COVID-19's Impact on Teaching: Equity, Community, and Growth

Introduction: COVID-19 and the Educational Landscape

COVID-19 has had a polarizing and contentious impact on the educational industry overall. The pandemic has forced the nation to recognize the importance of education not only to children, but to parents' ability to properly perform their work duties. Without proper schooling, parents are heavily restricted in their overall capacity to fulfill their career and job responsibilities. Likewise, when parents cannot perform job tasks efficiently, they are often forced to work longer hours while juggling multiple household demands. This further contributes to parental stress as parents grapple with the pressures of educating their children while simultaneously maintaining their career and job prospects.

As an educator, COVID-19 has both challenged and accelerated my professional growth. First, it pushed me to be far more innovative in the delivery of my teaching methods and techniques. Because COVID-19 heavily restricted in-person classroom attendance, I was compelled to leverage new technologies that expanded the manner in which I could deliver instruction. Hybrid class formats expanded my ability to teach in-person and online courses in a more productive manner. This format ultimately benefited my professional growth, as I was able to interact with parents on a much more consistent basis. A quick video call replaced traditional parent-teacher conferences, which are subject to transportation costs, tardiness due to traffic, last-minute cancellations, or the inability of both parents to attend due to work-related obligations. Through video conferencing, I was able to communicate and collaborate with parents far more frequently, enabling student growth in a more collaborative fashion.

Professional and Personal Growth During the Pandemic

I also had to ensure the safety of not only the children who attended the facility, but also the health of other staff members. This was critical to maintaining both the continuity and quality of service that could be delivered to a limited number of students. In these situations, I was able to take a leadership role in helping to mitigate the spread of infectious disease throughout the facility. I personally established standards of social distancing, cleanliness, and safety that were replicated by other teachers throughout the school.

From a personal perspective, I now have a much greater appreciation for healthcare and its implications for the world. Over 500,000 Americans died from COVID-19, which is a testament to its severity compared to previous viral outbreaks. I was fortunate enough to receive a vaccine due to my role as a teacher, though many others had yet to be vaccinated at the time, presenting the continued risk of further loss of life. I have grown deeply appreciative of healthcare workers and their vital role in keeping America healthy.

On a personal level, I have also developed a stronger appreciation for a holistic approach to teaching — one that combines multiple facets to deliver a higher-quality educational experience. The pandemic instilled in me a more innovative mindset, one that challenges the status quo and strives to deliver exceptional service. I have also become more operations-focused. While innovation and new teaching methods are valuable, their benefits are realized only through proper execution. I frequently find myself considering how to better execute various functions within the classroom and throughout the school as a whole — particularly as they relate to online learning, inclusion, diversity, and deeper student engagement.

Effective educational leaders strive for equity of educational opportunity and culturally responsive practices to promote each student's academic success and well-being.

In terms of equity and cultural responsiveness, it was essential for me to help develop an inclusive environment within the classroom. While COVID-19 did not affect this standard as directly as others, the killing of George Floyd was a particularly powerful catalyst and one that overshadowed the experiences of my minority students throughout the year. The inequitable treatment of minorities and the documented history of racial injustice in America are undeniable. The country has endured slavery, Jim Crow laws, the systemic criminalization of communities of color, and police brutality that has disproportionately harmed minorities (Alexander, 2012). Even in the context of COVID-19, minority communities in lower-income neighborhoods were affected far more severely than other socioeconomic groups. These realities were difficult for me to address in a classroom setting. The topic of race and culture presents a number of challenges, including:

Standard 3: Equity and Cultural Responsiveness

For my own professional and personal growth, I chose to address equity and cultural responsiveness in the classroom. Through video conferencing, I shared my intentions with parents. Overwhelmingly, they were accepting of my proposal. I drew on relevant literature regarding how to discuss culture and equitable treatment in a classroom setting (Ambrose, 2010), and developed a lesson plan around the following objectives (Arao, 2013):

Objectives:

Through this process of research and instruction, I grew both professionally and personally. I developed a much deeper appreciation for the complexities of culture and the ways in which different cultures relate to one another within society. Resources such as Teaching Tolerance and broader culturally relevant pedagogy frameworks informed my approach throughout.

Effective educational leaders cultivate an inclusive, caring, and supportive school community that promotes the academic success and well-being of all students.

Due to COVID-19, community care and support became a very high priority. This care encompasses both physical and emotional concern for students. The full implications of COVID-19 on the teaching profession were unknown when the virus first arrived in the United States. However, many of its impacts were felt acutely by students who lost a loved one or had a parent laid off from work. With tens of millions of COVID-19 cases in the United States, the likelihood that a child had been affected in some form was very high. As a result, attending to students' psychological and emotional well-being throughout this period was critical.