Originally, I was not going to write a blog about homeschooling my own 10-year old while still trying to be available to teach my students during the day. But then I thought about it and realized that if I was not going to tell my own story, then no one will.
Day 1: This was our last day of school before being closed and elearning being in place (mind you we have never tried elearning yet as it was just approved and instituted in January of 2020), teachers and students were required to take everything they could from the school, clean their rooms (putting away materials, posters, etc.), and taking one last look not knowing if we will return this school year. I put as much stuff into my backpack as I could (including all the rubrics and papers that still needed to be graded along with the curriculum, novels, and notes) and headed home.
Day 2: Our first day of elearning and not returning to the school. I can imagine many happy students not getting up and trudging their way into the building waiting patiently for their day to begin. However, now that I think of it, that is how my morning began on the first day. I came downstairs to brew some coffee (not realizing it wasn't working correctly) grabbed a danish and went back to my coffee which seemed more like a small cup of espresso. I sat down to open my computer to see what my schedule was like today. Not long after I believed to have settled down, my 10-year old plops himself on the couch and turns on the TV. I turned towards him and asked him what he was doing. Without even looking in my direction he stated, "it's spring break. I do not have school." His simple answer made me think is this what all students are thinking at this time. That because we are not physically in a building, did spring break start earlier than normal? Despite his tenacity of thinking that spring break started early, he was redirected to get ready for the day. While attempting to check with my students online and get a 10-year old ready for his schooling, mass hysteria mentally hit me as I could not log into his school LMS. After answering emails, logging into ensure work was explained properly, and graded research papers, to say the least, the day did not go as expected.
Day 3: New day, new adventure. Not really. Instead of focusing on logging in right away, I got my son's work together so that he can work while I worked online. But once again his LMS system did not accept his password or username. To defeat the odds that I would be able to access anything (and him thinking that his spring break started early), I went online and found several resources that are free to educators. I printed off worksheets in math, grammar, cursive writing (he is in 4th grade), and reading, I was set. Now on to my own students. It was still early enough for me to check the system to make sure I can log in. I had a 10:30 am virtual meeting with my seniors and a 1:00 pm virtual discussion with my sophomores. To say the least, the morning meeting did not go as planned, in fact, it simply did not go at all. I was able to fix all the technical issues by the afternoon to hold my afternoon discussions over the novel with my students. Overall, the hectic last two days were simply a learning experience.
Day 4: I was able to start my morning with a 1.2 mile walk on the treadmill and later on with a 20 minute exercise routine. I restarted the morning discussion with my seniors since yesterday's online discussion did not work properly. I also was prepared for my son's education as, you guessed it, his LMS is still not working where I printed out more worksheets and created a schedule for him. After grading Padlet assignments from my sophomores, I was surprised to see how many were actually completing the work during this time. Let's be honest, if I was given the "option" to complete work while not in school just before spring break, I know that I would find an alternative way to not do it. However, the students that did complete the work shows their integrity along with the importance of education.
Day 5: This is the end of the week. We seemed to have completed 4 days of elearning (and homeschooling) and 5 days of how the Covid19 virus is spreading from person to person and from state to state. Today, the governor of Illinois instituted a "shelter" for our state. It is not martial law, but it is a way for people to stay home if they do not need to leave their homes. We can still go to get medicines, to the grocery store, those who need and have to go to work can, and we can still be out in our yards or take a walk. Today, I felt like expelling my own son. I could not get through 4 days of elearning while still trying to catch up on my work with my own school and students. What aggravated me the most was that I could not log into my son's elearning system. Two days later I finally get an email stating the system was having complications. While I understnd this is new to all of us, it does not help when I am homeschooling my own son and trying to teach my own students. After grading over 25 research papers and having an online virtual class with my sophomores, my day ended at 4:30 p.m. I am going to use my time this upcoming week to reflect on this past week and find a way to overcome the challenges that I had while working through the silent virus that is attacking society.
As I see it, the problem is that the media, including social media, are creating unwanted fears within society. They create this fear without much information. As a result, one’s adrenal glands become active starting the ‘flight or fight’ response. The Corona Virus is not the first to be part of this mass hysteria. This has been a continuous issue as many tend to believe what they hear, see, and / or read.
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