Date of Award

Winter 1-11-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

First Advisor

Robin Hummel

Abstract

This study addresses how teachers build a progressive curriculum online for our youngest learners. Our youngest learners learn through play and the author sought to gather data in order to understand how teachers approached this age group in an online space. To conduct the research, ten observations were made of a pre-k class and a first grade class. Throuobservation and recording, four main themes were identified that progessive educators were using to create progressive curricula: Building Community, Progressive Pedagogy, Student Voice and the Home-School Connection. To build community the teachers observed had students bring objects from home, offered consistent morning meeting routines, acknowledged everyone on the calls, checked in on where different children were living and spent time hearing about the children’s lives outside of the classroom. Identifying a progressive pedagogy meant the teachers made the lessons student centered, had the children engage with different materials, used experiential learning and had an interdisciplinary curriculum. Examining the home-school connection was a consistent theme and the communication between the home and the school was of crucial importance in supporting young learners. Work needed to be uploaded, technological problems needed to be addressed, and communication about the child needed to consistently happen. Equity emerged as an important consideration since some students had more support at home than others. Other key findings related to the difference between managing a fully remote classroom versus a hybrid classroom, in which a teacher is teaching to both students on ground and fully remote students. Also, questions remain regarding how a teacher attends to the physical needs of a virtual student.

Comments

Early Childhood and Childhood General Education

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