In the previous three columns, I highlighted ways in which social media is providing resources, platforms, and inspiration to continue to educate our students and/or our children during this pandemic. The presentation of these offerings has been driven by my view, influenced in part by early positive reports out of China, that continuing to teach online can provide structure and a sense of “normalcy” to students and teachers who are forced to remain at home.
Social media is also reminding us, however, that things are NOT normal, and there are times when it is unacceptable to act as though life is normal, as this Tweet from April 7 and its response show:
Within two days of being shared on Facebook by The Professor is In and commented on by Dr. Lyra D. Montero in her Medium article, “Please, Professors: Stop Pretending the Dying Isn’t Happening”, the tweet had been shared over 30,000 times and liked nearly 400,000 times. As Montero notes, the responses have largely focused on outrage at the professor for a response which shows a lack of insensitivity or empathy to the TA at that moment. While I don’t have time to do a full discourse analysis of all the responses (but would encourage others to do so), many respondents suggest emailing the professor’s dean and the school administration and/or trying to get the professor fired.
While I thoroughly agree that the professor’s response was inappropriate, in these moments I often feel that Twitter and Facebook posts, at times, prime us to react with outrage. At times we need to be outraged to have our worldview shaken. We need to express our outrage. Sometimes we even need to act on that outrage or nothing changes. Is there a point though at which our outrage turns us into a mob, a virtual (or, heaven forbid, real) band of vigilantes with pitchforks ready to end the career of someone who, perhaps, was in an unexpected and awkward situation, didn’t know how to react, and blurted out something ultimately unhelpful? Would the perpetrator, in an age without social media, simply be forgiven and forgotten?
The answer to the second question is likely yes, but the answer to the first question seems more mixed. On the one hand, the collective wisdom of half a million people suggests that this professor felt no awkwardness but should have. If the professor had been more self-aware, the Tweet would likely have been “the professor didn’t know what to say” or “the professor was silent for a minute, then continued teaching as if nothing happened.” It appears on the face of it that the professor believed the right response had been given, or at least was too proud to retract the statement in the moment. We can also read such a statement, and through Gestalt psychology, fill in the missing pieces of data, i.e. assume this is not the first inappropriate remark the professor has given in his career. All of this suggests a direct intervention with this professor is sorely needed.
On the other hand, we don’t have the professor’s side of the story or more details about the interaction. We don’t know if there are other linguistic, cultural, racial, or contextual factors driving his reaction to the TA. We don’t have enough detailed evidence to conclude that this act requires a reprimand, let alone firing. I also can find no update on the story from the original poster, which means we don’t know what action she took or what explanation (or apology) the professor may have given by now.
In contrast, Katie Cali wrote on April 8 to the Higher Ed Learning Collective on Facebook to describe her experience with students who were coping with the illness of their regular teacher:
“Today I stepped in to take over three classes for a coworker who is on a ventilator. Her poor students are now filled with anxiety and panicking. I hope I can soothe them and help them finish strong.”
There were over 800 likes, and the 66 comments were overwhelmingly supportive, offering prayers, gratitude, and thoughts of strength. While Katie’s use of the term “finish strong” suggests a continued desire on her part to see students achieve their learning objectives (or at least, achieve some learning and a sense of closure), there is a clear difference between Katie and the professor in the previous example as presented in the Tweet. By saying the “poor” students are “filled with anxiety and panicking,” Katie shows sympathy and awareness of where her students are at right now. As we read and share the experience with her, many of us see the need to “soothe” the students first, and THEN help the students to “finish strong.” While we don’t have comments from her students or audio recording from her classroom, we have a sense that she could communicate her stance to her students the way she did to her Facebook readers. This too, however, is an assumption we make as a reader.
At the midpoint on the continuum between negative and positive reactions to students coping with illness and death is this post on Twitter by Melissa Wong (@LISafterclass) on April 6 that suggests a detailed approach with a student who is (possibly) sick with COVID_19:
Student emailed me today that she is has symptoms of COVID-19 (no testing available), apologizing profusely for late assignment. Since this will start happening to many instructors, here’s a script for an appropriate reply:
I am so sorry you are sick. Please do not worry about missing the due date. IT IS FINE. I am not worried and there will not be a late penalty. We can chat about the course when you are healthy again.
More importantly: 1. Do you live with an adult who can care for you (and any children)? 2. Do you have enough food & essential supplies? 3. Since your caregiver (if you have one), will be quarantined for at least 14 days, do you have a way to get more food?
That’s it. That’s the reply you send to your student. Be human first.
This script could be modified to be a guide to also respond to students, for instance, whose parents, spouse, or grandparents are sick or who have died from COVID-19:
Granted, some teachers and professors may not feel comfortable asking students such private questions, or feel taking on responsibilities they feel is better left to academic affairs officers, counselors or social workers. In such cases, perhaps step 4 can be optional. But I would argue the first three are essential for being “human” with students during this time.
In closing my final column for this series, I want to point out that the road back to “normal” from illness, grief, and crisis is usually a long one. We should continue to work towards normal, but not go so far so fast as the mayor of Amity Island in the movie “Jaws” who declared the beaches open while there was still a killer shark on the loose in the water.
Bridget Goodman is Assistant Professor and Director of the MA in Multilingual Education Program at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Her teaching and research interests include: the use of the first language (L1) in second and foreign language classrooms, language policy, and sociolinguistics in post-Soviet countries.
]]>My last two columns focused, needfully and mindfully, on serious dimensions and issues of the coronavirus crisis and teaching. Today, I turn to relatively light-hearted questions of the roles celebrities are playing in the age of corona.
My first thought goes to celebrities who have been diagnosed with Corona. On March 12, Tom Hanks announced via Twitter that he and his wife Rita Wilson had tested positive for coronavirus in Australia. In the Tweet below (Image 1), Tom Hanks reports on Twitter as follows:
Hello folks. Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired, like we had colds, and some body aches. Rita had some chills that came and went. Slight fevers too. To play things right, as is needed in the world right now, we were tested for the Coronavirus, and were found to be positive.
Well, now. What to do next? The Medical Officials have protocols that must be followed. We Hanks’ will be tested, observed, and isolated for as long as public health and safety requires. [NB: Tom Hanks wrote again they both returned home March 29.] Not much more to it than a one-day-at-a-time approach, no?
We’ll keep the world posted and updated. Take care of yourselves!
Hanx!
Five days later, Idris Elba posted a video to Twitter reporting he tested positive, and 2 days after that Daniel Dae Kim posted a video to Facebook about his experience contracting the virus in New York City and testing positive in Hawaii.The comments on Kim’s video, as with Hanks and Elba, alternate among three discourses: 1) shock that someone we feel we know and love could have this illness; 2) wishes for a speedy recovery, and 3) criticisms of the privilege celebrities seem to have in getting access to tests while others who have symptoms cannot get tested. Commenters on a YouTube story about Daniel Dae Kim’s video, for example, express shock in relation to a voice character he plays in video games: “Damn…but he’s Johnny Gat”, offer good wishes, “He’ll get through this”, and make a social critique: “Another priveliged (sic) celebrity gets tested before patients who are actually suffering wow”.
It is worth noting that in his video, Kim commented that he did not ask for special treatment and stated he believes “healthcare for all is a right.” He also urged young people, in particular, to take this disease and the need for social distancing seriously. Kim closed with an appeal to stop the “prejudice and senseless violence against Asian people.” In other words, Kim used the positive result for coronavirus in the same way many actors use awards speeches—as an opportunity to use his celebrity status to advocate for social justice.
Other celebrities are using this time, through shifted forms of communication, to raise money for charity. Jimmy Fallon, who now performs the Tonight Show At Home, spoke via distance with Jennifer Garner about her work with Amy Adams. The two stars are helping raise money through Save the Children to provide lunches and books to children who now go without because they are quarantined at home. SiriusXM’s Seth Rudetsky and James Wesley have been hosting twice-daily Zoom meetings with different actors or casts of old TV series for “Stars in the House.” The show features stars in their homes, without makeup, and confronting the technical challenges many of us are experiencing running meetings or classes online. More importantly, each show aims to raise money for The Actors Fund, which offers financial support and other social resources to actors, who in the best of times, don’t always have steady work and now are shut down. Also, Peter Sagal, host of the National Public Radio weekly radio news quiz “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” (which is still on the air but recording at home without an audience), made an appeal in a Twitter thread for people to continue to donate to causes where he was to appear as a guest speaker at events now cancelled due to coronavirus:
This is, admittedly (don’t flame me!) among the least important concerns right now, but: many non-profits have had to cancel their spring fundraising dinner/galas. (I was supposed to attend one and host three others.) They are HUGE revenue generators for these groups.
Replying to @petersagal
IF you have the resources, and if you were planning on going to one of the parties or hoping to, donate the money anyway. You weren’t doing it for the open bar in the first place, right? Right?
Replying to @petersagal
I was scheduled to host galas for: @AWMuseum @thehousetheatre @Chicago_Run I’ll donate instead. If you’re like me, lucky enough to still be employed and not having to worry about survival, give to the non-profits you love. We’ll need them on the other side of this.
Later that same day, Sagal retweeted his own thread to expand the suggestion:
A number of people have responded positively to this, so: reply to this with a pitch for your fave non-profit that’s at risk, with a link to donate. Let’s see if we can help out a bit.
Last, I offer two examples of celebrities, both connected with the Star Trek series, who are using the time of quarantine to increase our connections with literature. Sir Patrick Stewart has taken upon himself the challenge of narrating one Shakespearean sonnet each day. There are enough sonnets for the next 5 months—hopefully not the actual length of our quarantine, but perhaps this is a tradition that can continue and accompany us when we are allowed to hit the beach again. Levar Burton, who hosted the Reading Rainbow TV show on PBS many years ago, has returned to read stories live on Twitter.
As you have probably guessed by now, I spend a fair amount of my time on Twitter and YouTube and Facebook, being entertained by celebrities or getting updates on their lives. In the age of corona, I find myself getting new glimpses’ into stars’ worlds—their homes, their pets and children, their faces with reading glasses. At the same time, I am seeing stars continue to use their “star power” to show gratitude for others, to look for ways to help others, and even to educate and elevate others.
As educators, we can follow their example and celebrate the ways we are already following this example. We can allow students to see glimpses of the human and family spaces of our lives, while recognizing there may be some gendered consequences. We can continue to show gratitude for helpers. We can continue to educate students and ourselves in ways that lead them to fight for social justice, as Penn students did recently for its food service employees. We can teach students to be aware of and resist systemic racism, as Dr. Mariam Durrani is doing with her linguistic anthropology students. She shows articles from social media, then uses concepts from linguistic anthropology and her previous research to break down step by step why certain discourses presented as facts are racist:
Jim Wilce’s breakdown of iconization in his textbook “Communication & Culture” into 5 steps helped students understand how this plays out
Step 1: a sociolinguistic fact is known so here we can start with the “fact” is that the virus 1st appeared in Wuhan, China; 6/
Step 2: this “fact” is interpreted by people as an index, or that there is a link between people who are Chinese and/or Asian/-appearing and the virus. An index functions like your index finger. It points something out. 7/
Talking abt the virus as a “Chinese thing” is an indexical process can lead to “virus”+”Chinese” being iconized in
step 3: This means that as people, esp in authority, talk abt it in this way, using that phrase, the indexical relationship is iconized for some ppl 8/
Step 4: As more and more people do this, they iconize the virus and *fear* of the virus onto the bodies of Chinese and Asian people. Some ppl violently attack the “Asian subject”, others talk abt it this way
Both are violent processes that differ by scale and impact 9/
In my research on the “Muslim subject”, a similar process happens where one can be Muslim or not; it’s irrelevant in the act of violence
The number of cases is climbing and although we can’t undo this racism, we CAN teach about it http://shorturl.at/ckGX2 10/
Dr. Durrani not only teaches about racism, she argues and offers evidence how teaching about it changes worldviews of her students and those around her. In a portion of a student exit-ticket, she Tweets:
Such a statement from a student suggests the time we are investing in teaching online and talking about corona may ultimately be worth it, and worth as much if not more than our customary learning outcomes and grades for this time period.
Author Bio:
Bridget Goodman is Assistant Professor and Director of the MA in Multilingual Education Program at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Her teaching and research interests include: the use of the first language (L1) in second and foreign language classrooms, language policy, and sociolinguistics in post-Soviet countries.
]]>In my previous column, I twice referred to “vulnerable” populations—the medically vulnerable, and small businesses, each of which in their own way may be at risk for succumbing to this pernicious virus. The reality is that these are just two examples of needs that are made more visible by this epidemic.
First and foremost, though, we have to make sure we are not discussing those with underlying medical conditions (as the new English-language discourse goes) and other vulnerabilities from an ableist view that sees any form of difference in ability as foreign, i.e. “other” (see also CohenMiller, 2019), a burden, or a sign that people are expendable. Even in writing this article I had to edit myself to write not about “challenges” but about “needs” to avoid a problem-oriented view. As Makoelle (2020) has pointed out, the goal of inclusion in education is to move away from views of ability as problem, deficit, barrier, or correction to “pedagogy that advocates education for all…not only disability but also aspects such as socioeconomic status, language differences, religion, culture, gender, ethnicity, and others” (p. 7).
As I scroll through my Facebook and Twitter feeds, I am heartened by the signs that the media and educators are talking proactively about the impact of coronavirus and educational changes on students with this array of backgrounds, and working constructively to share ways of addressing specific student needs. The needs of students typically labeled “special needs” still catches my attention first. In the Facebook group the Higher Ed Learning Collective, here is one example of a post about how to ensure Deaf students accessibility to information in online learning platforms. In this post (see image 2 below), Sandra asks how to solve the question of providing closed captioning in the currently used teaching platforms (Zoom, Blackboard, etc.). She further rules out using YouTube because of the institutional view that there is not sufficient privacy for students–another vulnerability talked about more in social media these days. There are 218 responses, including one from Claudia who offers both alternate pedagogies and a link to Zoom support on how to start using closed captioning in Zoom.
In the field of multilingual education and multilingualism, the focus is on access to information and to equitable education for those who do not speak the dominant language of society or the primary language of instruction. There is an expressed need to ensure that adults who speak a minority language have access to information about coronavirus in their native language. I have seen posts on Facebook from language groups calling for translators, or asking people to share the translation of the phrase “wash your hands” in different languages–though I wish they would write it more fully as “wash your hands for 20 seconds with soap and water”. A recent blog in Edweek highlighted the individual “barriers” and structural inequalities in providing education online to English language learners, but also showed how state and national organizations are marshaling resources to meet English language learners’ needs.
An email forwarded to me recently indicated there is now a (temporarily) free service which offers two-way mobile communication between teachers and parents in over 100 languages. The image on the Talking Points website (see image 3 below) demonstrates how the service works. The teacher can send a text message to a parent in English, which is translated by Talking Points in the parents’ home language–in this example, Spanish. The parent reads the text in Spanish, and replies in Spanish, while the teacher receives the text in English.
In terms of socioeconomic status, multiple Facebook and Twitter posts from the U.S. context have pointed out that many children depend on schools for free or reduced-price lunches. In response, school districts in California and other states are still offering lunches to students that can be picked up and taken to go. I should note that having to go out and get lunch, especially for families that may not have private transportation, may increase not only nutrition but also exposure risk and general anxiety. This can be linked more broadly to concerns raised about students’ mental health. Individuals already prone to depression or anxiety may have symptoms exacerbated by increased social isolation. Below is one of the top posts on Twitter about the need to balance new forms of education with maintaining students’ mental health (see image 4). Queerantine, in words and with the image of a pug dog wrapped in a blanket, laments the decision to continue assigning homework during a “damn pandemic???”. Queerantine ponders, “do they not know they’re only adding to their students’ debilitating anxiety? or do they just not care?”
The 22 comments on this post talk more generally about the pressure on teachers from the administration to continue learning. They suggest measures to reduce anxiety by reducing assessment expectations—i.e. giving all As, marking assignments pass/fail, or making assignments ungraded altogether. Only one approach takes an ableist view: “do people not understand that life and the economy have to go on?”.
There is some evidence of teachers saying they are putting students’ wellbeing first. In this Facebook post (see image 5) which got 187 likes and loves on the online learning collective, Nadia starts by saying “mental health has been a top priority for many as students dive into online learning”. She describes her solution, which is to host virtual morning coffee and evening tea three times a week to give students a “place to chat” and connect”.
Nearly all of the 56 comments indicate general and enthusiastic support for this approach, suggesting platforms for hosting spaces to share and chat. The remaining comments were focused on getting students to respond at all. One posted a link I have also shared on Twitter from the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Granted, the social issues outlined above were present before the virus hit, and it could be argued that the educators and organizations now responding to these issues were already predisposed to consider and address student needs in an inclusive way. What’s important here, I would argue, is representation. It’s the recognition that while the ‘pan’ in ‘pandemic’ means ‘all’, it does not mean “universally the same”. As educators, we can see the diversity of needs under this rainbow and continue to think now and in the future about how to continue to see and serve.
In closing, let me say in these times, we as educators also have to find new ways to face our own vulnerabilities. I may have to acknowledge to my students that this is hard and sad and scary for me sometimes too. Now I am the one who is going to sometimes miss deadlines as I deal emotionally with the latest developments on the virus, navigate new shutdowns of daily life, check in on friends and family near and far away, or just need extra time to curl up on the couch with Netflix and my dwindling supply of popcorn before grading that final assignment. But maybe as we allow ourselves to be vulnerable; we create a safer space for our students to be vulnerable and together develop a stronger mutual support system.
CohenMiller, A. S. (2019). From the news to zombies: Teaching and learning about Otherness in popular culture. Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy. 6(3). www,journaldialogue.org/issues/v6-issue-3/teaching-and-learning-about-otherness-in-popular-culture/
Makoelle, T. M. (2020). Language, terminology, and inclusive education: A case of Kazakhstani transition to inclusion. Sage Open, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020902089
Bridget Goodman is Assistant Professor and Director of the MA in Multilingual Education Program at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, Astana, Kazakhstan. Her teaching and research interests include: the use of the first language (L1) in second and foreign language classrooms, language policy, and sociolinguistics in post-Soviet countries.
]]>There is a saying “may you live in interesting times”, which is intended as a curse. This curse has seemingly come to pass as all around the world many educators like myself sit at home, 6 feet apart from another, trying to plan or adapt lessons for online consumption while outside the classroom where we once taught, a pandemic spreads and a war rages against it. As I scroll through Twitter and Facebook and read links to online news articles through both platforms, I, as an applied linguist, find myself analyzing all the different ways people are talking about this disease.
First, there seems to be an abundance of discussions about and images of the process of conducting teaching itself. I am particularly disturbed by discussions about the need to tell people to wear clothes during online meetings, but also amused by discussions about how to manage online platforms and how to manage interruptions or distractions from family members. I am impressed by the number of reports of companies that are dropping their paywalls to expand the use of textbooks, academic articles, and technology during this time, and inspired by organizers of now-canceled conferences who see genuine possibilities in imagining new modalities of conference interaction.
In my armchair analysis, I also note a number of ways people are talking about the virus that could form the basis of further investigation or discussion by students and teachers in a range of disciplines. There is the biological science of the virus itself, the shape of the virus (corona), and the concepts of “respiratory droplets” and “social distancing” or “quarantine”; only one of these three terms was a part of my vocabulary prior to today. There are historical comparisons of this disease with the Spanish flu of 1918. From the field of environmental studies, people are sharing images of the positive impact of staying home on the canals of Venice and the CO2 emissions over China. There are philosophical and ethical questions raised about the availability of tests and respirators for the rich and famous, and the need to protect those who are medically vulnerable. There are multiple labor and economics questions–about the stock market and its transition from a bull market to a bear market, about businesses that do or do not provide paid sick leave during this time, about family businesses and small enterprises that are vulnerable to closing while major corporations like airlines receive more than a mere bailout. There are psychological conversations about the power of being an “introvert”, which is then contrasted to the social-psychological movement to reframe “social distancing” into “physical distancing and social solidarity”. In marketing circles, there are multiple ways businesses are communicating about their response to the virus, and blindly sending sales ads for their products as if the world has not changed. From religious studies, there are people who are using this moment to promulgate their faith.
Any of these topics could be the basis of a teacher-led Powerpoint lecture, a student-led research project using social media analysis and/or academic sources (many of which are free online right now), a teacher and student discussion or debate in an online forum, or a combination of two or more of these. Yet, perhaps prior to this, and more critically in the present moment, we as educators could find ways to engage our students in discussions about the virus, and its impact on their lives. We would like to provide them with the opportunity to share their fears, and get reassurance from us on what is being done to address those fears. This becomes more challenging as students become more spread out. However, synchronous platforms like Zoom, Google Hangouts, or those available through a school course management system make this initial interaction possible. This could be enhanced with individual emails or chats with students already known to be at risk. Particularly for students of Asian backgrounds, we want to make sure they are not being targeted or harassed as this disease is sometimes called the “Chinese disease”.
This virus raises unprecedented health, mobility, and educational challenges. Yet as I am reminded from my undergraduate social work studies, the written form of the word “crisis” in Chinese means both “danger” and “opportunity” (see Bermeo & Pontusson, 2012). While I strongly believe that the threat of the virus must be taken seriously, it is also an opportunity for us as educators and students to reflect on our lives, our world, and our ways of working together. And when that fails, we can always look to each other and online for people who are finding humor in the situation. Laughter is, after all, the best medicine.
Bermeo, N. & Pontusson, J. (Eds.) (2012). Coping with crisis: Government reactions to the Great Recession.New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
Bridget Goodman is Assistant Professor and Director of the MA in Multilingual Education Program at Nazarbayev University Graduate School of Education, Astana, Kazakhstan. Her teaching and research interests include: the use of the first language (L1) in second and foreign language classrooms, language policy, and sociolinguistics in post-Soviet countries.
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