Journal of Teaching Article Review #1

This article written by Amanda Cooper, Kristy Timmons, and Stephen MacGregor was written to take a look at the success of the transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as how it affected both teachers and students’ mental health.

The first concept from the article that I would like to discuss is this:

“The Ministry’s policies on assessment were also identified as problematic, mainly on how students’ marks as of March 13 would not go down. Teachers believed this policy announcement disincentivized student engagement. Students who already had received a course grade of 80 or higher began to disengage quickly: “Kids… are just like, oh, I had an 85, that’s an awesome mark, I’m just going to stop right there, why should I bother working so hard?”(Helena, Grades 10 and12,Math)Journal of Teaching and Learning 15(2)A. Cooper, K. Timmons,& S. MacGregor91higher began to disengage quickly: “Kids… are just like, oh, I had an 85, that’s an awesome mark, I’m just going to stop right there, why should I bother working so hard?”(Helena, Grades 10 and 12, Math).”

A. Cooper, K. Timmons,& S. MacGregor, 2021, p. 91

I like this quote because it outlines how if students are not given accountability, then they will not complete their work and may not be motivated to work in class. A good example of this that I learned was during my practicum placement when I was giving an assignment to the class. There was a student that asked me “are you marking this?” I pondered for a moment and did not know whether or not I was going to, and before I could say anything, my associate teacher said “we don’t know.” I then asked him after the students started working as to why he said that. He then told me that if you do not tell the students that it is being marked, they will not complete the work. He then said that if you instead say, “I don’t know,” it will cause the students to complete their work because they think that the work will be marked. It then gives the teacher the opportunity to choose after the fact whether or not the work will be marked, or if it will just be for practice.

The second concept that I want to discuss is from the following quote:

“Building partnerships with community organizations to increase access to technology and the internet and acting as credible messengers to build trust with families”

p. 97

This is a fact that I have thought about multiple times since the beginning of the pandemic. Ever since the shift to online learning, I always worried about the communities that do not have reliable access to the internet, as well as communities that have no access at all. Although not a topic of education that is discussed or thought about very often, it is certainly one that needs to be taken into account. In an ever-changing world like the one we are all in, access to internet is such a glaring issue and one that needs to be solved immediately. Although the world is on track to be returning to in-person learning full-time, there will always be an online component. For example, when students are out sick or there is a snow day, there will be no more days where only those who go to school are learning. With access to programs like Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, and others, there will always be a way for students to join their classrooms and learn from their teachers, and that is only possible if everyone has access to reliable internet/.

The final concept that I would like to address is this:

Many teachers spoke of the policy context that created confusion and a lack of alignment between the Ministry of Education and school boards, who regularly received information at the same time as the public through press conferences.

p. 90

Communication is such a critical part of everything we do. From talking to other people verbally, signaling which way you are turning in your car, and watching television, communication is everywhere. But when it comes to policy changes, it is so important to make sure it is communicated properly, and in the right order. The fact that school boards were finding out policies from the Ministry of Education at the same time as the public is unacceptable. I am not quite sure if it is as big of an issue now as it was during the beginning of the pandemic, but it is still an important topic. There are reasons why there are staff meetings at schools before they announce it to the students. It is so the teachers like us can address the students’ questions and concerns effectively. This is even more important at the Government level, which is something that needs to be worked on to ensure that issues like what happened when COVID first started do not happen again.

References:

Exploring How Ontario Teachers Adapted to Learn-at-Home Initiatives During COVID-19: Blending Technological and Pedagogical Expertise in a Time of Growing Inequities

Cooper, A., Timmons, K., & MacGregor, S., Journal of Teaching and Learning Vol. 15, No. 2 (2021), pp. 81 -101 https://doi.org/10.22329/jtl.v15i2.6726