(The opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Al-Fanar Media.)
An earlier version of this article was published on “CLT New Chalk Talk,” the newsletter of the Center for Learning and Teaching at the American University in Cairo.
As we embark upon a semester of teaching face-to-face with masks and physical distancing, we wanted to share tips for making this work. We acknowledge that some of these tips are contingent on what faculty members are comfortable with and their vaccination status.
Gwyneth Talley taught in this mode last year at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and Maha Bali crowdsourced experiences of other educators from Twitter this summer (curated here), and just started trying new things this semester.
I, Maha, have a mix of feelings: excitement to be with students again, anxiety over whether we can stick to all the safety measures, and concern that we won’t be able to communicate well in a dialogue-based class.
As for me, Gwyneth, this feels a bit like déjà vu. I want to ensure safety for everyone in the classroom, but also make students feel heard and seen even with masks.