COVID-19, Teacher Attributions, and Humanizing Pedagogy in P-12 and Higher Education
Abstract: The social distancing measures adopted to slow down the spread of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) disrupted the face-to-face school experience for students around the world. Among students, these abrupt shifts have been associated with lower levels of attendance, engagement, and motivation. However, there has been a troubling pattern of some educators attributing these student outcomes to student "laziness" rather than environmental factors. In response, the authors want to remind the audience that the World Health Organization has estimated that more than 6.8 million deaths occurred due to COVID-19 (as of the time this paper has been written). Thus, this paper is a "call to action" for educators to adopt more humanistic approaches as part of their teaching philosophy and pedagogy to support students in ways that account for environmental influence. To that end, this paper provides a brief overview of the principles of humanizing pedagogy and corresponding recommendations for best practices.