Tensions, traumas, and triumphs: Exploring compassion-centric approaches to teaching in times of crisis

In this chapter, three education professionals-two located in the United States and one located in Japan-discuss tensions that arise when enacting multiple roles during a crisis. Through a process of interviewing one another and co-constructing a narrative, the authors explore their pandemic-influenced experiences with specific attention to how they developed as compassion-centric educators throughout the spring and summer of 2020. Thematic interview analysis revealed that the authors viewed their competing roles as mutually informative. Additional themes revealed emergent tensions of student-centered learning as both a priority and concern, community building and resistance, and technology as both a connector and barrier. Although the pandemic has amplified tensions between dual and competing roles, the authors identified an intensified need for self-, student-, and colleague-centric compassion amid crisis.