69ý

Opinion
Teaching Profession Opinion

I’ve Studied Teachers for 20 Years. The Pandemic Was Their Ultimate Challenge

I wondered what was happening behind the scenes as teachers’ cheerful voices radiated from my daughters’ computers
By Lora Bartlett — July 19, 2021 4 min read
Opinion Bartlett1 KNOW THYSELF LINCOLN
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

Spring 2020 dealt teachers the ultimate Iron-Chef-style teaching challenge. Main ingredients: students and curriculum. Secret ingredient: sudden and unexpected distance. In many places, teachers had one hot kitchen of a week to prep effective learning experiences using often-new-to-them technology. Failure was a looming possibility.

That’s how it felt to me, too, when, one week before the start of the spring quarter, my university announced all instruction would be remote and directed faculty to “take classes online.” I was scheduled to teach a 300-student undergraduate course, often the first education course taken by aspiring teachers.

It was a class I had taught a dozen times, and it had garnered me a teaching award. But I felt overwhelmed. I had never taught anything online. I was unfamiliar with the technology, unprepared pedagogically, and unsure of my students’ current realities. Overnight, I went from expert to novice.

My campus left most specifics up to individual faculty members. All planning felt speculative, and the ground shifted daily. We were told at first that we’d be online for just a week, then for longer, and finally, that there was no clear end date. “Zoom,” “Loom,” “Padlet,” and “Jamboard” became everyday parlance as we all tried to hold panic at bay, stay focused, and plan spring courses with the tools we could decipher.

Colleagues and I struggled with how much online classes should replicate the regular in-person format in meeting times, length, content, and assessment. Initially, I assumed—wrongly—that I would simply deliver my lectures online at the originally scheduled times. With the campus vacated, my students were spread from Japan to Europe, and many had taken on additional work and family-care responsibilities. More than one student was parking outside McDonald’s to access the internet.

As for me, my 5-year-old laptop was practically geriatric with its broken camera and tendency to crash unexpectedly. Taking all this into account, I decided to upload lectures for students to listen to on their own schedules.

About This Project

Opinion Bartlett1 KNOW THYSELF LINCOLN
Lincoln Agnew for Education Week
Teaching Profession Opinion What We Learned About Teachers During the Pandemic: A Series
In this series, a researcher shows how teachers went from making school happen to having little say in planning for an unprecedented year. View the full series and the researcher’s methodology here.
July 19, 2021

Recording those lectures—slides with audio only because of the broken camera—saw me holed up in my home office, signs on the closed door warning my family to be quiet, staring into the computer, projecting my voice into what felt like a void. No students in sight, no faces frowning in confusion or lighting up in understanding. It was an all-consuming, lonely, and exhausting teaching experience.

Meanwhile, my twin daughters were enduring the abrupt transition of their senior year from the lively reality of track meets, theater productions, and group projects to full days sitting and Zooming from our dining room table. They felt isolated and struggled to focus.

Their teachers worked hard to reach through the computer and appeared tireless in their daily presentations, though I was sure most were new to teaching remotely and had their own home and work-shutdown stress. In those early days of the pandemic, when fear ran high and uncertainty permeated everything, my daughters’ teachers somehow managed to show up day after day, upbeat voices radiating from the computers, teaching in a brand-new format. This made me wonder what more was happening behind the scenes for teachers as they worked to meet the challenges of the moment.

As someone who has studied teachers’ work for over two decades, I was struck by the import of what was happening. The pandemic served as a crucible, turning up the flame on a problem endemic to the profession: the unsatisfactory working conditions that drive promising teachers out of classrooms and schools.

The pandemic turned up the flame on a problem endemic to the profession: the unsatisfactory working conditions that drive promising teachers out of schools.

Teaching is a largely feminized occupation with a rate than the similarly feminized nursing profession and about the same rate as the high-risk work of policing. Even without a pandemic, an analysis of federal longitudinal data through 2016 indicated that 44 percent of teachers leave the profession by their fifth year, and 8 percent of all teachers leave the profession annually. The most common reason teachers give for voluntarily leaving the profession is dissatisfaction with school or working conditions.

There is convincing evidence that pandemic working conditions have exacerbated teacher dissatisfaction and related turnover. But not for everyone. Some schools and teachers have weathered the pandemic better than others.

Over the next few weeks, this series will draw on an during the pandemic to share with you the experiences of teachers. This includes how teachers felt exhausted but recognized in the spring, largely ignored in the summer, and increasingly vilified in the fall even as they tried to salvage some normality for their schools. When teachers believed their voices were heard and considered in system-level decisionmaking, they were more able to find enough satisfaction to sustain them even under the markedly increased workload and stress. And when they felt disregarded, they were more likely to experience exhaustion and reduced feelings of effectiveness, which led many to consider leaving the profession.

Crisis can bring opportunity. As we, I hope, put the worst of the pandemic behind us, it is time to look at the successes and failures of schools during the past 16 months. That examination can help reshape a profession that has long suffered from too much turnover and too little autonomy. Only when those conditions are improved will more teachers be able to do their very best for students.

This is the first of four essays on the work of teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. It draws from Lora Bartlett and colleagues’ “Suddenly Distant” research project.

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69ý
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What’s Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

Teaching Profession The State of Teaching Why Teachers Likely Take So Few Days Off
The perception coincides with teachers' low levels of job satisfaction.
3 min read
survey teachers static
via Canva
Teaching Profession What the Research Says The More 69ý Miss Class, the Worse Teachers Feel About Their Jobs
Missing kids take a toll on teachers' morale, new research says. Here's how educators can cope with absenteeism.
4 min read
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. More than a quarter of students missed at least 10% of the 2021-22 school year.
An empty elementary school classroom is seen on Aug. 17, 2021 in the Bronx borough of New York. Nationwide, students have been absent at record rates since schools reopened after COVID-forced closures. Now research suggests the phenomenon may be depressing teachers' job satisfaction.
Brittainy Newman/AP
Teaching Profession Will Your Classroom Get Enough 'Likes'? Teachers Feel the Social Media Pressure
Teachers active on social media feel the competition to showcase innovative lessons and beautiful decorations.
5 min read
Image of a cellphone on a desk.
iStock/Getty
Teaching Profession New Findings on Teacher Morale Highlight Ways to Make It Better
A new College Board survey on teacher morale echoes some previous findings. But it also highlights opportunities for schools to improve it.
4 min read
A student raises her hand to share her work with her teacher.
A student raises her hand to share her work with her teacher.
Allison Shelley for All4Ed