Motivating Readers: Teaching in the Post Pandemic Era

1

A Shift in Education

If a child can’t learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn. -Ignacio Estrada

The COVID-19 lockdown of 2020 had a profound impact on education. The sudden shift to remote learning and the disruptions caused by the pandemic resulted in significant gaps in students' education. As teachers return to the classroom, they are faced with unprecedented challenges of addressing these gaps while also dealing with the trauma and anxiety that many students experienced during the pandemic.

The students who returned to the classroom after the lockdowns are not the same as the ones who left. Many have lost critical instructional time, missed out on social interactions, and faced challenging circumstances. Students came back to the classroom with gaps in their education that are larger than ever before, resulting in disengaged and apathetic students.

The pandemic has brought significant changes to the way reading is taught and learned in the classroom. Many students are struggling with focus and motivation, affecting their ability to engage with reading materials. Mental health challenges such as stress, anxiety, and depression have made learning harder for students and have contributed to a decrease in their interest in reading.

This book aims to provide teachers with strategies to help their students become more confident and engaged readers despite the challenges of the pandemic. We will explore the impact the pandemic has had on English Language Arts (ELA) education and provide practical solutions to address the gaps in student learning. The goal is to equip teachers with the tools they need to create effective literacy instruction that meets the unique needs of today’s student.

Education During Lockdown

During the 2020 lockdown, teachers had to quickly pivot and essentially reinvent school overnight. Teachers were faced with the daunting task of adapting to online instruction and learning new online programs and teaching methodologies with little to no training.

Just as teachers were struggling to teach online, students were struggling to learn online. And for multiple reasons, many students did not, or could not, jump on board. Some did engage in online learning activities but it simply wasn’t the same. It was harder for teachers to reach all students, everything took longer online than it would have had they been in the classroom and the gaps (when compared to grade level standards) widened. When students returned to the classroom, skill levels were in a deficit, student reading levels were lower than ever before and student willingness to participate in learning had greatly diminished.

To address these challenges, it is essential to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on education and take a more strategic approach to teaching. Rather than pushing students to catch up with pre-pandemic standards, educators need to slow down and assess the unique needs of each student. This includes addressing the gaps in knowledge and skill development that emerged during the pandemic and identifying strategies for supporting students in their