Browsing by Author "Romero-Autrey, Sonya Lisa, 1974-"

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Teaching in the era of COVID-19 : a case study exploring the power load margins and lived experiences of elementary school educators.
(2023-08) Romero-Autrey, Sonya Lisa, 1974-; LeCompte, Karon N.
The coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) disrupted classroom and school systems across the globe in March 2020. Educators found themselves teaching in unprecedented classroom settings in efforts to prevent the spread of the virus, thus requiring educators to pivot their teaching practices. Educators who taught during the COVID-19 global pandemic felt subjected to significant distractions, stressors, and complex working conditions, yet attempted to create meaningful ways to build relationships with their students. The study explored the lived experiences of four elementary school educators from Roadrunner Elementary School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as they taught during the COVID-19 global pandemic. They taught remotely and in-person, with strict mandates and restrictions from March 2020–August 2022. McClusky's (1963) Power Load Margin (PLM) Theory informed this case study by exploring educators' power and load experiences as they navigated teaching during the global pandemic. The theory depicts the margin as the relationship between the load necessary for living and teaching and the power needed to carry the load concerning what educators experienced (Main, 1979). The Power Load Margin Theory provided a valuable lens for analyzing educators' power and load through their lived experiences. The findings of this study highlight the overwhelming stressors, such as anxiety, the uncertainty of the pandemic, issues with technology, and lack of balance due to the abruptness of the pandemic as an imbalance between power and loads. Additionally, educators indicated that distractions like lack of access, highly dysregulated students, broken school systems, students not fully engaged, and a loss of preparation significantly impacted educators' heavy workloads and negatively impacted and increased their load. This study found that the pandemic's complex logistics, including excessive paperwork, conflicting mandates, negative public opinions, and the uncertainty of the pandemic, decreased the participant's ability to carry their professional and personal loads. However, the educators noted that finding ways to create meaningful, innovative, and positive relationships with their students and families increased their power due to having the autonomy to teach and embracing time and circumstances positively.