Item
Armani Richard Oral History, 2021/04/03
Media
Title (Dublin Core)
Armani Richard Oral History, 2021/04/03
Description (Dublin Core)
Conversation with Armani Richard and the impact of COVID-19 on Arizona education. Currently studying at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and fulfilling a promising career in the Army.
Recording Date (Dublin Core)
April 3, 2021
Creator (Dublin Core)
Daniel Lopez
Armani Richard
Event Identifier (Dublin Core)
HST494
Partner (Dublin Core)
Arizona State University
Type (Dublin Core)
audio interview
Controlled Vocabulary (Dublin Core)
English
Online Learning
English
Education--K12
English
Education--Universities
Curator's Tags (Omeka Classic)
engagement
Arizona
Phoenix
Contributor's Tags (a true folksonomy) (Friend of a Friend)
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College
Army Reservist
ASU Veteran Student
Collection (Dublin Core)
Military
Children
College COVID Stories
K-12
Curatorial Notes (Dublin Core)
Ashlee Harper
Added to children item set. AH 04/18/2022
Date Submitted (Dublin Core)
04/12/2021
Date Modified (Dublin Core)
04/13/2021
09/15/2021
04/18/2022
05/07/2022
Date Created (Dublin Core)
04/03/2021
Interviewer (Bibliographic Ontology)
Daniel Lopez
Interviewee (Bibliographic Ontology)
Armani Richards
Location (Omeka Classic)
85001
Phoenix
Arizona
United States of America
Format (Dublin Core)
audio
Language (Dublin Core)
English
Duration (Omeka Classic)
00:06:05
abstract (Bibliographic Ontology)
Conversation with Armani Richard and the impact of COVID-19 on Arizona education. Currently studying at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College and fulfilling a promising career in the Army.
Transcription (Omeka Classic)
DL 00:13
Alright, let's go ahead and get started. Alright, so my name is Daniel Lopez I am with HST 494, Arizona State University, and I'm here today with... go ahead and state your name...
AR 00:27
Armani Richard.
DL 00:28
Okay, and we'll just dive right in. So question one, what is your profession? And how long have you been in your career?
AR 00:39
For the past four years, I've been a full-time student at ASU, Mary, Lou Fulton, teachers college. And I'm also in the Army Reserves. And I've been doing that for like, four years as well.
DL 00:52
Okay. And, ugh, just in the context of COVID, and everything that's been going on with a pandemic, how did you originally believe that the school year would operate?
AR 01:07
With the pandemic going on I figured that it would be all online classes. And yeah, I mean, seemed pretty straightforward. Seemed like it was the way it was gonna go.
DL 01:18
Okay. And how would you describe like a typical day? Because I, I'm, I'm aware that you were doing observations and things of that sort. So could you briefly describe what that look like for you?
AR 01:35
Yeah, so when I was observing high school classrooms, I would say a typical day was for the district on and the teacher does about 40 minutes of lecture, does a 10 minute break to do roll call. And then the last 20 minutes or so of class be devoted to independent work? And, yeah, that would be about it. Really? My teachers do that for a couple periods.
DL 02:02
Okay, and objectively, how would you say that the atmosphere was like in in terms of student participation and things of that sort?
AR 02:14
I would say it's pretty much low...low student participation. Students aren't really that engaged unless they're doing something when they absolutely need to, such as like, when roll call get posted, the students need to type in the chat their full name, and that's about the most engagement you'll get out of the class. Usually, they're like one or two periods where there are people with big personalities who will jump on the mic. But even then, it's just not very engaging for the classes.
DL 02:51
Do you think COVID maybe factors in into that?
AR 02:56
Yeah, 100%, I mean, you have the college level, you'll see engagements a bit lower, you'll see, you'll see engagements not as high as it usually is, there's still obviously more engagement at the university level. But with at the high school level, it's just, I would say almost nonexistent, at least for the online classrooms I've observed.
DL 03:16
Okay. And this is, this next question is just your opinion about the executive order that Governor Doug Ducey put out, that is essentially mandating the return to in person instruction.
AR 03:34
Personally, I'm fine with it, as long as...as long as people can get the vaccine if they so choose. Now, if a person decides not to get the vaccine, then that's on them. But if it's available, and they can get it, and they don't want to do in person or something like that, I think that's more on them. But if the vaccine is not available, then I would have more issue within person classes, but it seems like from what I've heard, and seen the vaccines pretty available if you actually want to go and find it.
DL 04:03
Right. And there are there is an exception for a return to in person for counties that are so called high transmission counties. Those are actually still available for students to participate online. How do you feel about this?
AR 04:25
Yeah, I also think that makes sense as well. I mean, if you can localize an area you know, it's a high transmission County are those vulnerable population, it only makes sense to integrate them back to in person a little bit slower than you would the rest of the state.
DL 04:42
Can you tell me how you've been feeling lately, like, you know, mood wise. Any words of encouragement that you might have for people that are kind of in your similar position where future educators
AR 05:01
I would just say, just keep going on and hoping for the best. I mean, personally, I'm not a fan of the all online teaching, I got into the teaching field because I want to be there in person. And I'm just hoping that eventually things will get back to semi normal and just gonna have faith in it, I guess.
DL 05:24
Yeah. And at this point, so it's well, we'll wrap up, but is there, I'd like to just offer you any extra time about anything that we haven't discussed. Maybe you want to talk about something unrelated to COVID.
AR 05:43
I can't nothing, man, honestly. Due to being on the GI Bill, my life hasn't actually changed that much when I'm not in school, you know?
DL 05:55
Right. All right. Well, I appreciate your time, brother.
AR 06:01
All right. Thank you.
DL 06:02
All right. Thank you.
AR 06:04
See you
Alright, let's go ahead and get started. Alright, so my name is Daniel Lopez I am with HST 494, Arizona State University, and I'm here today with... go ahead and state your name...
AR 00:27
Armani Richard.
DL 00:28
Okay, and we'll just dive right in. So question one, what is your profession? And how long have you been in your career?
AR 00:39
For the past four years, I've been a full-time student at ASU, Mary, Lou Fulton, teachers college. And I'm also in the Army Reserves. And I've been doing that for like, four years as well.
DL 00:52
Okay. And, ugh, just in the context of COVID, and everything that's been going on with a pandemic, how did you originally believe that the school year would operate?
AR 01:07
With the pandemic going on I figured that it would be all online classes. And yeah, I mean, seemed pretty straightforward. Seemed like it was the way it was gonna go.
DL 01:18
Okay. And how would you describe like a typical day? Because I, I'm, I'm aware that you were doing observations and things of that sort. So could you briefly describe what that look like for you?
AR 01:35
Yeah, so when I was observing high school classrooms, I would say a typical day was for the district on and the teacher does about 40 minutes of lecture, does a 10 minute break to do roll call. And then the last 20 minutes or so of class be devoted to independent work? And, yeah, that would be about it. Really? My teachers do that for a couple periods.
DL 02:02
Okay, and objectively, how would you say that the atmosphere was like in in terms of student participation and things of that sort?
AR 02:14
I would say it's pretty much low...low student participation. Students aren't really that engaged unless they're doing something when they absolutely need to, such as like, when roll call get posted, the students need to type in the chat their full name, and that's about the most engagement you'll get out of the class. Usually, they're like one or two periods where there are people with big personalities who will jump on the mic. But even then, it's just not very engaging for the classes.
DL 02:51
Do you think COVID maybe factors in into that?
AR 02:56
Yeah, 100%, I mean, you have the college level, you'll see engagements a bit lower, you'll see, you'll see engagements not as high as it usually is, there's still obviously more engagement at the university level. But with at the high school level, it's just, I would say almost nonexistent, at least for the online classrooms I've observed.
DL 03:16
Okay. And this is, this next question is just your opinion about the executive order that Governor Doug Ducey put out, that is essentially mandating the return to in person instruction.
AR 03:34
Personally, I'm fine with it, as long as...as long as people can get the vaccine if they so choose. Now, if a person decides not to get the vaccine, then that's on them. But if it's available, and they can get it, and they don't want to do in person or something like that, I think that's more on them. But if the vaccine is not available, then I would have more issue within person classes, but it seems like from what I've heard, and seen the vaccines pretty available if you actually want to go and find it.
DL 04:03
Right. And there are there is an exception for a return to in person for counties that are so called high transmission counties. Those are actually still available for students to participate online. How do you feel about this?
AR 04:25
Yeah, I also think that makes sense as well. I mean, if you can localize an area you know, it's a high transmission County are those vulnerable population, it only makes sense to integrate them back to in person a little bit slower than you would the rest of the state.
DL 04:42
Can you tell me how you've been feeling lately, like, you know, mood wise. Any words of encouragement that you might have for people that are kind of in your similar position where future educators
AR 05:01
I would just say, just keep going on and hoping for the best. I mean, personally, I'm not a fan of the all online teaching, I got into the teaching field because I want to be there in person. And I'm just hoping that eventually things will get back to semi normal and just gonna have faith in it, I guess.
DL 05:24
Yeah. And at this point, so it's well, we'll wrap up, but is there, I'd like to just offer you any extra time about anything that we haven't discussed. Maybe you want to talk about something unrelated to COVID.
AR 05:43
I can't nothing, man, honestly. Due to being on the GI Bill, my life hasn't actually changed that much when I'm not in school, you know?
DL 05:55
Right. All right. Well, I appreciate your time, brother.
AR 06:01
All right. Thank you.
DL 06:02
All right. Thank you.
AR 06:04
See you
This item was submitted on April 12, 2021 by Daniel Lopez using the form “Share Your Story” on the site “A Journal of the Plague Year”: https://covid-19archive.org/s/archive
Click here to view the collected data.