Gianna Sicola

Professor Suk

EDUC-230-02 Education Field Experience

November 2021

Teaching HS Spec. Ed. Students in Small Groups in the COVID Era

Before you watch this video, consider this question:  How is what is happening in society today

impacting teaching and learning in classrooms-virtual and brick & mortar-all around the

country? What did you hear Jeff share that related to your thoughts to the question above in #1?

Something that Jeff mentioned in relation to #1, that also aligned with my thoughts, was

that students aren’t getting the proper social interactions with their teachers or their peers.

Thinking back to specifically the time when this interview was filmed and to the present, I think

this is still relevant. During the time of the interview, Jeff had said for his students especially,

due to social anxieties, remote learning was more comfortable because they didn’t have to have

their usual in person interactions with others (Dunker, 2020). Jeff also touched on the idea that

creating connections is hard to do through a screen. Relating to today, over a year later, even

though schools are not fully virtual, they still have some restricting rules in the classroom, but

most impactfully in my opinion, they are still wearing masks. To my logic, masks make it harder

for people to communicate since its harder to make out what people are saying, and they have a

piece of fabric muffling their voice. In addition, I think masks also negatively affect creating

connections with others because you’re missing half of their face when they use facial

expressions. From these aspects it’s hard to really connect and communicate with others, making

it harder for students and teachers. Though I was thinking about 2021 currently when answering
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the question, Jeff was referring to late 2020, but even being two different times, I think there are

still things from both times that relate and connect.

What did Jeff share about teaching in this era that resonated with you in regard to teaching with

current events in society?

Since Jeff is a social studies teacher, he has more range with discussing recent historical

topics and issues happening throughout the world. When speaking about how his job had been

affected by COVID and everything else happening in the world it, he expressed it brought much

more excitement into his career because he is able to bring up current topics like COVID, the

2020 election, inequality issues, and more in class (Dunker, 2020). Throughout the interview it

was apparent that Jeff was very big on letting students learn both sides of everything; students

can be influenced with their opinions on topics by many things like social media and family.

Because of outside influences, Jeff makes sure he helps his students learn how to properly

evaluate sources and their credibility (Dunker, 2020). In a world where technology is so

prevalent, I think this is something so important for students to be educated on. Rumors and false

information can be spread so easily in a virtual world, that being able to evaluate credible

sources is extremely beneficial when learning about events. Since the issues going on during the

time of the interview where very controversial, teaching both sides of everything was crucial for

Jeff to do. Also, it was important that he took the right approach when talking about these topics

with students to ensure his relationships with the parents of students would be maintained. Jeff

spoke on how he had a pretty good track record with parents and rarely got complaints about the

topics he was discussing, and “if [he] had an issue with a parent that probably means [he’s] not
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doing something right with the student” (46:50, Dunker, 2020). This shows that Jeff is able to

teach his students about topics and allow his students to learn things in ways that parents don’t

get upset about. Especially in the current society, this is really impressive since we are in such a

“cancel-culture” as a society, so by Jeff being able to talk about these topics, and not aggravate

parents is really great.

How does this type of teaching, using relevant societal current events, tie into the NJ

Professional Teaching Standards?

Standard 2.i.4: “the teacher brings multiple perspectives to the discussion of content,

including attention to learners’ personal, family, and community experiences and cultural norms”

("New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers alignment with InTASC," 2014, p.3).

Standard 9.i.1: “the teacher engages in ongoing learning opportunities to develop

knowledge and skills in order to provide all learners with engaging curriculum and learning

experiences based on local and state standards. ("New Jersey Professional Standards for

Teachers alignment with InTASC," 2014, p.10).

These two standards I think perfectly relate to what Jeff does with his students and

teaching current events in our society. Jeff makes sure his students are learning about current

events, formulating their own opinions while being able to learn and see the opposite side of

their viewpoint. In addition, to relate to the second standard, Jeff spoke about a student who he

used fashion to help her learn about the history of a certain time period (Dunker, 2020); this

shows he is using things that interest his students to learn what they are supposed to be learning

according to the state curriculum.

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What aspects of Jeff's personal and professional experiences sound inviting to you as a future

educator?  

There are actually a lot of things about Jeffs personal and professional life that sound

inviting to me. For example, he has the ability to change and update what he is teaching for each

student. Working with students 1-1 he is able to create lessons and talk about topics he wouldn’t

be able to normally in a full classroom because there is “lots of gray area” (3:51, Dunker, 2020).

This is interesting to me because it seems like he has much more freedom than a generic teacher

would usually have. One thing about his personal life is that he didn’t originally start out in

education, but in the art realm, specifically film. This is something that interests me because I to

have a love of dance and wish to pursue it along with teaching, however just being a dance

teacher isn’t all I’m looking to do. In addition, I like how he is able to spend time with his

children; in my future that is something that ranks high on my list. I want to be able to spend

time with my futures, especially during summers or breaks, and if I were to work a generic 9-5

job, I wouldn’t be granted with that blessing and opportunity.

What aspects of Jeff's personal and professional experiences sound daunting to you as a future

educator?

Though there are many aspects of Jeff’s personal and professional that do sound inviting,

there are some things that are worrisome for me. The idea of not being on a contract, or have

benefits is something that would definitely worry me. Since he works for the district and not the

school itself, it creates a unique scenario for his job. Also, his pay is mainly determined by hours,

such as he gets paid $60 an hour but can’t work more than 25 hours a week (Dunker, 2020).
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Though the hourly pay doesn’t bother me, the idea of not having paid sick days or losing money

for school closures and early dismissals is something I wouldn’t be too thrilled about.
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References

Dunker, J. (2020, September 14). Teaching High School Special Education Students in Small

Groups in the COVID Era [Video]. Interview by K. Suk. Canvas.

New Jersey Professional Standards for Teachers alignment with InTASC. (2014, May 5). The

Official Web Site for The State of New Jersey. Retrieved November 10, 2021,

from https://www.state.nj.us/education/profdev/requirements/standards/docs/ProfStandar

dsforTeachersAlignmentwithInTASC.pdf