) Arrangements On The Quality Of Life (Qol)?, Jordan Lee, Mykyta Pervak, Augustine Peh, Jun Hao Tang, Eoh Jin Cho, Calister Tan

Introduction to Research Methods RSCH 202

The ongoing pandemic has forced countries’ education systems to continue to operate in a fragile and uncertain environment. Given the limited existing literature regarding the pandemic’s impact on the Quality of life (QoL) for teachers, this study aims to bridge the gap and provide a detailed analysis of how the extent of providing online courses and time to transition online during the pandemic could impact a tertiary educator’s QoL. The factors defining the dependent variable, QoL, were derived from past studies and made applicable within the confines of our research. The independent variables are the amount of time spent …

The Covid-19 Impact On Induction Support, Christina L. Wilcoxen

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

For beginning teachers, Fall 2020 provided an unforgettable first year. The previous spring had brought abrupt and unexpected changes to teaching. Schools closed without notice, student teaching experiences stopped midway through, and teachers were thrown into situations they had never been trained to address. This led to difficult decisions and new obstacles as the world fought to manage COVID-19 and the associated fallout. Teacher candidates graduated with incomplete student teaching experiences and gaps in understanding. Induction programs support beginning teachers as they transition into their own classroom and provide guidance in meeting performance standards. As a result, seven local school …

The Show Must Go On: Challenges, Questions, And Pedagogical Pivots In Response To Covid-19, Patrick S. De Walt

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

On March 18, 2020, many universities and university systems had or were in their initial stages of transitioning to virtual teaching as a result of COVID-19. This transition had varied effects on all aspects of the university community. This paper explores this transition through the teaching experiences of a tenure-track professor during the pandemic. The examination of six sections of a capstone undergraduate course over the course of three semesters was conducted. Through self-reflection, many of the challenges faced shifting from face-to-face to a virtual environment were discussed. Among some of the challenges and limitations experienced when teaching nontraditional and/or …

Testing Privilege: Coaching Bar Takers Towards “Minimum Competency” During The 2020 Pandemic, Benjamin Afton Cavanaugh

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Online Adjunct Faculty Perceptions Of Professional Development To Support Personal And Professional Academic Growth During Covid-19, Cheryl Burleigh, Patricia B. Steele, Grace Gwitira

Higher Learning Research Communications

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand what online adjunct faculty value as support services, specifically professional development opportunities, provided by their respective higher education institutions.

Method: This qualitative narrative inquiry study centered on exploring perceptions and experiences of online adjunct faculty members from higher education institutions and their experiences and expectations of professional development (PD), prior to and during COVID-19.

Results: The study resulted in the identification of possible improvements and enhancements to existing PD content that would further support faculty personal development, mental health, wellbeing, and academic growth.

Conclusions: This study reminds us that there are …

Social Media, Populism, And Covid-19: Weibo Users’ Reactions To Anti-Chinese Discourse, Theresa Catalano, Peiwen Wang

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

US government communication about the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the ‘Chinese virus’ discourse adopted by Donald Trump and his administration, has led to real-world violence and triggered heated discussions across social media sites, including Sina Weibo (aka Chinese Twitter). The current study explores the relationship between populism and social media by examining how Sina Weibo users respond to Trump’s communication on the virus. Employing multimodal critical discourse analysis, we examine both visual and verbal strategies used to build counter-discourses that challenge the use of terms such as ‘Chinese virus’. Findings demonstrate the potential of Weibo as a platform of resistance and …

Perceptions And Nursing Demands And Experiences In The Midst Of An International Crisis (Pandemic): A Qualitative Study Of Nurse Educators’ Experiences, Lorelli Nowell, Swati Dhingra, Kimberley Andrews, Jennifer Jackson

Quality Advancement in Nursing Education - Avancées en formation infirmière

The COVID-19 pandemic caused widespread disruption to nurse educators’ work, both within higher educational institutions and in clinical practice learning environments. In this study, we explored the experiences of nurse educators in academic and clinical settings during COVID-19 and the impact the pandemic has had on their work. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 nurse educators from six different countries and used thematic analysis to gain a comprehensive understanding of nurse educators experiences during the pandemic. The participants’ experiences were classified into stages that reflected the intensity of the pandemic and resulted in four themes: (a) the calm before the …

Australian Strategic Partnerships In Remote Education, Yung Nietschke

International Education Research

This report highlights the achievements and lessons learned from the pilot stage of the Australian Strategic Partnerships in Remote Education (ASPIRE) initiative which was managed by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) as part of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Partnerships for Recovery: Australia’s COVID-19 Development Response. In its pilot phase ASPIRE partnerships have strengthened collaboration between Australian and Indo-Pacific institutions and promoted the value of Australian expertise in remote teaching and learning to key counterparts in government, tertiary institutions, community organisations and teachers. Partnerships included: 'Innovative Online Learning for Lao Lecturers between Monash College and …

Building Resiliency With Students Of Color During The Pandemic: Providing Remote After-School Activities, John Bell, Marcus Mcdonald

Journal of Practitioner Research

As two Black male teachers, we knew the risks for our Black male students in our culture and the importance of keeping them safe and attending school. Keeping our students involved in our school community took on a new urgency when the pandemic hit and the country struggled with racial issues after the shooting of unarmed Black men and women. We adapted our after-school mentoring and leadership programs (that had been f2f) for young Black males and transformed them to after-school remote platforms. Secondary students participated in a remote football practice and training program. They were able to socialize …

Teachers As Instructional Designers: Unearthing The Essence Of The Primary School Curriculum For Delivery Within The Remote Learning Classroom, Angela Gonzalez, Michael Poole

Journal of Practitioner Research

Moving our elementary curriculum to emergency remote instruction presented numerous challenges to our elementary school, as teachers recognized that elementary-age children could not be expected to spend the amount of time on computer screens that they had spent in face-to-face classrooms. Working with our colleagues, we adopted a “less is more” approach, using inquiry processes to make systematic and informed choices as to which state standards would be covered. We acted as instructional designers to develop coherent learning units for remote instruction, using inquiry processes to study the effectiveness of our lessons and adjust instruction accordingly. This work could only …

A Quest For More Equitable Experiences For All Students During A Global Pandemic: An Inquiry Into Remote Delivery Of De-Tracked Chemistry And Biology Classes, Mayra Cordero, Elizabeth Davis

Journal of Practitioner Research

Through our collaboration, we helped one another rethink and adapt the delivery of our de-tracked science courses for remote instruction as we finished out the 2019-2020 school year, with a particular focus on developing remote instruction practices that would support our learners struggling in our secondary science de-tracked classrooms. We derived three actions to take to target the needs of our students who struggled and to differentiate our instruction. We reduced the amount of material being covered to allow for deeper dives into content, prioritized depth of learning over breadth of learning; connected our remote lessons to our students’ real-world …

Students’ Lived Experiences During The Pandemic: Their Expressions Through Art And Poetry, Blake Beckett, Susan I. Johnson

Journal of Practitioner Research

Blake, a language arts teacher, and Susan, a visual arts teacher, were both committed to connect our students’ lived experiences of the pandemic with their academic learning in our new virtual classroom environments. Through this inquiry cycle, we were reminded of the critical role teachers play in addressing the social and emotional needs of their students, and seamlessly integrating those needs with academic goals. We chose to make our remote instruction platforms work for the individual needs of students rather than use a standardized curriculum enacted on an online platform (McQuirter, 2020). Our students responded, as evidenced in this essay, …

Addressing Student Isolation During The Pandemic: An Inquiry Into Renewing Relationships And Reimagining Classroom Communities On Remote Instruction Platforms, Elizabeth Davis, Angela Flavin, Melanie M. Harris, Laura Huffman, Dicy Watson, Kristin M. Weller

Journal of Practitioner Research

We began this pandemic cycle of inquiry by acknowledging that we all viewed relationships with our students as foundational to the teaching and learning process (i.e., Elmore, 2004; Fullan, 2007; Noddings, 2014; Rimm-Kaufman, et al., 2014). While we had well-established strategies for creating caring classroom communities in our face-to-face classrooms prior to the pandemic, we were all searching for new online strategies for keeping relationships vital when faced with the abrupt transition to remote instruction and the isolating effects of the Spring 2020 lockdown, both for ourselves and for our students. Hence, we committed to documenting and sharing with one …

Introduction To The Special Issue: Inquiring Into, About, And During Covid-19, Nancy Fichtman Dana, Karen L. Kilgore

Journal of Practitioner Research

One of the most pervasive ways the inquiry movement has needed to be reshaped since its inception is as a mechanism to respond to a global pandemic. As COVID-19 necessitated an abrupt transition to remote delivery of instruction, teachers needed a powerful form of professional learning to understand and respond with changes to serve their students during this challenging time. At P. K. Yonge Developmental Research School, a K-12 school, the leadership team designed a Canvas website devoted to teacher inquiry, enabling teachers to share experiences, collaborate, and address issues regarding the abrupt transition to emergency remote instruction. In this …

Hbcu Administrators And The Covid-19: Dealing With The Pandemic Under The Pressure Of Funding And Self-Care, Jerry Crawford

Journal of Research Initiatives

Historically Black Colleges and University presidents and chancellors have been facing challenges similar to administrators at other institutions of higher learning. These demands center on accreditation, federal and state funding, and enrollment. COVID-19 has heightened each of these essential functions that administrators have as priorities.

There has been a lot of research on the roles and responsibilities of HBCU administrators and how there has been a seemingly revolving door at these institutions, and how many have found them to be more autocratic than inclusive in governance. In addition, the coronavirus pandemic has added to the pressure and expectations administrators must …

Pandemic Schooling: Lessons In Equity, Advocacy, And Racial Justice, Donna Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

It was my fourth year of teaching at a Brooklyn elementary school when the COVID-19 pandemic forced school buildings, and the entire city, to enter a world of lockdown and quarantine. New York City was an early epicenter of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, and the virus quickly revealed severe racial and socioeconomic disparities across the city. A disproportionate number of cases, serious illnesses, and death has been experienced by low-income Black and Latinx communities. At the same time, 2020 also ushered in a national racial reckoning following the May murder of George Floyd.

In this thesis, I will provide a …

Addressing Student Engagement During Covid-19: Secondary Stem Teachers Attend To The Affective Dimension Of Learner Needs, Tiffany Roman, Laurie Brantley-Dias, Michael Dias, Belinda Edwards

Faculty and Research Publications

This case study examines how a cohort of eleven induction secondary STEM teachers engaged learners during the onset of COVID-19 and their designs for student engagement given an online or blended teaching context in fall 2020. Participants attended a summer professional development workshop guided by trauma-informed teaching practices and learner engagement conceptual frameworks. Through the analysis of teacher artifacts and interviews, we identified dimensions of student engagement that teachers prioritized. Results indicate a marked increase in teachers’ attention to affective and social dimensions of learner engagement. We argue that teacher awareness and action in the affective domain of student engagement …

Fundamental 4: Pandemic Learning Reveals The Value Of High-Quality Instructional Materials To Educator-Family-Student Partnerships, Elizabeth Chu, Andrea Clay, Grace Mccarty

Center for Public Research and Leadership

The COVID-19 pandemic caused enormous disruptions to PK-12 school systems, including long-held beliefs about teaching and learning. After several months of unexpected virtual and hybrid learning, some school systems have emerged with a new understanding of the instructional core. Commonly thought of as the relationships between teacher, student, and instructional materials that support student learning, these leaders have expanded their understanding of the instructional core to include families.

We conducted nearly 300 interviews with students, families, and educators from nine school districts and charter school organizations to learn more about the expanded instructional core. In Fundamental 4, we share …

How Social Interaction Opportunities And Emotional Skills Instruction Affect Kindergarteners’ Self-Efficacy And Mental Health Within The Distance Learning Model Of School, Sarah Taraba

Education Masters Papers

This study was designed to investigate how implementing social interaction opportunities and emotional skill instruction could improve the overall mental health and self-efficacy levels of students in a kindergarten distance learning classroom. Due to the worldwide pandemic, COVID- 19, students were forced to participate in a distance learning format. This meant that students utilized a technological device to participate in schooling through online meetings with teachers and classmates. The research that was conducted focused on kindergarten students as the participants to see what could be done to improve their overall mental health; increasing levels of positive emotions such as happiness, …

Teacher Led Tier Two Intervention To Increase Student Academic Achievement, Cynthia Shepherd

Education Masters Papers

The purpose of this action research was to determine if the implementation of a tier two teacher led intervention would increase student academic achievement. A small group of ten students in a ninth-grade physical science class participated in the study. Data was collected over a period of three weeks using pre- and post- intervention surveys, an exit slip for self-assessment, researcher observations, comparisons of work completion and grades from previous grading periods, participant performance self-assessment, and a goal setting activity. Results show an inconclusive connection between the tier two teacher led intervention and student academic achievement. This is possibly due …

Do I Belong? What Students Teach Us About Belonging To A New University, Jennifer Ann Scaia

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Foundational to this evaluation study, the participating institution aspired to improve its retention rate. Students’ perceived sense of belonging has been identified as an important variable related to student retention and persistence (Bean & Eaton, 2000; Strayhorn 2012; Strayhorn 2019; Tinto, 2017). For students to succeed beyond their first year in college, it is fundamentally important that they view themselves as valued members of the university community (Bean & Eaton, 2000; Bollen & Hoyle, 1990; Murphy, 2016).

The purpose of this study was to evaluate how undergraduate students, predicted as less likely to retain into their second year, described their …

How A Small Teaching Center Made A Big Impact During The Pandemic Crises, J. A. Carter, Bradford Mallory, Brenda Refaei, Ruth Benander

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

For many faculty developers, 2020’s challenges changed our approach to our work. We found that by expanding our networks and relying on our collaborative spirit, we were able to adapt quickly and effectively to changing events. Each member of our four-person Learning + Teaching Center (LTC) team brings expertise and skills for faculty development. We employ a holistic approach to faculty development that not only provides programming for teaching improvement but also addresses the social and emotional needs of faculty and staff. The challenges of 2020 forced faculty and staff to work remotely, which necessitated more programming in how to …

Transcending Adversity: Trauma-Informed Educational Development, Mays Imad

To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development

The purpose of this article is to reflect on the pertinence and utility of using a trauma-informed lens in educational development. A trauma-informed approach is a framework grounded in an understanding of and responsiveness to the impact of trauma. After I describe the primary source of traumatic stress many faculty members are experiencing, I offer trauma-informed suggestions for how educational developers can help mitigate the effects of that stress. Importantly, in order to do this work of supporting faculty effectively and sustainably, it is critical that educational developers continue to attend to their own well-being. The overarching theme of this …

Covid-19 Modifications To A Service-Learning Project Designed To Prepare Special Education Students To Be Effective Participants In Transdisciplinary Collaborations, Kathy R. Doody, Katrina Fulcher-Rood, Pamela Schuetze

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

This research study examined the impact of COVID-19 on university students’ perceptions about the effectiveness of a community-based service-learning project designed to prepare graduate students in special education and undergraduate students in psychology and speech-language pathology to work in transdisciplinary teams in early childhood settings. Students were placed into transdisciplinary teams and assigned to one of two community-based early childhood programs to administer a universal screening tool that assessed young children in several domains. The project was in its sixth year when the country stood still because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was re-envisioned, mid-course, to provide an equitable …

Addressing Teacher Shortages In The Covid-19 Landscape: Viewing Teacher Candidates As Assets, Michael S. Rosenberg, Loretta Mason-Williams, Lois Kimmel, Paul T. Sindelar

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

COVID-19 continues to impose dire consequences on all sectors of our public education system. Many students, particularly those from vulnerable populations, are receiving reduced amounts of direct instruction and are experiencing significant losses in learning. At the same time, educator preparation programs (EPPs) are struggling to ensure that teacher candidates have ample opportunities to apply their newly acquired pedagogical skills in high quality clinical placements. In this article we describe and provide exemplars as to how teacher candidates can serve as assets to school districts as they complete their field placements. We also offer specific strategies and practices for EPPs …

Deliberation On The Public Good During Covid-19: A Case Study Examining Elementary Students’ Use Of Civic Perspective-Taking, William Toledo, Esther Enright

The Councilor: A National Journal of the Social Studies

Abstract

Building on prior research on place-based social studies instruction (Toledo, 2017; 2020), this study specifically looks at data from six third-grade teachers who designed and implemented a civics curriculum focused on engaging students with a unit on locally-relevant public issues. The ten-lesson unit that the teachers and research team collaboratively developed was taught in six classrooms across a large school district. A central public issue in the unit was travel across borders during COVID-19, or simply the coronavirus as it was commonly referred to at the time. Students also considered tensions between immigration and containment of contagious illnesses through …

How Students With Iep’S And Their Teachers Are Faring In Maine Schools During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Patricia Lech, Amy F. Johnson

Maine Education Policy Research Institute

The goal of the study was to better understand how instruction to students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) was delivered during remote learning this past spring and during the fall semester of the 2020-21 school year, and how these vulnerable students have been impacted. Research questions looked at special education teacher impressions of what was effective, the challenges in delivery of remote education, and how student academic progress was affected. Special education teachers and special education directors were also asked how to best help students who fell behind and what additional resources or supports they needed. Teachers reported that most …

Using Covid-19 Vaccine Efficacy Data To Teach One-Sample Hypothesis Testing, Frank Wang

Numeracy

In late November 2020, there was a flurry of media coverage of two companies’ claims of 95% efficacy rates of newly developed COVID-19 vaccines, but information about the confidence interval was not reported. This paper presents a way of teaching the concept of hypothesis testing and the construction of confidence intervals using numbers announced by the drug makers Pfizer and Moderna publicized by the media. Instead of a two-sample test or more complicated statistical models, we use the elementary one-proportion z-test to analyze the data. The method is designed to be accessible for students who have only taken a …