3/30
Week #3 begins with cold rain and national news: We are all socially distancing at least until April 30. That’s about the same date we last heard from the State, but the implications are that this will carry beyond that date. “Recovery” happening around June 1 seems to say that school in Mahoney likely won’t happen for any meaningful activities this year. We are sailing on, keeping the ship righted if not making great headway, tacking, tacking, tacking. (I don’t sail. I have no idea what I’m talking about here. :)
For me the weather has a big impact on my day. So the overcast and drizzle defined the day. Apparently, other parts of the Universe agree: things technically weren’t great today. That PD session last Thursday on Edpuzzle was a little too successful, I guess, since their system was down a good deal of the day. And at least 4 of us were asking kids to be in there for activities today. In the regular classroom, backup plans are always set to go just in case the TV doesn’t work or the Internet is down, both of which happen so very seldomly. Backup from this Giant Backup Plan that we are running isn’t in place. My lesson simply couldn’t be done today. By the time we discovered that it just wasn’t going to work, kids were off to something else and really couldn’t be expected to come back looking for a new assignment or a miraculous recovery on Edpuzzle’s end. It was pretty much a “sick day.” Others had trouble installing an app that was going to used for the first time in another class. Again, there really is no streamlined distance service to rectify those things. A series of emails, a bunch of back-checking, and reaching out to others eventually unjams things.
So the watchword has to be - Calm. Some things we just can’t do. We can’t fix a broken screen from 25 miles away. We can’t ensure that all the interweb lines will stay up and running while we count on them. We can’t eliminate the stress families feel that must keep kids and their parents from fully participating in this hopeful circus. We can’t make the drizzle stop. Tomorrow, the sun will come out. And it might snow. It’s still March after all, and we’re still in Maine. We will make the best of it.
15 days down.
spk
><>
Week #3 begins with cold rain and national news: We are all socially distancing at least until April 30. That’s about the same date we last heard from the State, but the implications are that this will carry beyond that date. “Recovery” happening around June 1 seems to say that school in Mahoney likely won’t happen for any meaningful activities this year. We are sailing on, keeping the ship righted if not making great headway, tacking, tacking, tacking. (I don’t sail. I have no idea what I’m talking about here. :)
For me the weather has a big impact on my day. So the overcast and drizzle defined the day. Apparently, other parts of the Universe agree: things technically weren’t great today. That PD session last Thursday on Edpuzzle was a little too successful, I guess, since their system was down a good deal of the day. And at least 4 of us were asking kids to be in there for activities today. In the regular classroom, backup plans are always set to go just in case the TV doesn’t work or the Internet is down, both of which happen so very seldomly. Backup from this Giant Backup Plan that we are running isn’t in place. My lesson simply couldn’t be done today. By the time we discovered that it just wasn’t going to work, kids were off to something else and really couldn’t be expected to come back looking for a new assignment or a miraculous recovery on Edpuzzle’s end. It was pretty much a “sick day.” Others had trouble installing an app that was going to used for the first time in another class. Again, there really is no streamlined distance service to rectify those things. A series of emails, a bunch of back-checking, and reaching out to others eventually unjams things.
So the watchword has to be - Calm. Some things we just can’t do. We can’t fix a broken screen from 25 miles away. We can’t ensure that all the interweb lines will stay up and running while we count on them. We can’t eliminate the stress families feel that must keep kids and their parents from fully participating in this hopeful circus. We can’t make the drizzle stop. Tomorrow, the sun will come out. And it might snow. It’s still March after all, and we’re still in Maine. We will make the best of it.
15 days down.
spk
><>
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