There were less people trying to sleep in class today.

That’s a win.

There were less blurts today.

That’s a win.

There were more completed assignments today.

That’s a win.

I’m dog tired. I can’t even be trusted to remember to turn the water off in my garden. I turned it on yesterday around 6 pm when I got home from work. Yes, I stayed that late to make some general sense of my standards and what I’m teaching.

I turned the water off this morning when I was leaving for work at 7:25.

I have been planning one day at a time. Gone are the days of being ahead of the game and having a week or more. I am going to get my Happy Planner out and do some planning for the year…plot things in in a general sense. I’ve gone all in on Planbook this year for my plans (a building requirement, but also preferred) for my day to day lessons. I love that I can link it to things, including websites, Google docs/apps, and that makes a huge difference. I pull my lessons up first thing every day, and actually follow them. This is a big deal for me!

Now I’m looking at this and ok, I have planned more than one day at a time. That said…my reading lessons are not thorough and I’m trying really hard not to keep all the plans in my head, because that doesn’t breed great lessons or learning. If you wanna check it out and see if you like Planbook, click here.

I came home and had to wait for the utility company to come and turn my gas on. Then he noticed that my hot water heater vent was not attached…so he wouldn’t turn my water heater on. He left it off and made me sign a big ol “danger” red tag.

I texted my plumber, and he said just throw it back on and I’m fine. I did that. The boys and Jess came over to watch the Nuggets win the playoff series against the Clippers (WOOT!). Before the game, Jess helped me figure out the water heater. Turns out the utilities dude actually shut the gas line off. (insert mad emoji) I’m so glad Jess knew what to do!

I’m retroactively grateful that I had enough hot water for my shower this morning, I would have been pretty mad. I didn’t get the notice they were coming to service until Saturday, so I didn’t have time to reschedule.

My biggest takeaways from today were things I really really miss about teaching pre-Covid:

1. I miss having kids helping me do stuff, helping to operate the classroom. I once in a while ask a kid to help me, but it’s very rare. Technically, no one is supposed to be touching anything but their own stuff. The ripple effect means, no paper passer, no passer outer of any kind, no “run this down to the office for me,” no “take this note to,” no helping of any kind. The students miss it, and I miss it. And it makes me have to do 8,954 things more than I did already. It makes a huge impact on the ownership of the classroom.
2. I miss hugging.
3. I miss being able to talk closely to children without a barrier or feet between us.

Children still give me art and I still put it up. I elbow or foot bump them before they leave for the day. I don’t know my student’s facial expressions very well, and getting to know them is taking much longer. We aren’t as bonded 3.5 weeks in as we usually are.

I don’t know if things will ever be “usual” again like it used to be.

Another thinking today…one that is common for me, anyway, is that I have really been thinking about how students learn. I feel like grabbing this group’s attention is probably the hardest of any other year in my career. They have lost a lot, but not in the obvious ways. They are not as hopeful. I’m sorry to say it, but there is a pall on their energy. They just don’t expect a lot, and they’re perhaps a little depressed and definitely have experienced trauma.

We’ve all experienced trauma from this.

I think here’s a little learned helplessness that comes with the trauma, too. Additionally, I think as a school system, students have gotten help quickly when things don’t make sense immediately. As teachers we’ve been quick to help and basically do it for them. How many times did I used to just touch the kids computer and log it on instead of teaching them step by step?

And now we are just expecting them “to deal.”

It’s so hard to just deal. Even for the grown ups.

Namaste.