I wasn’t ready!

We had warning that this was coming, but we didn’t know when. And then one day we were told not to come back the next day.

My plants are still in my classroom. It’s been nearly 4 weeks.

The first 2 weeks were an absolute blur. Hunched in front of a laptop attempting to make some sense of what to do and how to do it. Worried sick about my students. Worried about my family and friends.

We made it through the first 2 weeks. Somehow. Adapted the lessons we had planned to do. Luckily for us, we are a 1 to 1 district and students all had the capability to connect. I used GoGuardian and email to “chat” with every student every day for 2 weeks.

Eventually I learned Google Hangouts and Zoom and were able to see their faces, judge their needs, evaluate their levels of comprehension, anticipate their questions.

Still logging 11-12 hours in front of the laptop every day. Fitbit stats in the toilet. Students struggling with asynchronous lessons emailing me at 11 pm for clarification. Parents, frustrated and exhausted and scared, emailing me at 4 am for help. Administrators imposing required faculty “meetings” using Google Hangouts, digging into my valuable and essential prep time. Parent meetings, team meetings, PLC meetings, and virtual class meetings all on Google Hangouts.

Now that we’ve hit our stride with lesson planning and sort of have the hang of how this works, I’ve started to get a different type of email. “I need more time to finish my work because my aunt died.” “My neighbor was taken away by ambulance and I don’t know how he is.” “My parents fight all the time.” “I can’t sleep.”

We weren’t ready for this. But one of the hallmarks of teachers everywhere is flexibility. Something not working? Adapt in a heartbeat. Thinking on our feet all day. So I know we’ve got this.