Creating a Common Ground Without a Common Space:  A Reflection on Pandemic Teachings 

Christopher M. Aviles, Teacher Education Department

My work as an early childhood practitioner, researcher, and lecturer embodies a pedagogical practice rooted in critical reflection and anti-racism. The context of my work centers the experiences of students who range from early/primary to post-secondary education and whose realities are largely shaped by an urban setting. Brookfield (1995) proposed critical reflection (CR) as a “stance and dance” in which our stance is defined via our inquiry and openness, and the dance being the experimental risks we take when applying new ideas and methodologies to our practice (p. 42). This concept has largely contributed to an improved and purposeful teaching rationale and has supported the development of strong rapport and credibility amongst teachers and students. This understanding is what largely influenced the implementation of my adapted activity Our Educational Journeys, further detailed in this article, as a community building activity I facilitate with each cohort of students I have had the privilege and opportunity to learn alongside each semester.

Community building in the classroom is a concept and area of research centered around ways to make the classroom a more inclusive environment for diverse learners. In the field of early childhood education, community building is essential because it supports and promotes social interaction and the development of peer-to-peer relationships. However, the optimal learning environment is contingent upon how students feel in the classroom and whether or not they are comfortable initiating and taking risks. According to The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC 2009), two of the guiding practices for community building stress the importance of relationships among students and the need to ensure every member of a community feels valued. This information is vital in understanding how foundational community building is but also in understanding how community building as a practice continues throughout a student’s educational journey. As an educator who interacts with students at the early elementary to collegiate levels, I found it illuminating to see how much experiences in the early childhood classroom can translate to that of a community college lecture. More specifically, the ways community building naturally develops as a result of in-person social interaction via a shared common space (e.g. classroom).

In a traditional in-person semester, I would find myself eager to build community with my students through various getting-to-know-you activities on the first lecture of each semester, that would ultimately allow students to share their various interests, and collectively formulate rules and community norms that would guide us throughout the semester. Given the world-wide shift to remote learning as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the reality of virtual teaching and learning via platforms like Zoom set-in, I found myself considering the deeply nuanced challenges I would be facing as a result of this new virtual-teaching reality. Brush (2008) argues that interactions between students, colleagues and academic staff, as well as collaborative learning, are key and essential factors for overall student presence and satisfaction in a course. In order for students to learn they need to be a part of an experience in an ‘active learning’ environment, where reflective interactions are encouraged amongst students (Bonwell and Eison, 1991). This notion of reflective interactions proved essential to the community building activity I am writing about, more specifically it proved critical in supporting my students in establishing their whys regarding their choice to enter the field of teacher education for early childhood.

Juxtaposed against the already stark reality of course completion and graduation rates for college students, it was imperative for educators like myself to consider new ways student success and investment could be achieved in an online learning model. Despite existing research around online learning, which had been a field of study prior to the onset of the COVID-19 global pandemic, remote learning and teaching presented its own slew of challenges, particularly recognizing my own limitations, lack of experience and formal training in remote-learning. Needless to say, evolving my teaching practice and curriculum to online platforms, the challenge of community building and student investment remained front and center. According to Bernard et al. (2000), a ‘learning community’ needs to be created in order to support the development of a successful collaborative learning environment, as well as support students in feeling connected to a wider group community.

At the beginning of each semester for my introductory course to Teacher Education, I make it a point to support my students in reflecting on their own educational journeys up until now, as well as find and build connections with one another. I ask my students to think beyond their shared experiences working with children ages birth to eight years old, and to consider our personal rationales for pursuing the field of Early Childhood Education. I ask my students to reflect on their own educational journeys, specifically considering the racial and ethnic identities of their past teachers/instructors, beginning from their time in early education up until this very moment in their post-secondary education. Using a key of colors for each racial/ethnic identity (e.g. blue for Latinx, yellow for Black, orange for White, etc.), my students were tasked with first making the worksheet needed for this activity which can be done on a blank piece of white paper that is divided into two rows of four to create a total of eight boxes. Students were then presented with the task of coloring in each square on the paper based on a corresponding question (or writing in a # for an alternative way to engage in this activity if coloring materials were not readily available). An example of the prompt used to facilitate this activity, I would state “For Box #2, color in the racial or ethnic identity of your teacher in 3rd grade,” which continued until each box was filled with a color for a corresponding racial/ethnic identity.

After completing the task and reflecting on each question, students then identified what they noticed about their specific educational journeys. Highlighting any trends around the general racial/ethnic makeup of their teachers/instructors, or noticing any differences and the impact this may have had on their relationship to school and learning. They then took time to reflect on their own (independently), to which students were then asked to share in small groups and begin to find connections between themselves and their peers, which Bernard et al. (2000) identified as a key factor for establishing a successful ‘learning community.’ Furthermore, we would reconvene as a class and as each student shared with the whole group, I began to share my own connections and noticing(s) with their individual experiences. This not only allowed me the opportunity to share with them my very own why — such as my investment in supporting preservice teachers in understanding what unique role we have entering the field of early childhood education, but to also recognize how we can celebrate and honor or even simply acknowledge the diversity (or lack-there-of) in our future classrooms and beyond. Through this attempt to build community via critical reflection, I felt more rooted in my own rationale for choosing this work, which is to be an agent of change in the life trajectory of young children, not only through my direct work with them but also through my work and commitment to preservice teachers and the urgent need for diversity and inclusion at all levels of education.

In a longitudinal study on diversity exposure in preschool, Gaias et. al (2018) found that exposure to diverse people in preschool predicted lower racial bias and cross-race friendships throughout a child’s early elementary experience. This study also suggests the importance of an educator’s role in promoting intergroup friendships and more affirming attitudes toward diversity when increasing children’s exposure to diverse materials and people in a classroom setting. As an early childhood practitioner, I find myself reflective in my own practice and what role I serve as not only an educator to young children but also to preservice teachers who intend to play, learn, and grow alongside them. Additionally, it reminds me of the my own praxis and reasons for choosing this work, which is to consider the impact and learning I experience from my students at all levels, and the way it has changed my own trajectory as an educator who values reciprocal teaching. Ultimately, we must make it our responsibility to be anti-racist educators by providing opportunities for our students to look into both windows and mirrors, whether that means providing the appropriate materials or opportunities.

In consideration of the many challenges and lost opportunities of teaching and learning during a global pandemic, it was important for me to think of new ways of building community amongst my students and myself, despite not having a traditional in-person learning experience. Critical reflection and anti-racism as a pedagogical practice are at the heart of why I open each semester with this community building activity. It goes beyond traditional experiences which I feel limit a students’ opportunity to reflect on why they choose to take a specific course, especially during a global pandemic when the limitations and realities of education became most apparent. Creating this space for reflection and connection amongst my students and myself allowed us to establish our commitment to this field and work that goes beyond the walls of our lecture and into the walls of our future classrooms.

References

• Bergland, D., Shobe, H., & Trinidad, A. M. (2018). Case studies in critical reflection praxis in university studies: The stance and dance. The Journal of General Education, 67(3-4), 209–225. https://doi.org/10.5325/jgeneeduc.67.3-4.0209
• Bernard R. M., Rojo de Rubalcava B. & St-Pierre D. (2000). Collaborative online distance learning: Issues for future practice and research. Distance Education, 21 (2), 260-277.
• Bonwell C. & Eison J. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom. AEHE-ERIC Higher Education Report No. 1. Washington, D.C.: Jossey-Bass.
• Brookfield, S. (2017). Becoming a critically reflective teacher. essay, Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Brand.
• Gaias, L. M., Gal, D. E., Abry, T., Taylor, M., & Granger, K. L. (2018). Diversity exposure in preschool: Longitudinal implications for cross-race friendships and racial bias. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 59, 5–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2018.02.005
• So, H.-J., & Brush, T. A. (2008). Student perceptions of collaborative learning, social presence and satisfaction in a blended learning environment: Relationships and critical factors. Computers & Education, 51(1), 318–336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2007.05.009
• Sreckovic, M. A., Schultz, T. R., Kenney, C. K., & Able, H. (2018). Building Community in the Inclusive Classroom. National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), 73(3), 75–81. https://doi.org/https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26788987

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