Reimagining Education in the New Normal: What Student Stories Can Teach Us

The purpose of this study is to examine the question, what are the self-reported perspectives on experiences related to COVID crisis schooling of neurodiverse adolescent students living and learning in New York City from the 2019 - 2020 school year through to the 2021 - 2022 school year, and how do these students understand their perspectives based on their experiences of schooling in this time of great flux? This study utilizes auto-ethnographic notes, archival data, and narrative inquiry into the stories and experiences of neurodiverse adolescent students regarding COVID crisis schooling to center their voices in the discourse on reimagining education in the new normal. For the purpose of this study, "COVID crisis schooling" is defined as encompassing a variety of emergency response plans instituted by schools directly related to the global pandemic beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. The term "new normal" is borrowed from the vernacular of popular culture during this time, using it to describe the collective shift in delineating the boundaries of normalcy in everyday experiences brought on by the pandemic. Thus, this research also seeks to interrogate the definitions of "normalcy" and "exceptionality" as part of the study, exploring these terms as they relate to student educational experiences during this time.

Author dc:creator

• Adsuar-Pizzi, Manuela

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nakkula, Michael

• Education

Language dc:language.iso

en

Repository record dc:identifier.uri

https://repository.upenn.edu/handle/20.500.14332/59368

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:repository.upenn.edu:20.500.14332/59368