Beyond “Learning Loss:” Literacy Teacher Noticing in a Post-Pandemic World

Abstract

A resounding emphasis on learning loss has pervaded popular discourse and academic research as children return to in-person instruction after COVID-related schooling interruptions, most notably including remote schooling. This paper examines how this emphasis links to persistent deficit-oriented views of children as lacking literacy and language. It proposes an expanded, anti-deficit conception of teacher noticing based upon four domains that deserve more visibility especially at this time in the literacy classroom: children’s emotions, children’s funds of knowledge, children’s relationships, and children’s purposes. It provides examples of how teachers might adopt deliberate noticing practices that attend to these domains.

Keywords:

• teacher noticing,
• deficit perspective,
• anti-deficit teaching,
• learning loss,
• emotion,
• pandemic narratives,
• funds of knowledge,
• literacy,
• post-pandemic education,
• trauma-informed teaching,
• peer relationships,
• student perspectives