Lauren Davenport

This interview was conducted remotely via Zoom with Lauren Davenport on April 26, 2022. At the time of the interview, she was at home in Brooklyn, NY. Lauren is a New York City public school teacher, who teaches ninth and twelfth grade English at a school that focuses on technology. Lauren speaks about challenges she has faced in the 2021-22 school year and the ways that in-person teaching has been different than she expected. She discusses an experience of “constant reset” throughout the year: reset of expectations, of curriculum, of mask mandates. Lauren shares that the theme of this school year for her is “survival.” This is a word she chose jokingly last summer during a staff event and now believes it was foreshadowing because of how difficult this year has turned out to be. Lauren describes differences she notices in her students, especially ninth graders, who are learning how to participate in the classroom in ways students before the pandemic already understood or picked up quickly. She reflects that the last two years students could turn off their cameras and microphones to check out of class, but they can no longer do that for in-person learning. This interview also touches on how school districts and society at large don’t prioritize teachers’ health, despite teachers being in the front line during COVID-19. Lauren discusses how NYC Department of Education has shown no consideration for teachers’ health during the pandemic, and she sees this as a reinforcement of how teachers are not valued in general in our society.

This interview may be of interest to those curious about New York City public schools, teachers’ health, standardized testing, and racial equity in schools.