Hi Paul,

I am excited to return to the classroom because the human connection makes the environment so much more engaging. Being able to notice a student's body language, or catch that overwhelmed look in their eyes, are cues that don't translate well over zoom. The students also felt the distance, and have let me know they felt isolated and lonely. For many students the social activity in the classroom is vital to their mental health.

I am still concerned about the COVID virus and its variants. Without a university-wide vaccine mandate, it gives me pause before walking into a classroom with 30 students and getting face to face in confined spaces again. As much as I want to be with our students, I don't want their germs. However, our increased cleaning protocols will continue to reduce the amount of all germs, helping us all to stay healthier.

Overall, the desire to be in the classroom wins out.

Sheila Schumacher

Director of Digital Design Programs, College of Fine Arts and Production

Sheila Schumacher 

I love this: "Overall, the desire to be in the classroom wins out."

We need to remember and consider OUR purpose :)

Tiffany Newell 

Thank you, Tiffany.  I have always felt teachers who are truly committed to their students' success want to be connected with them.  This is true for those in K-12 and higher education, whether they are in the physical classroom or the online modality.  Being involved is being involved, and that is the key for teachers' and students' success.  "Consider our purpose."  I wonder if some higher education institution could use that as an advertising campaign.  It has a nice ring to it!!!

Thank you for your post, Sheila.  You are my first responder, so that is awesome!!  It seems to me there is a real mix of people's responses to where we are with COVID still today.  You can go to the store and see some people with masks, while others are joyfully shopping without.  The same goes for restaurants, movie theaters, and shopping malls.  It will be interesting to see the thoughts and responses on campus, as I am sure some of the faculty will be like you and not want to deal with their students' germs, while others will resume their closeness with the students.  Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al. (2021) wrote of teachers' concerns with having to switch to online teaching in record speed when the virus first appeared, and now teachers are having to face their concerns with going back to the more traditional classroom.  Their research pointed out increased anxiety, depression, and stress symptoms, so I have a feeling this issue is far from being completely resolved.  I know we see news reports from various health organizations and our political leaders, and while there seem to be more people returning to their actions of life before COVID, I believe we all still have some work to do in this regard.  I will look forward to seeing how others respond!

Reference:

Ozamiz-Etxebarria, N., Santxo, N. B., Mondragon, N. I. & Santamaria, M. D. (2021). The psychological state of teachers during the COVID-19 crisis: The challenge of returning to face-to-face teaching. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 620718. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.620718

Paul Danuser Great discussion topic!  Returning to the classroom in a pre-COVID format will be challenging.  I agree with Sheila and Tiffany that our purpose overcomes all challenges.  Students miss being in the classroom and I miss being able to read their faces as Sheila mentioned.  While teaching through Zoom got us through, it was not optimal.  Of course, there are the stories of students who were successful but those students are likely to be successful no matter the format.  Unfortunately, these students are in the minority.  Personally, I find it much easier to connect in person rather  than through a computer screen.  Just as we faced our obstacles switching to online/Zoom teaching, we will face the challenges of a post-COVID classroom head on.  Lopes up!

Sandy Bledsoe 

Thank you for your kind words and submission, Sandy.  I am glad you were able to navigate into the discussion!  I like what you said about the students being successful who likely would be successful in any format.  That is likely true, but I know even successful kids struggled with the online modality and the blended sessions.  I had more students this entire year miss classes--both in-person and during the blended learning sessions--and many of them also missed turning in assignments.  I had more late work and work just not turned in than ever before.  My grades were lower than in any other year, and I believe so much of this is due to a lack of coping mechanisms for these kids through all of the challenges.  I would love to do a study on that, and I am looking to see how I can incorporate the teaching of coping mechanisms into so many areas of these kids' lives.  There should not be this much mental illness and depression and anxiety.  We need to do something about that!  Thank you again, and I look forward to chatting with you again soon!

God bless,

Paul

Hello again, Everyone,

Happy Friday!  With new policies and suggestions and rules about vaccines and closures and openings and freedoms, how do you think this will impact what we do in our online and physical classrooms in the fall?  I just saw another post about classrooms being opened up for the benefit of the students, and I know there are still many people with concerns.  Will this potentially impact more students being in online classrooms?  I hope we can keep this discussion going!!

I also hope you all have a great weekend.  I will be here each day to see how we can keep chatting!

Paul Danuser This is a great question!  I have spoken with faculty asking if GCU will require vaccines and how that impacts their choice to teach on campus.  My favorite part about that sentence is that it will be their choice as to whether they return to campus or not!  We have students who are super excited to return and others who might be anxious.  The pandemic opened the doors and understanding of other teaching options and it was a blessing.  Prior to there being no other option, the reputation of online learning (for some) was not always positive.  I have been doing research for a conference and came across ample information about how online is now being held with higher regards which is amazing.  GCU was blessed enough to already have a tremendous online component but other schools were not so lucky.  That being said, I do think there will be an increase in online student learning but we will also keep the same amount (if not more) students that want to return to the physical classroom.

~Jessica  

Jessica Blair 

Thank you for your post, Jennifer.  I have been fascinated with this topic since the day my students were wondering if we were staying home after spring break at the end of the semester in 2020.  Some were anxious to get back, while others were content to stay in their homes away from any threats.  You are right about the GCU platform for online instruction, and I am sure there are other IHEs that were also in the same position.  Online instruction in 2020-21 is much different than it was even in 2001, so we were equipped to weather the storm and to do a good job with that.  It is interesting to see how many students are using this all as an opportunity to assess their own feelings about in-class instruction and interaction with others.  One article I saw just today said a university in the Midwest is looking to sell one million square feet of space, as their enrollment was significantly reduced because of COVID.  Can you imagine GCU selling its space like that?? I sure can't, especially as I drive by the building projects that are still going on!  We are blessed, and I am so excited and interested to see how we continue to deal with providing great instruction to all learners through all modalities!

God bless,

Paul

Hello, Everybody,

It is Saturday, and we had our first real monsoon activity of the summer last night!  There are rumors of a tornado, even!!!  The 2021-22 school year could be a kind of tornado with the issue of going back into the classroom (see what I did there!!), so I am hoping we can continue the conversation over the next few weeks.  I will be posting a couple of questions each week, but if there is anything else you would like to chat about throughout the month, that will be great.  One thing I was thinking about is in terms of the student teachers I was working with this past year.  They had a range of experiences and challenges and successes and frustrations.  What advice would you give to student teachers, and those who are still new at this profession, so they can be as prepared as possible for their time in the classrooms--both online and in-person?  I will look forward to our continued conversations!  I hope you survived Monsoon 2021 and have a great weekend ahead!!

God bless,

Paul

Hello, Everyone,

I hope you are all enjoying a great weekend.  We have survived Monsoon #2 as last night the power went out in the Danuser household for about eight hours.  It is amazing how much we appreciate air conditioning and lights and refrigeration when we don't have it, even for a few hours.  My lovely bride commented on what people must have done before TV and the Internet and the other luxuries we have!!  I was very happy when the lights came back on at about 3:30, and we could get some sleep with the AC going.  Anyway, I was hoping to see some more discussion, but I know you are all busy enjoying the weekend.  I will post a couple of new questions for our discussion tomorrow, and I will also check again after the Suns' game (3-0 or 2-1---any guesses, predictions, prayers???).  I will look forward to chatting with you again soon.

God bless,

Paul

Hello again, Everybody,

I am posting two new questions for our discussion for the Week of July 12.  Of course, you can continue to reply and post for the previous week as well, as it is just fun for me to have a chance to chat with my colleagues in other Colleges and other teaching modalities.  Here are the two primary questions for the week of July 12:

• Have Zoom, Teams, and other online platforms helped with your own teaching strategies to increase engagement with your students who will be back in your classrooms in the fall--both in-person and online?  How have you used the technology to help make you a more effective teacher?
• How have adult learners been impacted by learning throughout the pandemic?  What have you done to make sure all concerns are addressed to ensure academic success?

I will look forward to your responses and the discussions we can have throughout the month of July.

God bless,

Paul

Paul Danuser thank you for leading this discussion and for the great questions. 

To answer your first question; Last fall my class was moved from ground to TOS (traditional online synchronously), which is basically teaching over zoom (1 hour and 45 min). That forced me to move all my materials, CATs, and other classroom activities to be administered digitally. Besides, I had to create activities having in mind accessibility during the zoom session. To be honest, it was a challenge. However, it was a rewarding experience. I think learned more than in any other semester and students were engaged and enjoying the activities. 

I see how all the work that I put into that semester is going to be helpful now that we are returning to the classroom in the face to face environment. Activities and digital materials are still relevant and easy to implement in the ground classroom as well. Kahoot and Socrative apps were some of my favorites and I am planning to continue using them during Fall 2021 semester. Actually I think it could be even more fun to implement them in the ground class, increasing the interaction and positive environment in the classroom. 

Thank you and have a great semester everyone!

Vivian Hobbins 

Hi, Vivian,

Thank you for responding.  First of all--I love the Bitmoji.  Whoever invented these sure got it right!  I appreciate your positive response to the situation and am so thrilled that the different ways you engaged your students through the online platform are ways you can still engage your students in the classroom as well.  That is exactly the thing I tried to get across to my student teachers last year.  There had come a point in the semester when I basically drew a line in the sand with the kids and said the complaining had to stop and to see that all these things they were "forced" to come up with were now things that would make the online experience better, and that would then translate back into the classroom whenever that would occur.  Even in my 39th year, there were things that I learned how to do so my students would be more engaged, and I am excited to take that into this year's classroom--and that includes Socrative and other means of keeping the students involved in the lessons.  Thank you for all you have done and will continue to do!

God bless,

Paul

Paul,

I was trying to respond from email without logging into CIRT.  That might be my problem.  During spring semester, I used Zoom for review sessions before exams.  I did host Explore Mores pre-COVID but the attendance was not great, maybe 10% of students enrolled.  Hosting reviews through Zoom resulted in 30-50% of all enrolled students logging on.  While I did the Zoom reviews the same way I did in-person, EOCS reflected on how helpful the reviews were.  I will continue to host reviews through Zoom rather than in-person.  

Thank you for your response, Sandy.  Clearly, you work hard to provide great experiences for your students!  10-30-50% responses are not uncommon, as I often heard that from the Blended Learning Assistants I worked with both semesters last year as well as the student teachers I worked with.  I am sure you would agree the online format does provide options for the students who use them, but it is hard to be effective when 90-70-50% of the students don't use them.  I had heard somewhere and sometime something about leading a horse to water........  I commend you for sticking with it, and I am sure your reviews will be more well attended when the students see how valuable the information is and how committed to their success you are!  Thank you again for your response.

Paul

Good morning, Everyone,

We had rain this morning!!! Glorious rain!  Plus, on my way home from the gym, the car's thermometer registered 78 degrees.  I think I could get used to this!!  Anyway, I wanted to check in and see if there was any discussion going on.  I will look forward to chatting with you all again soon.

God bless,

Paul

Good morning, Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well.  We have had rain the past couple of days in Queen Creek, where I live, and aside from the storms knocking the power out a few days ago, it has been wonderful!  

I am trying hard not to have my feelings hurt about the discussion posts going on here.  I was hoping many of you would have some ideas and thoughts about the return to online and physical classrooms.  Perhaps my questions are not as thought-provoking as I had thought.  Do you have some topics you would like to discuss?  I have several questions in mind but am posting only two per week to keep things manageable.  I would love to engage with you over the next couple of weeks to see what your thoughts are about this very important, and still controversial topic.  

I will keep checking for the discussion and will hope you all have a great weekend coming up!

God bless,

Paul

Paul Danuser 

 To answer this question: “Have Zoom, Teams, and other online platforms helped with your own teaching strategies to increase engagement with your students who will be back in your classrooms in the fall--both in-person and online?  How have you used the technology to help make you a more effective teacher?”

I do not teach on ground but I do teach for online and zoom has helped me.  I have been teaching online for about 15 years now at GCU.  I have always asked myself how can I connect better with my students?  How can I help them feel connected to the class topics and objectives and to their peers?  Having a global pandemic helped answer my questions.  I watch GCU develop ways to connect with their ground students online through zoom. I though this may be a good way for me to help my students feel connected. I took my announcements each week of the new topic and objectives and I put it in a PowerPoint format. I also added some slides to help teach my students the topic and objective to help add to their understanding. Then I recorded myself presenting the PowerPoint to my students. Once the recording was finished, I upload it to YouTube and posted my video in the LoudCloud classroom. This worked out great!  I got more of my students watching my videos then I did with just writing the announcements and I got a lot of positive feedback from my students. They connected more with me as the instructor, they understood the topic and objectives better, and they stated they understood the assignments better.

Jennifer O’Connor

Jennifer O'Connor 

Thanks for sharing, Jennifer!

I also only teach online, but my guess is that many of our students (and faculty) are feeling quite isolated after dealing with the impacts of this pandemic for the past 18 months. We are definitely still missing some of the ability to connect with others in our daily lives (a good friend of mine is vaccinated and is still afraid to leave his house), and I have no doubt that this sense of isolation is also impacting our students in online classes. Something as simple as a Zoom meeting or a Flipgrid at the start of class as an icebreaker can create a sense of camaraderie that help students feel a deeper connections to their classmates each week.

Jennifer O'Connor 

Thank you for your response, Jennifer.  I love what you are doing with your students, as one of the things I hear from a lot of faculty is how to engage with online learners.  We have a group of FTOF members who do great things, so it is always good to see what you are all doing to make sure these students are just as engaged and feel the effects of great teaching.  My student teachers last year were struggling to keep their kids engaged, as some school districts didn't require the students to have their cameras and mics on while in the Zoom classrooms, and that kept many from getting to know their kids and feeling truly engaged.  I have also taught a few online courses and always try to post a video with each new topic to go over the assignments and chapters for the readings.  It is not quite the same, of course, as being in the classroom, but this allows your online students to see your face and hear your voice, and I am sure that makes a big difference for your students.  Keep up the good work, and I look forward to learning even more from all of you!

God bless,

Paul

Michael Stella 

Thank you for your response to Jennifer, Michael.  I don't know if you should say you "only teach online" as that is so significant for our student body!!  I am sure you make strong connections through Zoom and Flipgrid, and I know students enjoy and appreciate that from their instructors.  You all know GCU has far more online students than ground students, so it is vital they also feel a strong connection to their faculty members.  I can't imagine a whole lot of people saying the best thing about their educational experiences is having no contact with their professors!  Keep up the good work, Michael, and hopefully we will all be at a point soon when nobody has to fear leaving their homes!

God bless,

Paul

Michael Stella 

Right! In order for good communication or learning to occur, there needs to be a "buy in" on both sides.  COVID required that we see beyond our norm and look for new ways to deliver and receive information... or connect.  

I personally look forward to using this as an opportunity to keep some of the tools that were once considered alternatives. 

One because it creates a connection often leading to more effective communication but also because it is now normal and we are through that learning curve. 

Best,

April Hankins 

Thank you for your response, April.  I am very much encouraged by the positive responses I am seeing by a group of professionals who clearly love teaching and clearly love the students you all get to work with.  One of the things my student teachers often wrote about last year was a lack of buy-in from some of their cooperating teachers, and that made me sad.  The easiest thing to do is maintain the status quo, but I love it when true professionals say this is hard, or this is different, and then do what they need to do to be effective in the classroom.  I have a feeling the "new normal" is going to look different for many of us, and I like to think that is okay.  Heck, who wants things easy????  I hope you have a great weekend!

God bless,

Paul

Hello again, Everyone, and Happy Monday!

I hope you all had a great weekend and are ready for another week's worth of discussion.  Every day we are still seeing reports (conflicting reports mostly) about schools and COVID and spikes and declines and a variety of other issues.  I appreciate your conversations from the past two weeks and look forward to those continuing.  I feel I learn something new with each post, so I thank you for that.  With all that said, here are two more questions for our consideration this week:

• How prepared (and ready) do you think your students (both online and in-person) will be to move forward with their learning--considering that classes will be resuming in their traditional setting either in July, August, or September?
• How can teachers band together, even more, to make sure their classrooms are safe and healthy places for all to learn and prosper?

If any of you have suggestions for questions you have been thinking about through this month, please suggest them as well.  I will look forward to chatting with you throughout the week!

God bless,

Paul

Hi, Everybody,

I hope you are all doing well.  I am teaching a class this summer called Social Justice for Educators.  It is one of my all-time favorite classes to teach, as it has so much current information and relevance to our teachers and communities today.  On Thursday, from 1:00 - 2:45 PM Arizona time, we are having a special guest speaker.  Mr. Eric Buehrer runs an organization called Gateways to Better Education (gogateways.org).  Among other things, Mr. Buehrer helps Christian teachers learn about their rights, roles, and expectations, especially in the public school setting.  He talks about prayer in schools, teaching to various state standards, and the First Amendment.  He has spoken to my students two other times, and the kids learn so much.  I am extending an invitation to you if you would like to join us.  Mr. Buehrer lives and works in California, so he will be attending our meeting via Zoom.  If you are interested, send me a note, and I can send you the link to join us.  My school email is [email protected]

If this works out for you, I will look forward to seeing you Thursday afternoon.

God bless,

Paul

Hi again, Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well as we approach a rainy weekend here in the Valley of the Sun!  For a couple of months, we were also once again the Valley of the Suns, and it was a lot of fun to follow our team as they played for the NBA championship.  I moved to the Valley in 1976, and I remember watching the NBA finals from my home in Rochester, MN knowing I would be moving here, and it was so fun to root for Paul Westphal, Gar Heard, Alvan Adams, and the rest of the Suns--The Little Team That Could and Darn Near Did (Google it!!!).  Anyway, I know everyone is busy, and it has been a quiet week on the discussion forum.  I have about a week with you all and will hope to have more great conversations with you.  I will check back again later today and throughout the weekend.  If you are in the Valley, stay dry and safe, especially on the roads.  

Oh, and the time with Eric Buehrer was outstanding once again.  He shares so much good information with our students about their First Amendment rights as teachers in the classroom and even breaks down the Pledge of Allegiance with us all.  It really is time well spent.

Again, I hope you have a great weekend, and I will look forward to chatting with you again soon.

God bless,

Paul

Dr. Danuser, as always you provide such great leadership and guidance to your colleagues! As an adjunct instructor, I am SUPER excited to return to some sort of new “normal” with in-person learning. As we all know, our own emotional and social competencies have a direct relationship with how effective we are in providing support to our students with this transition period back to “normal”. Think of the analogy, put the oxygen mask on yourself first before you help others! I’m hoping our faculty had the opportunity to take some well-deserved time to relax and recharge this summer! 

For my dissertation, I am using a theoretical foundation based on Albert Bandura, a highly regarded social cognitive psychologist who developed the social learning theory. Bandura’s studies on self-efficacy demonstrated that self-efficacy influences behaviors including motivation, decision-making as well as impacting cognitive functioning and affect (Bandura, Caprara, Barbaranelli, Gerbino, & Pastorelli, 2003). His theory also demonstrated that self-efficacy is directly related to various performances including anxiety, habits, and goal attainment. Bandura’s social learning theory also states how learning can occur from modeling. So, as their teachers, we must model self-care and give ourselves grace and understanding. We hear all the time, “take care of yourself!” But, what does that look like? It looks like taking time for what makes you happy, pursuing hobbies, taking time to be with family and friends, and creating a work-life balance. This will help our students with moving into this transition to a new  “normal” by understanding that it is okay to slow down and be patient with yourself. 

In saying that, my biggest concern as we return to “normal” is our students’ social and emotional well-being and self-efficacy. It is easy to say that returning to normal is the best thing and it’s “like riding a bike”. We know from research that cognitive, affective, psychomotor and intuitive growth are all connected (Sönmez, 2017). Unfortunately, our students have been somewhat isolated for over a year from what “normal” looks like. This comes with different challenges that we need to be prepared for as educators. It requires us to provide our students with a balance of grace and accountability to ensure both emotional and academic growth. Making time during our in person classes to provide strategies and resources for our students to adjust and reconnect with their peers will help students feel supported. 

This goes without saying, but our COE faculty is amazing! Each and every one of you went above and beyond to support our students and help them be successful during some very challenging times. You are all very appreciated!

References

Bandura, A., Caprara, G. V., Barbaranelli, C., Gerbino, M., & Pastorelli, C. (2003). Role of affective self-regulatory efficacy in diverse spheres of psychosocial functioning. Empirical Articles. Child Development, 3, 769. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.lopes.idm.oclc.org/stable/3696228

Sönmez, V. (2017). Association of cognitive, affective, psychomotor and intuitive domains in education, sönmez model. Universal Journal of Educational Research, 5(3), 347-356. doi:10.13189/ujer.2017.050307

Professor Sanchez,

Thank you so much for your outstanding response!  I also appreciate the change you made!!!

I am a huge proponent of Dr. Bandura and used a lot of his research for my dissertation as well.  I was having dinner last night with two very good friends, and we were talking about the nature of kids today.  They have both dedicated their lives and careers to teaching, coaching, and counseling, and they said kids today are very resilient and very accepting of people and situations around them.  I like to agree with that, but I also am seeing more cases of mental health issues this generation is dealing with, and I keep coming back to the idea of teaching coping skills with our students.  I am of the generation that didn't talk about personal "stuff" and just kept these things to ourselves, and this generation wants to post everything about their personal issues for the world to see and then often can't understand why people are commenting on it or even using this to hurt them psychologically.  I firmly believe we have to create a balance between not saying anything and saying everything!  I had students last year take "personal health" days off from the one day they were in the classroom--even on Tuesdays when they had the weekend plus Monday when they weren't in class.  Again, I am of the generation that shows up to work every day and doesn't take a day off unless something is broken--literally and metaphorically!!  I like to think our students will return to what they have grown up with, and things will be better in the physical and online classrooms soon.  It may take some time, but I have confidence in our system, our teachers, and our students.  We may all have to be more sensitive to their efficacy (and our own), but I am very much looking forward to the challenge and also to challenging the students to rise up to higher levels of expectations.

I actually like riding a bike, so hopefully, the students will as well!  Let's talk about your dissertation and research.  I am always fascinated to learn more, and I know I can benefit from your work as well.

I hope you have a GREAT weekend, and I will talk with you again soon.

God bless,

Paul

Paul Danuser 

Hi Dr. Danuser,

Well said! I agree, it is a delicate balance we have to navigate with our students, right? Between holding them accountable with high expectations and helping them transition into this new "normal". I agree that students will rise to whatever bar we set for them and we certainly want to hold the bar in the best place possible to help our COE students be prepared to have their own classrooms one day!

I know that I am excited to see our campus full of eager and excited students in Fall! We have seen that this last year has really taken a toll on our COE students in getting the in person learning experiences they need to fill their teacher toolboxes with strategies and ideas to get them ready to manage their own classrooms. Hopefully, this school year will provide our students with meaningful experiences again. I'm excited to hear about all the wonderful things our students are doing out in the field!

Thank you again Dr. Danuser for leading such a meaningful discussion!

Hi again, Everyone,

I hope you have had a great weekend.  I was hoping to chat with a few of you, but I am sure you have a lot going on.  I will post a couple of new questions tomorrow that will serve for this final week of July.  I trust those of you in the Valley have enjoyed the rain we had this week.  What a blessing!!  I will look forward to posting again tomorrow and then chatting with you through the week.

God bless,

Paul

You are very kind for responding once again, Professor Sanchez!  I think back to those days right before we left for Spring Break, and the rumors were swirling about whether we would be coming back or staying home.  I remember telling my students I would see them after SB, and that I would not be saying goodbye but see you later!  Well, that quickly changed, and I felt bad that I didn't really have the chance to say goodbye to the "kids" (I turn 62 tomorrow, so I believe I have earned the right to call my students kids, as I do that lovingly!!).  It took a while to get used to the routine of having Zoom calls for class, but we managed to survive those last few weeks of the semester, even though some of the students believed the semester was over!!  I believe we will do the same this year in transitioning back to the classroom with the full class and no masks (I am sure some will still wear theirs, but it is not mandatory).  I like to think we are all adaptable, and we also adapted to the blended model and ended up doing just fine.  I have been corrected about saying "the new normal," as I am not sure many of us know what that will really be like, but I believe we are going to be okay.  I have a feeling that goes for the online community and the folks who work on campus as well.  I know I am just as excited for our conversations about schooling and basketball and life in general with the friends I have missed for the past 18 months, and I know things will be good!!  Thank you again, Dusty, for being a very welcome part of our conversations!

God bless,

Paul

Hello again, Everyone,

I hope you all had a great weekend.  I know I have already posted about the rain, but it doesn't happen all that often here in Arizona, and when you mix that with record-setting low temperatures for the highs, well, it was a wonderful weekend with actual weather!  

I have a couple of new questions for our final week's discussion, and I will also encourage you to post any questions that may be on your mind, as we wrap up this time for July.  Thank you to all who posted and read.  I hope you found this conversation as enlightening and meaningful as I did.  Here are the questions:

• How do you intend to incorporate your Christian Worldview into the classroom (online and in-person) when you have the chance to return to school?
• How do you think you might make up for lost time with how things were in the past year-and-a-half?
• Administrators, how will you support your faculty and convince your students and their parents that your school is set to receive students back into the classroom?
• What have you learned about yourself or your profession through this experience?  Do you believe it has helped shape the way you teach?

I will look forward to our final week's conversation.

God bless,

Paul

Good morning, Everyone,

I know we are approaching the end of the month and my time with this discussion forum, so I want to take a few minutes to reflect, and I hope you are okay with that.

My birthday was yesterday.  I am not embarrassed to say I turned 62.  I celebrated the day by hitting the gym and knocking out 2,100 calories on cardio.  That is a new personal best, and as my wife commented, it was mostly to prove that I am not getting old.  For the rest of the day, I dealt with the pain in my arthritic right knee, but I was able to last on the elliptical and the treadmill, and the pain is just a part of it!!  I also say this to make a point about something that still gnaws at me a little bit.  

On the very first day of classes last year, a student said something to the Dean of one of the other Colleges who reached out to Dr. Meredith Critchfield, our new Dean for COE, and then our Faculty Chair.  The student misinterpreted something I said about COVID and the way we were doing things last year and believed I didn't take it seriously.  That has bothered me all year, and I thought about it a lot yesterday.  My wife is a women's health nurse practitioner, so I hear about things in the medical field every day.  She has Cystic Fibrosis and is susceptible to every cold and every flu and every other health-related issue.  She has had many patients come to their appointments being COVID-positive, and she should have contracted this illness many times over.  The fact that she hasn't proves to me God wants her in the office to take care of her patients.  I also have a friend whose dad contracted COVID and died alone in his hospital room when the hospital would not allow his family to be with him.  The point is, I take this very seriously.  

Also, according to my wife, I am in the riskiest demographic for contracting COVID because I am elderly (62) and overweight (despite my best efforts at the gym).  This is largely why I wanted to facilitate this discussion and this topic.  I base my teaching reputation on the relationships I build with my students, and I was not able to do that as well last year because of the masks and the blended learning arrangement.  I had the students half the time with me, and I couldn't see their facial expressions and had to ask them to repeat what they said many, many times because of how the masks affected their speech.  I am praying like crazy that things don't get worse again to where we all have to wear masks again in the classrooms, but if they do, then I will once again abide and do my very best.  

My wife will tell you I don't make a big deal out of my birthday unless it would be a milestone such as one that ends with a 5 or a 0, but I probably should do more as every day and every year is a gift--especially when I see reports of people my age--and younger--who are dying from COVID or any other reason.  God has blessed me with 62 years of life, and I am entering the classroom for the 40th year.  When I was in college, I thought I would do this for about five years and then figure out what I really want to do with my life.  Well, I did.  I am a teacher.  I have loved being a teacher and hope to do this for about 20 more years.  I will probably always be overweight, as I love meat and potatoes (my Midwest upbringing) and flavored creamers in my coffee and pie and cake and ice cream (not all together, although that would save time and be amazing).  I don't want to see myself as a health risk, so I will continue to go to the gym and stay as active physically and mentally as I can be.  I am so blessed and want to share my blessing and love of learning with as many as I can before it is time for me to go.

I don't know if anyone is really reading this, but I felt compelled to share a little about myself and my thoughts this morning before I head out to class. Thank you for reading and participating in the discussion this month, and I hope you all have a great day!!

God bless,

Paul

Paul Danuser  

Tiffany Newell 

It was great seeing you again yesterday, Tiffany.  Being on campus reminds me how much I love being on campus!!!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your summer, and I will look forward to seeing you and the team again soon!

Paul Danuser 

Dr. Danuser, 

Wow, 2,100 calories! That's amazing! I feel good if I burn a few hundred! Very impressive. 

As teachers, we maintain a high effort to building meaningful relationships with our students. I don't think anyone anticipated COVID being such a large scale and very serious virus as it has turned out to be. It turned our world upside down and I know that you and every faculty member in COE went above and beyond to provide meaningful learning experiences for our students. 

When I left the classroom a few years ago, I had NO idea how much I would miss it. Every day I think about what I would be doing if I was still teaching. I still fill my Pinterest board with educational things and follow my online memberships to educational journals and blogs. I am fortunate to be able to teach a course each semester at GCU so that I can share my passion for teaching with future teachers. What I also didn't realize when I left the classroom was how much of a huge impact teachers make on their students. I still receive emails and facebook posts from former students and their families. And, I hear all the time from students about you and our other faculty about the amazing work you are doing out there and how much they appreciate the extra care and concern.  What that means, is that as you reflect on this past year and all the challenges with masks and blended learning and you feel that it wasn't the best situation for learning...well, you did YOUR BEST and that is what matters. Students see that through your modeling and will take that passion and drive you demonstrated into their own classrooms! It wasn't necessarily the objectives we wanted to teach, but indirectly you taught them about grit, perseverance, resiliency, and patience...all things effective teachers need to know!

So, to all of you, pat yourself on the back! I share about our wonderful COE faculty with everyone I meet. This last year or so was not ideal, but all of you made it the best it could be and our students will never forget the determination you had to help them through their programs! 

Dusty Sanchez 

Thank you so much for your kind words and response, Dusty.  I know we have talked a number of times about your missing the classroom, and I am so happy that you have at least one class each semester in which you can share your passion with the students.  They see from you how much you love teaching, and that translates very well for all of them.  I don't think any of us truly knows what the 21-22 school year is going to look like yet.  I just saw the Phoenix Union High School District is going to require masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status.  Will GCU do the same?  Will schools around the country do the same?  Will we stay with remote or at-home learning?  I think about my two grandsons who are supposed to start school this Monday.  My older grandson, Foster, lost out on an entire year of learning and enters second grade behind.  Hudson, his younger brother, will start kindergarten without the necessary preparation, as he was not in any kind of pre-school setting and didn't get a lot of help and support from his mom and her "at-home" teaching.  I love my grandsons with all my heart and would love to say they were not affected by all of this, but that is simply not the case.  I think about all the other grandsons and granddaughters who will have to make up this missed year, and I pray for our teachers who will also have to get kids caught up on what they missed at whatever grade level.  Anyway, our month is almost over, but I pray the conversation continues.  Thank you again for always encouraging me and the rest of our COE team.  We are so blessed to have you with us, Dusty!!!

God bless,

Paul

Hello once again, Friends,

I can't believe we are now in August.  July flew by, and I will consider our conversations a true highlight.  This is my first time working closely with the Faculty Advisory Board, and it has been a true blessing.  I hope you will feel you can keep in contact and talk with me about any issues concerning welcoming students back into the classrooms.  I know the word around the country is there is a spike in COVID cases, so I am wondering if there will be a reaction to having schools open again.  Please feel free to keep my contact information and drop me a line if you would like to chat.  You can reach me at [email protected]..

I hope you all have an amazing year ahead.  We are blessed to teach, and we are especially blessed to teach at GCU!!!!

Lopes Up and God bless you all!

Paul

As I am a new member, and teach solely online, I can only say that even in the online courses, Covid has affected students in many ways. Longer than normal work hours and added mandatory work shifts, has impacted student ability to complete assignments on time in many instances. Special consideration must be taken in these circumstances, and especially if the student has family that has been affected or has themselves been tested positive for the virus and is suffering from the effects. 

Luci Hanus 

Thank you for your post, Luci.  I was hoping the conversation would continue, as it seems every day there is something new in the news about going back to masks or not going back to masks or having classrooms open or not having them open!  My two grandsons began 2nd grade and Kindergarten last Wednesday, and so far they are not in masks.  I hope it stays that way, as they both need the socialization as well as the connection with their teachers and classmates.  

I had a conversation about this very thing just the other day, and it is very true there are additional demands on the working adults who often rely on the online platform in order to have the chance to earn a degree.  I am sure you are working hard with your students to allow for the challenge of time and content when teaching your classes.  Those of us who focus mostly in the classroom likely forget about this dynamic.  I have one online class beginning this semester, and it will be interesting to follow how the students do with their scheduling.

Welcome to GCU!!!  I hope you love it here as much as the great majority of us do!!

God bless,

Paul