Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has imposed several challenges to education, especially with the shift from traditional face-to-face to distance learning, affecting teaching and learning worldwide. While distance learning seemed to favor children of affluent families, students of low socioeconomic families faced additional challenges, like the lack of adequate resources to attend online classes and continue their education. Thus, in this study, schoolteachers experiences adapting their instructional strategies to distance learning were investigated. A qualitative case study examined and compared the experiences of a public-school and a private-school teacher with distance learning in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic school closures. The cases give insight into the strategies used and challenges experienced by the participants while attending to different student populations needs: marginalized and more affluent. Thematic analysis of the aggregated data indicated the participants similar distant teaching and learning experiences (disconnected interactions with their students) and distinct perspectives and commitments to teaching and their use of technology in education. Recommendations and implications for educators, administrators, and policymakers are included.
