With New Eyes: Online Teachers’ Sacred Stories of Students with Disabilities

Abstract

Purpose

Happiness in teaching, termed Eudemonia, comes from a perception of a relationship with students. Such a perception is vital to sustaining teachers in their work in both on- and offline contexts. While the importance of these relationships has been acknowledged, there have not been attempts to account for how teachers pursue relationships and the accompanying sense of happiness. It is in this frame that we discuss findings from a larger study of online teachers working to support students with disabilities in a part-time program at a large virtual school.

Methodology/approach

The chapter considers expectations for online teachers and sets up a dialogue between same and different as they relate to on- and offline pedagogy. It then asks more questions about these responsibilities in the context of efforts by teachers to feel legitimate in their claims to relationships with students.

Findings

Stories that both elicited and threatened Eudemonia are shared and discussed. In particular, the authors learned that online teachers desired relationships with students to such a great extent that they were willing to narrate relationality into most interactions with the students.

Research implications

These findings suggest the difficult emotional work that online teachers must do in order to consider their work with students as beneficial. More work is needed to think about how relationships between teachers and students online can be leveraged for greater learning and to sustain both teachers and students in their work.

Originality/value

This chapter offers in-depth insight into the teacher work that online learning requires. It also offers a unique theoretical approach in the juxtaposition of stories of relationships with students online and offline.

Citation

Rice, M.F. and Allen Carter, R. (2015), "With New Eyes: Online Teachers’ Sacred Stories of Students with Disabilities", Exploring Pedagogies for Diverse Learners Online (Advances in Research on Teaching, Vol. 25), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 209-230. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-368720150000027011