Well, we’re about three weeks into the school year, and despite a very rocky start, and the fact that we really had NO IDEA what to expect this year, I have to say things are moving along pretty okay.
How’s that for a non-committal review?
Truly, this is a year for the record-books and I say if we’re feeling anywhere close to hitting our stride, we’re doing pretty darn well. We’ve had more than our share of set-backs that have made it difficult to find our rhythm.
- No school on Friday. The best way to make our all-online school year at all manageable was to reduce to a 4-day week. On Fridays we’re offering optional activities like clubs and eventually small-group outdoor gatherings.
- An ease-into-the-year calendar. Our school year started on September 2 with a 2-day week. Then with Labor Day we had a 3-day week. And then . . .
- A full week of fires, smoke and evacuations. All Zoom classes were canceled. Some families were required to evacuate. Others (including me) left town due to a full week of off-the-charts hazardous air quality.
- Of course, throw into the mix the expected internet, device and various tech issues that would naturally arise with online learning.
These three weeks have been pretty wild.
But here’s the good part . . .
I’m still having a great time.
Sunday night, after having a full week away from my students, and spending the weekend moving my kids to college, I found myself feeling a little overwhelmed at the idea of teaching on Zoom the next day. I didn’t have as much planning time as I would have liked (I got home from move-in weekend at 10pm) and I started to get the jitters — like I always do when I’ve been out of the saddle for awhile.
But guess what, Monday was just fine. Actually, it was fun.
Here’s what’s making me love this work right now. My top take-aways after the first three weeks.
No holds barred warm-up activities.
I don’t know about you, but whenever I warm up my class in the morning at school, I know that if we get too crazy, I’m going to have to do some serious work bringing them back down to earth. Often, I still do it — I’d rather have warm and lively students who need to be shushed a little, than sleepy bumps on a log.
But as I’m teaching on Zoom, all of my students are at home, without a bunch of crazy kids around to hype them up. This means that they need warm up activities more than ever before. They are SO inclined to lay back and relax and NOT engage with our lessons (even 4th graders!).
And even if we go really crazy with our warm-up, it’s pretty easy to settle them back down.
So our daily warm-ups have been OVER THE TOP! We’ve played a few innings of imaginary baseball. (I’m the pitcher. They decide where the bases are in their houses — the bedroom, kitchen, etc. I’m also the announcer and they run around the bases accordingly after my pitch.) I’ve made up the Boom-De-Yadda Award of Recognition which goes to the child who comes up with the wildest display to go with this part of our song.
And I’m telling you, looking at my Zoom screen when it shows 15 little views of kids running wildly around the bases or kicking up their feet hooting and hollering CRACKS ME UP! Every. Darn. Day.
Humor. Still and always.
You guys, these days it’s not that hard to get super-discouraged and depressed about the state of the world. And our homebound status makes us even more likely to head into the dark pit of despair. But I want to see a smile on every one of those kids’ faces. They’re making me work for it, but man, we’re having some pretty funny moments.
Take today’s Zoom call, for example:
- E: Ms. Floyd-Preston, I can’t find my pencil.
- MFP: Hmmm, what are you going to do about that? (what am I supposed to do about it?!)
- E: I don’t know. (Starts searching.)
- MFP: Oh wait. I have one right here. Hold on. Maybe if I just think really hard it’ll teleport. (Squinches eyes closed really tight.)
- JP: Wait, Ms. Floyd-Preston, you sent it to me by mistake! (holds up matching pencil)
- MFP: Oh gosh. I was thinking of the wrong kid! You send it to E!
- E: (who had found a pencil by this point) Alright! I got it! Thanks JP!
Man, these kids are too funny!
Good old Waldorf curriculum, in new-fangled ways.
As always, I’m finding such inspiration in the Waldorf curriculum. And now that I’m back teaching a grade I HAVE taught before, I’m surprised at how differently things are coming together. Part of this is because we’re online, things take longer and I have less time with my students. But a big part of it is because I’m finding different things fascinating this time around.
And I’ve come to the realization that capturing my students’ interest and igniting their enthusiasm needs to be my number one priority.
I mean, I’ve always aimed to tell stories and bring content that my students will find interesting, but when we’re in-person, that’s pretty easy to do. So it’s also easy to slip in the skills work and have them drudge through some math facts for a bit. Also, when we’re in-person, they have the spark of interest that comes when you’re in a room with 29 other people.
These days, when I look in my students’ eyes, I see that what they need most is that little spark.
So, my detailed and well-planned block outline has been more like a rough guide and I’ve certainly veered off the path. I’ve also found that things take WAY longer than I’m used to, so I’ve had to set some things aside. But I’m pretty confident that these kids are getting what they need.
We’re also making use of the technology and the fact that we’re at home. Here are a few of the things I’m doing differently.
- Sharing my screen and showing photos of the landmarks we’re talking about. Today I even showed a little moving picture that shows how dam locks work.
- Turning on classical music during our independent working time.
- Instead of wet-on-wet watercolor, we’re using watercolor pastels on dry paper, and blending with waterbrushes.
- I use a document camera to project my desk space and I show my own main lesson book while I guide them through their work. I swear the fact that my set-up looks so similar to theirs makes it easier for them to produce work that they’re happy with.
I know that a lot of my colleagues are doing things really differently than I am — teaching in front of the chalkboard at school, for example — and I love that we’re all finding the best way to use our own skills to meet our students’ needs.
It’s like the wild west out here!
One other big change is how I’m going about planning my lessons. I’ve switched to a new digital format that I am LOVING. You can expect a post about it soon. I won’t be giving up my beloved pen and paper anytime soon, but I’m a sucker for productivity tools!
So, that’s the take-away so far. And you might guess that we’ve had a pretty good couple of days. I’m sure we’re in for our share of tough ones, too. Hopefully they won’t happen on blogging days.
What are your highlights of this topsy-turvy year so far? Leave a note in the comments. I’m curious!
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