Meet Our Teachers
Laura Mayberry
Meeting Academic and Psychological Needs During the Pandemic
When the pandemic forced high school instruction online last March, school administrators cut back on teacher/student contact hours. With many schools relying on Zoom, and every teacher needing the platform, administrators typically allotted time for only one or two weekly class meetings per course section. Yet teachers felt busier than ever. Preparing lessons and assignments for online delivery took extra time.
Laura Mayberry, who teaches at Corona Del Mar High School in Newport Beach, California, felt better prepared for the transition to online teaching than many of her colleagues. The online courses she took as a student in 色中色鈥檚 Master鈥檚 program familiarized her with interactive learning from both students鈥 and teachers鈥 perspectives. 鈥淭he WebEx system we use in MAHG is very similar to the Zoom system I鈥檓 using with students,鈥 Mayberry said. 鈥淚 had even led an online class, since my professor for American Foreign Policy, Eric Pullen, assigned presentations. I鈥檇 seen how the hand raising icon works.鈥
As California鈥檚 shelter in place order became likely, Mayberry reassured her students. 鈥淭hey asked, 鈥榃ill we still have class?鈥 I said, 鈥極h sure, business as usual. I will see you online.鈥 So, when the SIP was ordered, my kids were like, 鈥榳hen do we log on? What time?鈥欌
Maintaining the Routine
Mayberry could maintain 鈥渂usiness as usual鈥 to a greater degree than most teachers. In her affluent school district, students have access to computers and internet. Also, 鈥渕y school has the technology to support daily online class meetings for all course sections,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 taught bell to bell, every period, every single day. I felt that if I did not, I would lose the connection with my students, and it would be hard to recapture that.鈥 Maintaining the connection, she could better meet students鈥 academic and psychological needs.
Because all the courses Mayberry teaches are Advanced Placement, 鈥淚 felt a real responsibility to get students ready for the AP exams.鈥 Mayberry founded and directs the Academy of Global Studies at Corona Del Mar. It helps students 鈥渦nderstand other nations and societies and . . . deal with the economic, political, social, cultural and security issues confronting the world today.鈥 The program combines a comparative approach to social studies and literature with language study and intensive research projects. Within the academy, Mayberry teaches AP courses in US history, comparative government and politics, and macroeconomics, along with sophomore and junior-level AP research courses leading to a capstone project.
The sole social studies teacher for sophomores, juniors and seniors in the rigorous program, Mayberry builds friendly bonds with students.聽 Students 鈥渆ither like me, or learn to like me,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 tell them, I鈥檒l grow on you like mold!鈥
Mayberry worried about the toll distanced learning would take on students鈥 mental health. 鈥淪tudents need to feel a connection to their school and to each other,鈥 she said. Also, lack of a routine contributes to anxiety and depression. 鈥淚 wanted to give students a reason to wake up each morning, knowing that somebody was expecting to see them. Many of my students are seniors I鈥檝e had in class for several years, so their emotional health weighs on me. I wanted them to know that I like seeing them every day.鈥
Teaching the Whole Student
Mayberry has always made herself available to students. 鈥淚n live teaching, I teach before school, during break, at lunch, and after school. My kids come in early, tell me about their day, ask questions, and hang out.鈥 She gets to know students鈥 鈥渟ports, siblings, what they like to do in their free time, how funny they are.鈥澛 This knowledge helped her after distanced learning began.
In the physical classroom, 鈥渢eachers watch students鈥 body language as they walk into class and take a seat, slumping or sitting up attentively. They note whether a student is engaging the way they normally would.鈥 Online, 鈥渋t takes more effort to learn how students are doing.鈥
She talked with students as she admitted them one by one to Zoom meetings. 鈥淗aving learned about their lives before we went online, I could ask questions about their interests. I might start a low-pressure conversation before the main part of class begins, asking, 鈥榃hat have you been doing to keep yourself occupied during quarantine?鈥 This gets students talking to each other about TV programs they鈥檝e watched, and loosens them up to discuss the assignment.
鈥淢y largest class had 38 students; my smallest 21. In the larger class, I couldn鈥檛 see all my students in the same window.鈥 Fortunately, 鈥渢hat class was well trained to engage in organic discussions.鈥 Yet adjustments were needed. 鈥淚n an exciting discussion, kids jump in and interrupt each other. Online, talking over each other creates sound distortions, so students muted themselves to be respectful, causing hesitations.鈥 At times she broke her own rule against putting students on the spot. 鈥淚 might say, 鈥楰atie, what are you thinking about this?鈥欌
Building Skills and Nurturing Curiosity
As a MAHG student, Mayberry 鈥渞eally enjoyed鈥 her online courses. 鈥淭eachers brought academic curiosity to the class sessions. We came looking to learn things and wanting to talk with our professors. The professors didn鈥檛 mind if we emailed them extra questions, so we did. But high school students鈥 academic curiosity has not necessarily matured. They may think history or government is not their subject; but listening to the stories of history, they get curious.鈥 To nurture that curiosity, Mayberry needed to meet with students online every school day.
鈥淚t鈥檚 more work,鈥 she admitted. She spent evenings and weekends getting assignments onto the online platform. But when she asked for feedback, her students thanked her. 鈥淚 asked them, 鈥榳hat is the hardest thing about online school?鈥 They replied, 鈥極ur teachers don鈥檛 connect with us as often as before; some of them dump the whole week鈥檚 assignments on us on Monday.鈥 They鈥檙e still learning to budget their time.鈥 One student complained, 鈥淚 knew what I had to do this week, but when I got to Wednesday鈥檚 assignment, I had a lot of questions which I couldn鈥檛 ask, because my teacher鈥檚 office hours had happened on Tuesday.鈥 Following the usual daily schedule 鈥渒eeps students focused鈥攁nd not so lonely,鈥 Mayberry said.
Maintaining classroom rituals also helps. On test days, Mayberry always played recorded 鈥減ump-up music鈥 (usually 鈥渟tadium anthems like 鈥楨ye of the Tiger鈥欌) as students walked into class, put books away, and found their pens and pencils. She introduced a similar ritual for the several minutes it takes to funnel students from the Zoom wait room to the classroom. Finding a magazine article suggesting twenty songs 鈥渢o play first thing in the morning for a fabulous day,鈥 she decided to play one song a day for four weeks. She explained to students, 鈥淎fter we鈥檝e heard them all, we鈥檒l decide which other songs should be added to the list.鈥
Mental Health Supports Learning, and Vice Versa
Taking time to maintain relationships and encourage positive attitudes seems inefficient. Yet it minimizes students鈥 anxiety, allowing Mayberry to maintain academic rigor. 鈥淪ometimes, instead of thinking of all the ways we could make distanced learning work, we鈥檙e inclined to give up. 鈥極h, let鈥檚 just do pass/fail鈥 or 鈥榣et鈥檚 just give enrichment activities.鈥 By the time we get back to a regular classroom, how long will it have been since they were really learning? What will they have missed and need to make up?鈥
History study itself can reduce students鈥 anxiety, since the past helps us make sense of the present. Mayberry鈥檚 study of US history in MAHG helped her guide students in drawing historical connections. 鈥淲e can talk about other pandemics鈥攍ike the flu pandemic of 1918鈥攁nd about emergencies like the Great Depression.鈥 When students in her APUSH class asked about gubernatorial powers to manage crises, Mayberry seized the teachable moment. 鈥淚nteresting you should ask,鈥 she said. 鈥淩emember what we learned about federalism?鈥 When students asked about presidential responsibilities during emergencies, Mayberry recalled both the New Deal and the civil rights era. 鈥淓isenhower鈥檚 use of the National Guard to get African American students into Little Rock High challenged some people鈥檚 idea of federalism.鈥
色中色 helps teachers like Mayberry make the lessons of history available to new generations. 鈥淢AHG reaffirmed how much I love history and how much I still have to learn,鈥 Mayberry said. 鈥淚 gained a richer understanding of historical concepts I teach all the time, so that I鈥檓 better able to answer the questions of students who are curious. I met new colleagues to collaborate with. 聽All these things, plus MAHG鈥檚 聽hybrid structure鈥攑art online and part in-person鈥攈ave made this uncertain time of pandemic so much more manageable.鈥