Stories of COVID-19: Teachers

The Story Collider

Story Collider, Inc.

Arts, Science, Society & Culture, Personal Journals, Performing Arts

4.4 • 824 Ratings

🗓️ 16 April 2021

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Few professions outside of medicine and research have played as pivotal of a role in the events of the past year as teachers have. In today’s episode, we’ll hear two stories — one from a Chicago Public Schools teacher and another from a New York Public Schools teacher — about how the challenges and triumphs they’ve experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Part 1: Jenny DeLessio-Parson has always prided herself on being a super teacher — until the challenges of remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic begin to add up.

Part 2: As the COVID-19 pandemic progresses, Amanda Geduld begins to feel that she and her fellow teachers aren’t receiving the support and respect they need to do their jobs.

Jenny DeLessio-Parson was born and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. After studying Public Policy in college, she worked in various roles serving Chicago students and families before returning to school to become a teacher. Jenny has been an educator with Chicago Public Schools for 8 years and currently serves as a middle school Social Studies teacher and staff delegate to the Chicago Teachers Union. She was introduced to storytelling through Lily Be, which later led her to become co-host of The Stoop, a Chicago-based storytelling show.

Amanda Geduld received her B.A. from Dartmouth College in English Literature and Women's and Gender Studies. She went on to study English education at Boston University where she received her M.Ed. Now serving as an 11th and 12th grade ELA teacher in the Bronx, she is deeply passionate about approaching education reform through a social justice lens. Her writing has been featured in The Washington Post and CNN.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey everyone. Welcome to Story Collider's Stories of COVID-19. This is our second week of our new five-week mini-series featuring stories of COVID-19.
0:23.1	This week we're featuring stories from teachers.
0:26.4	It's hard to think of many other occupations outside the medical and research professions
0:30.7	that have played such a pivotal role in society this past year.
0:35.1	All teachers have faced enormous challenges this year. They've been
0:38.7	positioned as both heroes and villains in media narratives. So I was excited and I hope
0:44.2	you are too to have this opportunity to hear their real stories, straight from them
0:48.3	unfiltered. Our first story is from Chicago public school teacher Jenny
0:53.0	Delessio Parson.
0:55.0	It was recorded last January at her home in Chicago.
0:58.0	I have been a teacher for Chicago Public Schools for eight years.
1:14.4	And throughout those eight years, I have prided myself on being a super teacher.
1:22.4	For me, being a super teacher means that I throw my heart and my soul and all of my waking hours into designing social justice-infused lesson plans that teach my students how to be change makers in their community.
1:38.3	It means that my classroom creates space for discussion and for student identity and voice to thrive.
1:45.8	It means that my classroom is a safe and brave space and that I emphasize social, emotional
1:52.0	health among my students and their families. It means that I'm an advocate for myself and my
1:57.6	colleagues, the union delegate, and being a super teacher means that I can play
2:02.7	the Chicago Public Schools game. I hit all the numbers that the district says are indicative of
2:09.1	teacher's success. And I take special pride in sitting in staff meetings and looking at Google
2:15.5	spreadsheets where my class is highlighted in green because 21 out
2:19.0	of 22 of my students show growth on their NWEA test and because my attendance rates are consistently
2:25.0	at 97 or 98 percent that I have high ratings. It's a teacher in my evaluations. I complete all
	...

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