46 ForOregonState.org/Stater after delving into faculty stories for the book Higher Education Beyond COVID, Inara Scott, senior associate dean in the College of Business and Gomo Family Professor, realized avoiding burnout is not a onesize-fits-all proposition. “The recommendations I kept hearing — most of which seemed to involve stepping away from work and ‘self-care’ — didn’t seem to hit the mark for me or many people I knew,” said Scott. “My burnout comes when I feel like I’m not making a difference. For my form of burnout, it’s important for me to lean into those experiences that make meaning and help me see the impact of my work on students and faculty.” — SIOBHAN MURRAY 5. LEARNING INTERRUPTED BY COVID WON’T GET BETTER ON ITS OWN The COVID-19 pandemic caused the biggest disruption in the history of American education. Most of Oregon’s 553,000 public school students went without in-person classes for more than a year. Now a $6.9 million federal contract is helping the OSU College of Education build a program known as Equitable Accelerated Learning in K-8 Literacies and Mathematics (or ALK-8). It brings together kindergarten through 8th-grade instructional leaders, OSU education faculty and Oregon Department of Education experts to learn how to support students and teachers as they work to identify and regain what was lost. “We continue to have larger numbers of students that are not yet reading at grade level compared to prepandemic outcomes,” said Chrissy Chapman, director of teaching and learning for the Woodburn School District. She’s part of an ALK-8 working group seeking effective ways to help bilingual students access grade-level content and fill learning gaps. Many children lacked access to necessary technology or internet bandwidth. Online learning also proved extra challenging for students with disabilities and language barriers. The program now supports 14 working groups comprising nearly 600 teachers, teacher leaders and other educators across 80 Oregon school districts, addressing topics such as using new techniques to teach math and improving how English is taught in multilingual classrooms. The focus is supporting high-quality education statewide. “The members of the working groups have some of the greatest insight into potential improvements because they are directly connected to designing, refining and implementing solutions to the challenges students and teachers are facing,” said Jana Bouma-Gearhart, associate dean of research for the College of Education. In August, the groups will present their ideas at a conference held on the OSU Corvallis campus. All materials and resources they produce will be available to educators through the Oregon Department of Education’s Open Learning Hub. To learn more, visit beav.es/eal. — MARSH MYERS “The nexttime a highly contagious disease jumps from animals to humans … researchers will not be caught unawares.” BEATING BURNOUT In 2020, Katie Gallagher, coordinator of Oregon State’s Contemplative Studies Program, and Professors Kathy Becker-Blease and Regan A. R. Gurung taught an online class designed to help students and community members cope with pandemic burnout. Here are some of their tips: • Remember your “why.” Align your time and energy with what is meaningful to you. • Block out time away from news, technology and social media. • Practice mindfulness activities, like walking meditations in nature, doodling and listening to calming music. It’s all about taking deep breaths in … and out! (See suggestions at beav.es/mindful.) • Make regular time for the important people in your life and show them they’re important. • Let your self-care activities nourish you versus being just more “shoulds” on your to-do list. What activity feels like a welcome gift? • Find small, sincere ways to take stock of, and celebrate, your accomplishments. • Treat and talk to yourself like you would a good friend — with understanding, generosity and compassion. (Find ways to practice at self-compassion.org.)
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==