Becoming a Community of Novices: How Teacher Agency Bolstered Professional Learning in a Pandemic Context

• In Event: Teacher Agency, Community, and Growth During Pandemic Teaching

Abstract

The COVID and #BlackLivesMatter pandemics elicited an unprecedented need for professional learning spaces wherein teachers could learn to deliver effective instruction in the midst of ever-evolving instructional contexts. Given the rarity of the circumstances, we used a convergent mixed methods design to survey 203 teachers and conduct focus groups to probe their perceived professional learning needs and professional learning experiences throughout the pandemics. Teachers reported varied learning needs, though these needs were seldom met effectively by their districts and schools. As a result, teachers described exercising considerable agency in locating and participating in aligned professional learning experiences. Such agency may prove an enduring resource for teachers’ post-pandemic professional learning.

Authors

• Megin Charner-Laird, Salem State University

• James Noonan, Salem State University

• Jacy Ippolito, Salem State University

• Christina L. Dobbs, Boston University