Today we did science. We poked plants and tried to figure out if they are fruits or veggies. We read things. We wrote things.
One of my students submitted a paper to me about a mechanic that makes breakfast for dinner for his girlfriend. His story is really two stories and all over the place, but the kid is eight and already gets that a man making dinner for his girlfriend/fiance is a normal thing, and him being active in wedding planning is, too. The kid is pretty adorable. Yes, I edited the shit out of his paper. But, it’s golden.
Cheers to this mama.
Teaching in Covid is real. It is not pretty, and it gets frustrating and annoying fast. I’m talking behind a fabric face covering all day, they can’t hear me and I really can’t hear them. They eat two meals a day in my classroom. One of my students makes a 3′ circumference of CRUD around his desk with food/water/paper/snot/sanitizer/general YUCK all day. NO, he is not a student with special needs. He just…can’t contain.
I was grossed out today. I told them to each get a disinfecting wipe and wipe their desk and then chair down. We get sanitized 3x per day, but not cleaned. So my room felt really gross to me. Quel Surprise, their black handprints were on the backs of their wipes.
<Insert vomit emoji.>
Our county has decided to make all the principals county health commissioners, which means they have to do contract tracing for our building. The level of what that means for us as teachers is this:
- Plan all your lessons a week in advance
- Plan your lessons with the kind of detail you’d want a surgeon to have when cutting into your body
- Seating charts for where anyone is sitting. NO this doesn’t just mean desks. If they are in a small group, make that chart, too.
- BTW, don’t have groups that last longer than 13 minutes. 15 minutes is the magical close contact number so we stay away from that time.
I’m so tired I can’t even speak to the details of things we are having to step up on. I feel very confident in my school to stay safe. But I also feel anxious all the time.
Don’t we all?
As for today in world news….
I have just never.
What the actual F is happening in this country?
That’s about as much as I have to say about today’s debate.
I have some personal health things happening, waiting for test results. It is not easy, and I’m having a hard time with it. I’m trying to remember that I’m in charge of my thoughts. That sometimes helps.
Just be your own best friend today…and tomorrow. Whatever you have to do, you can do it. Love your scrappiness, and your ability to figure things out. Love your softness and willingness to relax. You need both.
Be proud of your beautiful self. I mean it. Be so proud.
You’ve made it through all of your hardest days so far.
You’re unstoppable.
Namaste.