A Professing Parent’s Reflection on the COVID Classroom and Research Illustrates the Full Utility of Communication Pedagogy

Abstract

This essay uses an ethnonarrative method to illustrate why and how to communicate compassion in the K–12, college, and workplace classroom during a pandemic. Reflecting on my experiences as a parent and professor, my students’ journal entries March–May 2020, and field research notes, I conclude that the feeling of powerlessness in the classroom and compassion within the organization creates an innovative ethnonarrative research opportunity for the Journal of Communication Pedagogy reader. Ultimately, my reflection as a parent and professor emphasized the value of communication pedagogy. Ultimately, I argue that practitioners in traditional classrooms, as well as the workplace, can advance communication pedagogy through multifaceted ethnonarrative approaches that are uniquely suited to meet the complex challenges exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.