The Corona Chronicles Vol1.Issue3

Today I updated my little darling angels of what I have been doing to avoid feeling this stir-crazy sensation that is inevitably going to come about while we are all working from home.  I do miss them.  Even if they drive me crazy 90% of the time, I love them and I just want to see their faces.... So today we did a video call.  The other Individuals and Societies (the IB way of saying Social Studies) teacher and I set up a google hangouts with our kids and a lot of them joined.  A lot were missing too, but being able to interact with the kids face to face was the best part of my day.  Maybe the week.  After spring break we will be able to do it twice before we go back to school on April 6.  (We will be going back to school on April 6, right? Rhetorical question -- I feel like the answer is no doubt a big fat "NO we are not.")

My kids have a lot of questions about what is going to happen if we don't go back to school and I wish I had the answers for them, but I don't.  Some of them were referencing how we're supposed to stay in school longer because of this and we had to tell them that until our superintendent tells us otherwise we are under the impression that we do not have to make up any time.  But being able to make sure our kids our safe, healthy, and alive is my main priority.  I know we have to, at some point, refocus on content that pertains to our subjects, but right now we aren't a tested subject and we want kids to be used to our online learning.  Writing our journals should definitely help them. 

So for the third day, continue on to read how I updated my kids this morning on the teaching from home life. 

Everything around us is shutting down.  Schools, movie theaters, non-essential retail stores.  It feels like we’re living in a TV show. The reality is that the people in charge of our state (and country) are trying to “flatten the curve,” meaning the less people we interact with in a short period of time, the less people are likely to get infected with this virus.  It’s a great idea, but that doesn’t change my feelings of being stir-crazy in my own home. This social distancing and quarantine has worked in countries like South Korea, so the smart move is for us to try as well before we end up like China and Italy completely shut down without access to anything. 
    I’ve read some student’s journals already and many of you have said it hasn’t really disrupted your life that much.  Maybe it hasn’t. But school, I’m sure, feels a whole lot different because everything, or at least mostly everything, has been moved to google classroom. 
    It doesn’t feel like it has disrupted my life a lot either, but I know it has.  For one, I’m working from home which was never my plan as a teacher, but I’m making it work.  I’m spending a lot more time in my bedroom because my dad is also working from home and too much togetherness is not always a good thing.  I’m still spending a lot of time trying to interact with students and looking over work. I tried to catch up on the grading I didn’t finish before we left school Friday, but I know I still have a mountain of it to grade (just kidding, it’s just one assignment). However, I’m finding that every day gets a little bit easier as I figure out what my schedule is going to look like.  As much as I’ve tried to stick to the schedule I outlined for you all on Tuesday, I have made adjustments to it (especially since it rained yesterday and I was not going outside).  

So here are some of the things that I’ve been doing:

• Reading.  I started reading a book called Chosen last Thursday and I’m trying to read at least 2 chapters a day (that’s less than one hour of reading, but I have to make it fit into my schedule). I’m also reading a lot more news articles so I can stay up-to-date with all the information and continuously learn about the virus. 
• Cross-Stitching.  I’ve been working on my cross-stitch project that I started back in October and didn’t make much progress on.  One of my colors, though labeled the same, was two different shades and I had to remove a lot of work. By the time I’m done with it the completed image will be of Dumbo flying. 
• Teacher things.  I’m spending a lot of time on Google Classroom and answering emails and Remind messages. This is probably my favorite part of the day because I do enjoy talking to you. 
• Running.  Only if it’s not raining.  I’ve been running every other day just so I can get outside and feel like I still have some time away from home. 
• Watching new TV shows.  I started watching a few new series since we started this “school from home” deal.  I started watching Truth Be Told on Apple TV+ and Little Fires Everywhere on Hulu. I watched Frozen 2 on Sunday.  Plus, I’ve watched the shows I was already watching to get caught up.

While mentally it doesn’t feel like my daily life has been disrupted because I’m still working and I’m still trying my best to help students, it has.  In my normal days, I’m not able to read, cross-stitch, grade, go running, and watch a show in one day. Today, I might stage a dance party in my room or cook my favorite dinner.  I have a lot of possibilities, but I’ll still be learning and trying new things to hopefully avoid that always creeping feeling of boredom.  

In Health and Happiness, 
xo, J

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