Loss of brick-and-mortar schooling: How elementary educators respond

Purpose: This paper aims to understand how elementary school educators who teach subjects that traditionally require hands-on work in schools are rising to the challenge of losing brick-and-mortar facilities in the wake of the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. Design/methodology/approach: The authors interviewed six elementary school educators and developed iterative grounded codes from the interviews to understand how the teachers are rising to the challenge of teaching online, what supports they need, and how they are viewing their roles and student learning in the present landscape. Findings: In response to losing brick-and-mortar schools, teachers are rising to the challenge by creating creative assignments and communicating with students and parents via multiple platforms. They are learning to use technology to create meaningful, socially distant learning experiences and, in the process, blurring their own boundaries between work and life. They exercise compassion for their students while providing the best education they can in these circumstances. Practical implications: This work provides administrators, educators, policymakers and technology developers insight into the challenges teachers are facing. Originality/value: In addition to the timeliness of this study in light of the COVID 19 crisis, the focus on elementary school students, who often need support from parents or guardians to use Web technologies, and subjects traditionally requiring face-to-face interactions and hands-on work contribute to the originality of the study.