Page 34 - Mag89-4_2023_forFlipbook

Personal Reflection/Anecdote

When the COVID-19 pandemic began and schools shut down in spring 2020, we saw scores dip,
which was expected. The last time I had spoken to my students was in March 2020, so by August many
of our students hadn’t picked up a book. When we took fall 2020’s benchmark tests, the scores were
devastating, I argued that there were many issues as to why students were scoring lower than normal.
Students had experienced the loss of their friends and families; some were left at home alone or caring
for family members, often juggling multiple responsibilities; some even had jobs. My school district
instead wanted to focus on the low scores and how that would affect its funding.
My last year as a public-school teacher was the 2020–2021 school year. I left the school I had served
for over a decade due to the change in literacy instruction: Despite the history of our working book
clubs and investment within the community, my school spent more than $100,000 on a scripted online
curriculum where, rather than have any teacher-led instruction, students would read excerpts and answer
multiple-choice questions silently for 90 minutes. My whimsical class where students role played, had
art integration, and enjoyed conversation was over. I began a search for a higher education career where
I could have an impact on new teachers entering schools. I am now in my second year as a junior faculty
member at a midsize regional university.
The Transition into Higher Education

As educators, we are eerily similar in how we structure our teaching. We are both very detailed in
how we do instruction. Even further, we both have been seen as leaders in our school buildings, mentors
to new educators, and supportive cooperating teachers to the preservice teachers who came from our
university partnerships. In other words, we saw student success, we saw parents’ satisfaction and pride,
and we were able to mentor a new generation of teachers so that they could instill that same success in
their classrooms. It is no surprise that, as we finished our terminal degrees in education, we would then
step into the university roles that would have us working in a teacher-education program.
We both thought, initially, that this new stage of our careers would be an easy transition in some
ways but different due to the 10-year age difference in students. Simply put, a student is a student,
regardless of age—right? Our assumption was that the university students would be easier regarding
responsibility and classroom management and that we likely wouldn’t need to do all the “elementary”
stuff during the lessons anymore. How wrong we were! The students did not have any of the typical
behavior-related issues that so many elementary teachers experience daily, and they were more
responsible. However, the instructional
strategies did not change as much as we
expected.

Instructional Strategies That

Carry Over

As we both began thinking about
instruction and best practices, we knew
90-minute lectures would not work for
us. It was almost a collective decision to
replicate the “real world” and model the
best practices of teaching. Our classes
vary from 50 minutes three times a week
to 75 minutes two times a week, yet we
would not be caught lecturing behind a
podium. We structure our class periods

32 · Volume 89-4