Mid- and Late-Career Teachers’ Emotions and Perceptions of Student Change in “New Normal” Post-COVID Classrooms

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 11:40 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Teaching Through a Crisis: Persistent Challenges Post-COVID (Table 3)

Abstract

During the first fully in-person school year following the COVID-19 pandemic (2022-2023), this study aimed to examine mid- and late-career teachers’ perceptions of how students had changed since the pandemic. Appraisal theory was used to understand how teachers’ meaning making around these perceived changes affected their emotions while teaching. Based on interviews with 10 teachers spanning various grades, content areas, and specializations, we found that teachers predominantly invoked deficit framing to describe changes in students. However, assignment of blame/responsibility for perceived changes, as well as how students were positioned in the classroom, played an outsized role in determining which emotions teachers experienced and to what degree. Implications to support teachers’ occupational wellbeing and directions for future research are discussed.

Authors

• Rachel E. Gaines, Kennesaw State University

• Melinda Palmer, Kennesaw State University

• Mei-Lin Chang, Kennesaw State University

• Kristen C. Mosley, University of Texas at Austin