Community Blogging – Day 10

Today my husband and I helped deliver packed meals along one of the bus routes. He got to wave to some of his students – I didn’t see any of mine. It was a beautiful outside, and we put the windows down and had a lovely breeze going while we organized and filled the bag for each person.

I also want to call some of the students who started out posting on their blogs but haven’t posted anything in awhile. I hope everyone is okay. I’m exhausted, though, so I may wait until tomorrow to call. I didn’t get much sleep last night, and what sleep I did get had all kinds of bad dreams. Lots of fighting.

I do have something cool planned for later, though. At least, I think it’s cool. And students who choose to do it can get bonus points, so hopefully they’ll think that’s cool even if they think the assignment itself is stupid!

Community Blogging – Day 9

8 things to describe about the past week &a half:

• 1 thing that you missed this week
• 1-2 things that get you outside in the fresh air
• 1-million things you’ve read/are reading
• 1-5 songs you’ve been listening to
• 1-3 shows you’ve watched
• 2 foods you’ve enjoyed
• 1-5 activities that have kept you busy
• 1 thing you’d be doing or will do when this virus is history

My answers are behind the link!

Community Blogging – Day 8

So, I know the basic point I want to get to with this, but I’m not all that sure how I’m going to go about getting there. Might be a bumpy ride. Buckle up, readers.

Community Blogging – Day 7

Today was a really, really hard day. I’ve been worrying about the students I hadn’t heard from, but up until this point I’ve been somewhat able to ignore those worries. Well, yesterday evening the Official Call went out to the district about this not being just an extended spring break.

So I waited until lunchtime today in case I got any stragglers. And then I started attempting to make contact with those who’d dropped off the map.

Community Blogging – Day 6

How much do I share?

To some degree, when you are a teacher, you are always a teacher. At the grocery store, the movie theater, the park – I never know when I am going to hear a surprised “Hey! Mrs. Cole!” I’ve been teaching long enough now that even a bar is no guarantee of escape.

Personally, I have a dual-phase reaction. Phase one: minor panic. Am I appropriately dressed? Did I just swear? Am I holding or even standing next to something that could be compromising? Phase two: curiosity. What is this student like outside the classroom? Who is with them, and what might the student have told them about me? How do they see this student?

Then there’s a little dance, especially if the student is with a parent. Parent: I hope that Little So-and-So has been behaving for you in class. Me: Well…

Community Blogging – Day 5

I’m pretty open about the fact that I don’t like running. And yet, I do it anyway. People often express admiration at this. Sometimes they ask how I do it.

The key is that usually, you can do more than you think.

Community Blogging – Day 4

I finished Why We Do What We Do: Understanding Self-Motivation earlier this week. It was really helpful for me as a teacher, and particularly important in light of the school closures. Students are working individually and independently, and so self-motivation becomes even more important than it is in a classroom setting.

Community Blogging – Day 3

Ouch.

Do you know how much you use your hands and your fingers? It’s a lot. Typing hurts. Pulling on socks hurts. Pouring water for tea hurts. Chopping vegetables hurts. Holding freaking crayons to color a picture hurts. Pulling my hair back into a ponytail so it’s out of the way is not an option, but fortunately I have a husband who did that for me this morning. Yay!

Community Blogging – Day 2

*sigh*

We just purchased bikes. We’d been saving up and I’d planned to get them for spring break. Well, with school closed, we went ahead and went bike shopping last weekend and then got the bikes Monday. Today we went on our first ride, and:

And of course that’s my right hand, so typing hurts. My knee and elbow are also scraped up. Also I broke my new toy. 😦 It’s not bad, but we don’t have a rack to take it back to the bike shop to get it fixed. So right now everything sucks and I’m going to go cry for awhile.

UPDATE: Husband has fixed bike. That helps a lot. Once I quit bleeding and can type more easily I’ll be all good!

UPDATE 2: AND he’s gonna cook hamburgers. Find a partner who will cuddle you when you make mistakes, help you fix them, and take care of you when things don’t go well, even if it’s totally your fault. Seriously. Don’t settle for less.

Community Blogging – Day 1

It is the Official Day 2 of our school being closed.

Even though I’ve been through lengthy school closures before (students, ask your parents about the blizzard of ’93), this is different. My social media feeds are clogged with discussion of at-home activities and government response and which businesses are open and which are closed.

People are scared.

Today I had plans to go try out a new gym which was offering a special rate for teachers and students affected by closures. After I post this, I’m going to contact them and let them know I’d like to pay for my spot but I’m planning not to come today. I hope I’ll get a chance to try them out over the summer.

I’m SO grateful that I had a chance to go to the library before it closed. I picked up a number of DVDs. I didn’t actually get any books because I already had half a dozen checked out, not to mention the number of books that I personally own that I haven’t read yet!

On Saturday I sorted through the enormous pile of student work I’d brought home. I organized it by assignment and figured out that if I graded one project each day I’d finish up in the first week. Well, I’m already way behind! Some of that, though, is because I spent a good bit of time looking through the many sites and programs that are offering free access during the closures. I developed a bit more of a plan than what I’d had previously, and I put that up on the websites for the courses I teach.

I’m grateful that social media allows me to keep in touch with family and friends. I hope that my students are keeping up with their work and will stay in contact with me, and with each other.

It sounds like the rain is tapering off, so I’ve put on my workout clothes and am about to go for a run. That’s something I can do without worrying about spreading infection. I even have green leggings on for St. Patrick’s Day!

See you tomorrow!