Building a Community in Crisis: Working in a Teaching Center during COVID-19
Abstract
This piece considers the hasty endings of medieval romance alongside the response to the chronic COVID-19 crisis, exploring the contours of the all-too-human desire for closure. During the pandemic, new communities of practice around teaching arose. These fresh collaborations appeared as we all needed to reimagine online classroom community for our students. I suggest that instructors deserve the same kind of support they offer students – and yet, their needs are too often relegated to the background of our conversations about pedagogy. By valuing and supporting instructors, we can help them reimagine the academy more broadly. The pandemic forced us to evaluate what we value in our academic communities. As we move forward, I propose that we take those lessons with us.