By March, he and his students were shifting to distance learning because of COVID. Once online, Mr. Gifford made the choice to shift his focus to COVID-based instruction as opposed to his normal course curriculum. He believed that the once-in-a-lifetime pandemic was extremely relevant to his students\u2019 lives and a unique opportunity for him to lead his students through the scientific processes of research.<\/p>\n
Our classes would center around looking at the number of [COVID] cases, sort of an introduction to virology and the immune system and how that works. . . . It became this big case study of what scientific inquiry looks like and for students to be able to see that scientists don\u2019t have all of the answers already, but how are we working using the tools that we have to answer questions. And that quickly became a big part of class was how to build better critical thinking tools.<\/em><\/p>\n In addition to looking at the relevant foundational topics of COVID, Mr. Gifford engaged students in discussions about how the pandemic was affecting certain communities more than others and how they could lead the charge in keeping their own community safe.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s center the experiences of the folks who are going to be impacted by this first and worst. And then always the conversation would come back to, \u201cWhat can we do to help? What can we do to keep ourselves and our community safe?\u201d We built plans around that that tried to balance our physical and mental and social and community health. We made our own masks at home back in the early days when we were being told to make cloth masks because there was still a supply chain shortage of N95s at the time.<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Gifford also chose to focus heavily on COVID because he recognized that students were struggling to cope with the uncertainty of the pandemic. He noted that students came to him for answers that were, at the time, still unknown.<\/p>\n This was a time that was highly uncertain for all of us, but I think especially so for young people who are still developing patterns of resilience and how to cope with the unknown. And students coming to me as not a scientific authority in the main world, but their scientific authority, and having to sit with the answer \u201cI don\u2019t know any more than you. All I can do is look for the best available evidence.\u201d That\u2019s hard for students to hear.<\/em><\/p>\n As the pandemic persisted into the 2020\u201321 school year, online instruction shifted to hybrid instruction, with small groups of students coming to school for instruction on select days of the week. COVID was still a major topic in both of Mr. Gifford\u2019s 7th and 8th grade classes at that time because students still had a lot of questions. However, he noticed that students\u2019 questions changed. While earlier questions focused on what the virus was and where it came from, their questions later became focused on COVID vaccines.<\/p>\n The big question then was vaccines and the development of vaccines, the safety and effectiveness of vaccines. And so we spent a lot of time looking at both the scientific processes by which a vaccine is developed and then also health and safety and the regulatory process.<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Gifford explained that his goal was to give students a safe space to ask the questions they had. In a time when everything students heard was focused on the pandemic, he sought to give students accurate information to alleviate their anxiety.<\/p>\n I wanted to give them a safe environment in which to ask questions because this is the defining event of their times. It\u2019s something they hear about all the time. And being able to process what\u2019s going on with a trusted adult who they know will steer them in the direction of reliable evidence, that is good for them not just as learners, but for attending to those emotional needs. COVID was a really anxiety-inducing experience for a lot of us. And I think being able to talk with an adult who\u2019s going to give them good information, it ratchets down some of that pressure.<\/em><\/p>\n In the 2021\u201322 school year, Mr. Gifford\u2019s school was finally able to return to in-person instruction for all students. As student concerns about COVID calmed, Mr. Gifford no longer felt the need to incorporate the topic in his instruction to such a great extent. However, he did continue to weave COVID into his science curriculum in places where it naturally fit.<\/p>\n As time has gone on, we have been stepping back from COVID a little bit, letting school just be school and not being in kind of crisis mode. I still want to, as a science teacher, be communicating the best available evidence and empowering students to seek that for themselves. We still are talking about COVID, but it might be less than before. Or now that I\u2019ve had more time to integrate it into the curriculum, it might feel like less of a, \u201cHey, we\u2019re pausing the regular class to talk about this,\u201d and instead we use the window of this experience to teach us something about this thing in science that we\u2019re already learning.<\/em><\/p>\n Reflecting on his instruction during the pandemic, Mr. Gifford noted that the support he received from his administration was key in his decision to address COVID. Specifically, his administrators allowed him the freedom to step back from his normal curriculum and address this very timely, important, and relevant scientific topic.<\/p>\n I felt very supported in terms of what I needed to do in my curriculum, how I needed to take a step back. And at the end of day, for an 8th grade student in the spring of 2020, is it more important that they know the history of atomic structure, or is it more important that they know how to better safeguard their family and community health during a global pandemic? My administration was really supportive in that flexibility that they gave me.<\/em><\/p>\n Mr. Gifford also reflected on the fact that he was able to successfully incorporate COVID into his instruction because he focused on information that was relevant to what students cared about.<\/p>\n I would say I served first as a messenger and a listener, deeply paying attention to what students cared about related to the pandemic, what\u2019s on their mind, what are they hearing. . . . And whether that was spending a lot of time looking at masking or vaccines or translating that information coming from the CDC or the WHO or actively responding to misinformation.<\/em><\/p>\n As a result of his COVID-focused instruction, Mr. Gifford was able to serve as a bridge between his students and the scientific community allowing them to find and evaluate scientific information on COVID in a safe and unjudging environment. Further, by providing his students with accurate information, he was also able to have an impact on their parents and families, providing an opening for students and families to have conversations about what they were experiencing.<\/p>\n During the pandemic, I had a very critical role as a bridge to young people between the scientific community and their understanding of what was going on in the world. And this was surprising\u2014it\u2019s not just a bridge to young people, it\u2019s a bridge to their families as well. It\u2019s young people saying, \u201cOh, I had a conversation with my parents last night about wearing masks in the grocery store,\u201d or \u201cWe had a conversation about the development of the vaccine,\u201d or \u201cMy dad was really worried about side effects from the vaccine, but we talked about this thing that we explored in class, and now they\u2019re less worried.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n![\"Elementary\"](\"https:\/\/www.horizon-research.com\/RAPID\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/giovanni-gagliardi-fvT3t9iOaJI-unsplash-scaled.jpg\" "\\"Elementary\\"")
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