Today marks the beginning of my second week back to school, with in-person learning and hybrid instruction that includes a combination of remote-learning from home or remote-learning at school in a designated hybrid room.
My district wanted to provide families with a variety of instructional options. As a result, educators are adapting to quickly learning how to navigate online learning platforms, figuring out digital instructional tools, assessment of learning for both remote and in-person learners, live streaming instruction… all in order to prepare for both in-person and remote-learning simultaneously. The success of a school is multifaceted, and learning content is just one of the many normals among the list of changes we are facing in order to safely return to learn right now.
With all of the new changes I am experiencing, I chose to delay my final master’s degree course and my anticipated graduation. I should have started the course today. My excitement and anticipation of attaining another graduate degree is also on hold.
Lunch time has come. I’m not even close to touching my coffee that I prepared at 6am. I wore new shoes today, and despite my gut telling me that wasn’t a good idea, I did it anyway. Now a blister is driving me insane as I walk. Recess wasn’t as fun walking with a limp.
Speaking of recess, there’s a change coming soon that will bring more fun to our touchless, socially distant, mask wearing time. The news is like knowing that Santa has filled our stockings with extra treats.
When I returned from recess, I headed to the nurse for the biggest bandaid humanly possible. She hooked me up. She also shared a story. She was assisting a little one with a mask, and then the kiddo licked the nurse’s hands when she adjusted the mask on the kiddo’s face. Wha-what? There’s hand sanitizer a plenty these days, so…
Kindergarten. Bless those kindergarten teachers. They deserve to be showered with love when they get home. Every. Single. Night.
I began the task of entering my artists to my Google Classroom. All of the classroom teachers have my codes and meet links, but I think it might be easier for them if I just work on entering those names. There are a lot.
One of my friends sent a generous donation home with my husband, so that some of my artists can have individual paint sets and tools. Watercolor trays, and pet dishes from the Dollar store for water and sponges – making painting easy peasy. I can’t wait to distribute them!
It only took me until 3pm to finish my morning coffee today. Thank goodness for Thermos to keep my coffee warm all day.
Today I felt comfortable and at ease with my new position. Then it hit me like a truck. A voice from within whispered, don’t get too comfortable.