So We're Back
We're back teaching. Sort of. And it's exhausting!
The Wherever district elected to go for distance learning only this year. At minimum, we'll be doing this for the first card marking, which ends November 1, but with the provision that we =may= be doing it for the entire first semester. (I'm actually betting we'll be doing it for the semester.)
They also changed the schedule for high school. Instead of having six one-hour classes per day, we're having three 105-minute classes per day. On "A" days, hours 1-3 meet, and on "B" days, 4-6 meet. And the instruction is all on-line in Zoom and Google Classroom.
This created a flurry of activity before school began. We teachers had to set up our Google Classrooms, created online lesson plans, and contact all the students to let them know how to find us on Zoom. I had to set up Zoom meetings. I had to email and re-email students who dropped my classes or were added to them. (This latter thing went on until late Sunday evening.) It was a hella lotta work.
I stressed over running class on Zoom. I didn't use Zoom much last spring and still didn't feel comfortable with it. Not with a large group of students. I worried that we'd run into tech problems that would derail class, or that the students would have trouble, or that it wouldn't be effective, or . . . or . . . or . . .
On the plus side, classes start at 8:05 AM instead of 7:15 AM, a major bonus for a non-morning person like me. My commute time is literally zero. I don't have to drive through a harrowing gauntlet of student drivers in the morning and again after work. I have more break time at lunch because I don't have to go anywhere, or wait for students to leave the room.
My life wouldn't be in danger because of my job.
On Monday, I got up at the late hour of 6:45. (My usual rising time is 5:50.) I had breakfast, then shooed Darwin out of bed at 7:30--our bedroom and office are in the same room and it would be awkward for everyone involved if Darwin hadn't gotten up when my first Zoom meeting went live! I got all my files up and ready with ten minutes to spare, then started up Zoom. And . . . go!
It all went fairly well. It's not the way I want to teach, and I'd never do it this way by choice, but it beats exposure to COVID-19.
After teaching four 105-minute classes with a break for lunch, though, I was wiped out. And I still had prep to do. I didn't really get done until suppertime.
Today was Day Two. Things went decently, but I was still wiped by the time it was over, and I had (have) even more prep work. Next week's lesson plans won't write themselves, and it's better to do them now than do them later, when I'll have homework to grade on top of everything.
I'm assuming (hoping) it'll get easier as time passes, but right now I'm wiped out and trying to focus on the positive side of all this.
comments
The Wherever district elected to go for distance learning only this year. At minimum, we'll be doing this for the first card marking, which ends November 1, but with the provision that we =may= be doing it for the entire first semester. (I'm actually betting we'll be doing it for the semester.)
They also changed the schedule for high school. Instead of having six one-hour classes per day, we're having three 105-minute classes per day. On "A" days, hours 1-3 meet, and on "B" days, 4-6 meet. And the instruction is all on-line in Zoom and Google Classroom.
This created a flurry of activity before school began. We teachers had to set up our Google Classrooms, created online lesson plans, and contact all the students to let them know how to find us on Zoom. I had to set up Zoom meetings. I had to email and re-email students who dropped my classes or were added to them. (This latter thing went on until late Sunday evening.) It was a hella lotta work.
I stressed over running class on Zoom. I didn't use Zoom much last spring and still didn't feel comfortable with it. Not with a large group of students. I worried that we'd run into tech problems that would derail class, or that the students would have trouble, or that it wouldn't be effective, or . . . or . . . or . . .
On the plus side, classes start at 8:05 AM instead of 7:15 AM, a major bonus for a non-morning person like me. My commute time is literally zero. I don't have to drive through a harrowing gauntlet of student drivers in the morning and again after work. I have more break time at lunch because I don't have to go anywhere, or wait for students to leave the room.
My life wouldn't be in danger because of my job.
On Monday, I got up at the late hour of 6:45. (My usual rising time is 5:50.) I had breakfast, then shooed Darwin out of bed at 7:30--our bedroom and office are in the same room and it would be awkward for everyone involved if Darwin hadn't gotten up when my first Zoom meeting went live! I got all my files up and ready with ten minutes to spare, then started up Zoom. And . . . go!
It all went fairly well. It's not the way I want to teach, and I'd never do it this way by choice, but it beats exposure to COVID-19.
After teaching four 105-minute classes with a break for lunch, though, I was wiped out. And I still had prep to do. I didn't really get done until suppertime.
Today was Day Two. Things went decently, but I was still wiped by the time it was over, and I had (have) even more prep work. Next week's lesson plans won't write themselves, and it's better to do them now than do them later, when I'll have homework to grade on top of everything.
I'm assuming (hoping) it'll get easier as time passes, but right now I'm wiped out and trying to focus on the positive side of all this.
comments
No comments have been added yet.
