• September 21, 2023

Teaching In The Coronavirus Pandemic : NPR

It has been a year since teachers received an unprecedented plea: Educate students in a whole new way in a pandemic setting. In this comic series, we’ll be illustrating a teacher story every week from now until the end of the school year.

Read episode 1 here

COMICS: Lessons in the Pandemic

COMIC: How a math teacher broke through to her virtual students

Episode 2

Lori Chavez, a middle school social teacher in Kewa Pueblo, New Mexico, explains the importance of staying connected with your community during the lockdown.

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LA Johnson / NPR

LA Johnson / NPR

My school is in the Bernalillo Public Schools.  However, we are a unique, 100% tribal-enrolled school.  We are closely related to each other.

It was stressful for our students not to have an internet connection, as other students in our district - in non-tribal communities - did.  We have hand-delivered paper packages to our students every week.

During the summer it was amazing to connect everyone.  We had to train our senior members how to use a computer!  An older grandma said on the first visit on the internet:

Through grants, fundraisers, and our own

Most of us live in multi-generational houses, so I see Papi running across the background for coffee or little siblings.  ... I really teach the whole family.

But a lot of my students are not in front of the camera.  There is a stigma in our community about what it means to your energy when you are in front of the camera.

Mentally I have the feeling that I can overcome everything now.  But emotionally it was really difficult.  Our tribal communities are very badly affected.  We have lost so many influential elders.

i created

Our school is in our ancestral land and these souls stay here.  We always want to honor our people and tell stories about who they were so that no one forgets them.

This comic was adapted from interviews with the teacher by Eda Uzunlar and LA Johnson.

Jack

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