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Monday, August 17, 2020

#MTBoSBlaugust - Pathways to Being Better

 



Today was a struggle.  Not in a bad way, but just in terms of feeling like I accomplished something.

I walked into school today with high hopes and a blank agenda.  I had absolutely nothing on my calendar other than to drill down into what this semester will look like.  

7:00am - Arrive at school and juggle a few big / bulky things.  I decided to bring up a bag chair so I could sit outside for some fresh air and I also brought up a larger monitor.  We have Surface Pros for the teacher computer, which is lovely, but a tiny screen for my old eyes, so I had an external monitor.  However, after 5 months at home with a larger monitor, the school one felt "off" in terms of size / aspect ratio.  Thankfully hubs is a techy guy and we had a spare.  I fought with cables and cords, but finally got it set up and going - yay me!

7:45am - Neighbor teacher texts me to say she's headed to Sonic and did I want a drink?  Ummm, YES!

8:00am - Drink arrives and I call our EL teacher to share what I learned last night about changing languages on Google Meet Closed Captioning

8:15am - Start working on setting up my Canvas courses

9:00am - Neighbor teacher and I co-teach a class, so we sit down to start thinking through what that looks like.  We spend a couple of hours looking at various technologies and what might work.  Two hours later, we still don't have a plan, but we are a bit better about wrapping our heads around what it looks like - maybe :)

11:30am - Neighbor teacher goes to run an errand, I grab my bag chair and text a friend to see if she wants to sit outside for a bit for fresh air.  Grab my notebook from last year and a blank calendar to try to figure out some pacing calendars.

12:00pm - Come back inside, continue looking at pacing calendar, erase, write again, erase, repeat...

1:00pm - Meet with my content level team to try to figure out what remote teaching looks like.  We hash out a few things, kind of get an idea of pacing, but still pretty lost on the day to day.

3:20pm - Head back to my room to wrap up for the day.  Catch up on emails, send a few more, talk on the phone with our district PD director about how to do asynchronous PD

3:45pm - Look at my very blank agenda and desk, realize that I have nothing to show for today, decide to go home.  

4:30pm - Get home, handle a few other PD issues that came up, send it off to the people that need to proofread

5:30pm - Walk around the corner to check on my elderly neighbor to see how he is doing and to thank him for the cheesecake he made for us this weekend :)

6:00pm - Dinner time, then a real walk (Gotta meet my #fitbos goal!), rest and relax for a bit.

9:00pm - Decide finally on the topic for today's blog post and sit down to write :)  So here's my point in today's post:

We're on a pathway that is scary, it's unknown, it has switchbacks and crazy curves....This year is going to be really hard.  I also know that I will come out a better teacher on the other side.  However, getting to that other side is going to be a real challenge.  I know that when the kids "show up" next week, things will be better.  I know that we will pull it off, because we always do.  I know it will work out - it just has to, right? :)  

This year will challenge me like no other - new ways to present content, new ways to design activities, new ways to assess, new ways to connect with students, new ways to use technology.  I know that I have an opportunity to try new things, to change the paradigm of my classroom, to have a complete mindset shift of education.  I know that what we do this year will shape the future of teaching and learning for years to come.  The unknown is terrifying and I think that's one major reason why education has looked the same way for 100 years.  

Way back in January, I challenged my students to have a word of the year.  My word was COURAGE.  The main reason for that choice was that I was scared.  I had never travelled overseas and I was about to head to Portugal for a week.  That word still applies.  I'm still scared.  I've never travelled the path I'm currently on - I mean, it's a pandemic for goodness sake! - but I also know that if I can stay the course, if I can find courage, I will come out the other side and I will be a better teacher for it.

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