I am so excited for this school year. After what we've been through since March 2020 I think that's a pretty out of this world statement, but it is true. I have never put so much work into a school year as I have this summer. I'm so excited to take the video notes I made during this pandemic, the resources I've been gathering over the last few years, and my classroom and content knowledge I've gathered over the last 20+ years and MIX THINGS UP!
Can't wait for you to join me!
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What an interesting end to the school year. Students scrambling to finish assignments and projects before it's their day to venture to school to drop off their books. Teachers making reminders to finish the final assessments so they can begin working on semester grades to wrap up this crazy year.
While I haven't had an alarm for waking up in the morning set since spring break, I have had alarms for waking my daughter up so she can "attend" class. Her school work is done and books returned so now those alarms are off. The only ones that remain are set for me to remember to start class! Only a few more to go before those are turned off too. What kind of alarms will I be setting as school begins? I'll try to not spend too much of my summer thinking about how school will be for 2020-2021. I feel I have a nice system for distance learning, though I really long to be back in the classroom. What a hybrid would look like, I'm not sure. Again, not planning on spending much time worrying about it. Sure, I'll voice my thoughts to those making those decisions, but I'm tired of scheduling and planning. Ready to move to slower paced days! I've got books to read, puzzles to do, games to play with my daughter (a junior?!), movies to watch, fur babies to nap with, yoga to do (14 day streak right now!). closets to organize and a garage to attempt to organize. I hope to visit my family that I haven't seen since the new year, but I'm not sure I'm ready to travel that far. I'm not one to have big vacation plans so no heart break here on postponed or cancelled trips. I'm hoping my students have safe activities to keep them busy during the summer. If they work, I hope they're able to remain safe. Seniors planning to start college may be at home for a semester, may be getting to gather things if their campus will be open, or may be postponing school a year to work. Whatever they're doing, I hope they know they'll be missed. Those farewells the final days of school may be a wave (and a cheesy smile behind the mask!) when they drop off books or pick up awards. They could happen in early August during whatever graduation looks like. Those farewells could also just be one last class Zoom. However it happens, seniors know I'm proud of you and that you'll be missed! Some days it seems like we've been doing Distance Learning for more than a few weeks. I've got a pattern down for lesson planning for the week and for when I get my grading done.
Some days this still feels new and strange. It still feels like I'm learning the how to's of Distance Learning. Every day I miss my classes. I miss the students and their smiles and their chatter. I miss those connections. I'm so grateful I have a few students who will show up to "class" early or stay a bit later just to chat. I've heard from students who miss the vibe found in a math class. They miss that structure and have found themselves challenged to find their math groove on their own. I miss that too. I miss the lightbulbs I see that get brighter as students understand the concepts I'm teaching them. Some day this will be over. We'll be better prepared if we ever have to do this again (hopefully no time soon). We'll be back in our classrooms with the smiles and the chatter. We'll be better teachers for having to adapt to a new way of teaching and assessing. They'll be better students. Students who have had to adapt. Students who have had to be away from friends. Students who have had to take on more responsibility for planning out their time and their activities. Some day... One of the great things about distance learning is the ability to sleep in! (Well, maybe not for some teens...) It's so refreshing to not have the alarm going off telling me it's time to drag myself out of bed. As a result, I'm actually getting about 8 hours of sleep a night! So exciting!!
It's funny what my alarms are now being used for. Alarms to start classes, especially on days with my prep as there's definite down time between classes and a chance to lose track of time. There's also the alarms for when to be sure my daughter is "awake" for her classes. Some she can still lay in bed for, others she needs to be more up and functioning for. I'm also a huge fan of the timer. I love that I can have music playing and set the timer to stop music before I need to prepare for my next meeting. Ah technology, how we love thee. As an introvert, Gen-Xer I'm right at home being right at home. For my soon to be 16 year old daughter and my students, not being social is not in their nature. But I do believe they have a lot to be grateful for.
I've thought about how this shelter in place would have worked when I was a teen. We had books for all our classes so I imagine we would have been required to stop by school maybe once a month to pick up work and return work. There was no internet at that time. Email was something being talked about when I was in college, but internet wasn't yet widely available. There was one computer in my parent's house and we (my brother and I) had maybe two games on it. There was one TV in the house and when my Dad got home the news got turned on. Cartoons were on the fewer than 10 channels we had for a few hours in the afternoon and Saturday mornings. In college you had to call home collect and hope your parents took the call. Or you if you had a phone with your roommates there was the process of claiming your calls on the phone bill and having to pay for your calls (usually long distance so $$$). I was limited to calling home once a week, usually on Sundays. Now we've had a technological explosion that can be mind-boggling. It's more common for there to be multiple TVs and devices in a house. We can be connected to others on a variety of social platforms. We can have group FaceTimes (which has been a savior for my daughter's mental health). Now I text with my parents often and still call once a week. With my family 5 hours away I'm so grateful for the connection that we have with today's technology. It's nice to know though that my brother and his family are so close to my 70+ year old parents -- less than a mile away. I haven't seen my family since New Year's. Being so far away that's not uncommon for us. But then I think about what this weekend should have been. My daughter should have been in final rehearsals at school this week. She should have been stressing over set and prop completion. I should be preparing for my parents to stay with us so that they could see her in her school play. I should be getting to wish them a happy 50th anniversary in person. Now the play's future is completely unknown. I can still call my parents and wish them a happy anniversary. Now I wonder when I'll see my family again. Until then, I'll be grateful that we're as connected as we are in this time we're in. Well, tomorrow is the first day of school, distance learning style. It’s been a busy week of Zoom meetings and planning, but that all helped the week go by faster (even if there were a couple of rough days in there when I nearly broke down from the stress).
One thing I’ve heard from other teachers who have started distance learning is to treat it like the first day of school because really, it is. My first class agenda has a tour of the Zoom features and review of the new class procedures. It appears we’ll be doing this until May 1st and I’m sure there will be changes and adjustments along the way but best to have the basic procedures laid out. Organization will be a skill we’ll talk about too. My daughter (sophomore) woke up her first day of distance learning to 50 assignments plus various class meetings being posted. My suggestion was to write them all out so you can see what’s due and when or get really good at using your calendar on your phone. She appears to be managing. Oh, and that octopus she was sketching out last time is amazing! Love the new piece of art in my house. Some nice things about this distance learning are the fact that I’m getting to sleep in as meetings don’t typically start until 9, the awesome commute, and being comfortably wrapped in a blanket or finally getting to teach barefoot! Bonus is no lines for the restroom during break between classes!! Best part about the first day is getting to reconnect with my students!! See y’all soon!! Venturing into the unknown as I seek ways of connecting with my students. I'm not sure this is it but I won't know until I try.
I tried to step away from thinking and planning what distance learning was going to look like as it is still technically spring break, but apparently, I can't quite yet. I miss my classes and the questions and the silliness and the banter. I know some of my students are bored and maybe my silly ramblings will give them something to read and maybe something to laugh at and maybe ideas on something to do. When not thinking about school, I've been busy playing games, checking out Facebook and Instagram and having all-around too much screen time. But right now, I'm not sure there's such thing as too much screen time. It can be a great way to stay connected to friends and family when we can't physically be near them. But when you're tired of the screen, there are always books to read, puzzles to do, yoga to try, not to mention the house to clean, laundry to do, pets to feed and pick up after. I've found that alternating my time between chore and downtime to be a nice balance. My daughter (HS sophomore) started spring break wanting to do some crafts. Little did we know how much she'd be in the house so it was a good buy. She's tried a couple of craft projects and when she's bored of them she moves on to another one, then circle back to earlier ones. Currently, she's sketching out an octopus that she'll paint on her bedroom door. So, give something new a try. Find a new hobby, try out drawing or yoga. Help around the house. Then go back to taking some time out for yourself. |
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July 2021
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