Ms. Edmonds was a 5th grade science and social studies teacher at a small, rural school in Michigan during the latter half of the 2019\u201320 school year, a position she transitioned into after spending the first half of the year as a teacher in a 3rd grade classroom. Although COVID wasn\u2019t well aligned with the 5th grade content standards she was responsible for teaching, Ms. Edmonds devoted class time to discussing the virus because it was an important current event that was concerning to her students. As she said:<\/p>\n
I felt it was important for my students to be educated about what was happening. They were very concerned, and so I decided to bring that in as part of our discussion, especially when we\u2019re talking about the current events. Whether I was teaching something in science or social studies, we did current events every day. . . . So I tried to apply it to what we were learning in both science and social studies as much as I could, but it kind of was more of just tied to our current events. More of a standalone topic.<\/em><\/p>\n Before her school building closed, Ms. Edmonds drew heavily on Discovery Education curriculum materials and daily news reports as sources of information about the virus. These resources shaped her instruction around COVID. In her words:<\/p>\n So we use Discovery Education science textbooks, and they had some COVID-19 resources. And prior to the shutdown, I would bring in those resources to help teach my students about viruses and how to prevent the spread of viruses, and then what COVID-19 was and what we knew about COVID at the time. . . . We also used daily news reports that talked about COVID. It was in China and was moving into the United States and how that impacted people.<\/em><\/p>\n After her school building closed, Ms. Edmonds continued to use digital resources to teach about the virus, with the goal of ensuring her students had access to accurate information that would help keep them safe and alleviate their fears. As she explained:<\/p>\n While we were trying not to make it too heavy on students that are home and worried, we did want them to still understand what\u2019s happening with the world and what\u2019s happening with this virus. So, we did bring in some digital learning pieces. Having students understand how what we knew about the virus was morphing and changing and how there\u2019s still some standard pieces to keep ourselves safe. And that\u2019s why we were in shutdown and social distancing and separating.<\/em><\/p>\n\n