Teaching.
What is important to you about teaching?
How has your teaching practice changed over time?
How has your pedagogy (designs and plans for teaching) changed in this pandemic season?
This week’s episode of 3MMM is especially for everyone who teaches. Whether you are a pastor or a professor, a public educator or home school teacher, if leading students to learn is part of your vocation, we think you will appreciate this week’s latest episode with Mary Clark Moschella.
My teaching is rooted in my experience as a pastor.
~ Mary Clark Moschella
Mary says, “My experience in the church has formed me all along the way. Through the years I’ve leaned into it more. . . I’ve gradually relaxed into the teaching more. And I’ve tried to model being present with the class and whatever comes up.”
What has come up for the whole world in the last seven weeks (or more) is a crisis of unimaginable size and complexity. Being present is very challenging for everyone right now due to both isolation and the crisis we are all navigating. Feeling relaxed about teaching may sound impossible in this moment.
Teachers and students alike are feeling challenged to rethink patterns of working together to teach and learn.
Some teachers might like to simply ignore the crisis and keep trying to teach in all the same ways. Many students would certainly prefer to be back in school finishing their school year in person or graduating later this spring.
Yet we must do what will help people stay healthy and safe and flatten the curve of Covid-19. While we prioritize our health, we can also ask together: What is this crisis teaching us?
What is this #pandemic teaching you about #teaching?
More in this week's conversation with Mary Clark Moschella and host @ecampbellreed.#pandemicpedagogy https://t.co/Pwp62GWjdk pic.twitter.com/IvsL7oHLJw
— Three Minute Ministry Mentor (@3MinuteMin) April 27, 2020
Changing our Pedagogies
We are learning about health disparities in our country and the world, about educational disparities, about how viruses travel, and who is most vulnerable. We are learning just how much we depend on each other, and how much we need each other for all the daily aspects of our lives.
We are also learning how challenging it is to teach and learn in a crisis, in an online setting without access to body language, social cues and emotional tone. We are seeing how hard it is both to teach and to learn when grief and sadness, boredom and loneliness, isolation and frustrations can fill up our days. And we are also learning that people need flexibility about when and how they can engage their learning.
As Mary Moschella says this week, “There are teaching moments all the time.”
Not synchronous but asynchronous. https://t.co/qJUcZaarYs #PandemicPedagogy @ecampbellreed @3MinuteMin @ErinRHall pic.twitter.com/bM6aGREcjZ
— Three Minute Ministry Mentor (@3MinuteMin) April 28, 2020
We hope this week and in the coming weeks to continue offering support and encouragement to all of you who teach and learn from pre-school to grad school. Here are some questions we hope will help you with your reflections:
- What are the greatest challenges you are facing?
- How are you improvising your teaching?
- What are the important changes you are making to help learners?
Would you like to know more about Mary’s teaching in prison? Or perhaps you want to catch up on the previous episodes of her interview with me? We think you’ll find her to be a tremendous encouragement in this very difficult season.
