Lived Experiences of Teacher-Writers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teacher-writers were at the forefront of developing instructional materials that became in demand by both teachers and learners. The instructional materials produced by the teacher-writers served as major learning tools for remediation, enhancement, and mastery of specific learning competencies. An interpretive phenomenological approach was used to examine the lived experiences of these teacher-writers in the province of Sorsogon for the school years 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. It also analyzed the crafting and coping mechanisms faced by the teacher-writers during the pandemic. The data were gathered through a structured interview with seven elementary teacher-writers in the province of Sorsogon. The informants’ responses were transcribed verbatim, translated, and analyzed using an interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach. Findings revealed that elementary teacher-writers were adjusting throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, the development of instructional materials, insufficient experience, inadequate training, and a scarcity of resources pose significant challenges for most teacher-writers. However, despite their experiences, teacher-writers have shown optimism to continue as teacher-writers even after the pandemic. As a result, the researchers identified coping mechanisms to help teacher-writers navigate their writing journey beyond the pandemic.