Two Good Stories from My Week

Story #1

Our last day all remote, April 12, even though our MOU says our district is staying remote on Mondays... I put my laptop on my raised table, as I stand on our remote days. I am able to sing loudly, dance, and be overall more ME on Mondays, so I use the raised table. Even though I remember to plug in the document camera and the dongle to my other screen, I guess I don't plug in the charger. I only realize this when everything turns off in the middle of my sentence. I lose everyone and everything. I swear (no worries - I'm not in front of any 12-13-year-olds at the moment). I plug it in, turn it on, and the new host (we'll call him Harvey) lets me in right away. I turn on the chat and I see a peer (we'll call him Hank) type in "Do the right thing, [Harvey]." Suddenly I start observing what I didn't even think I should be observing - some fear in some children's eyes, some relief, some confusion... and another student unmutes and asks, "Mrs. Kirr, can you put my camera back on? [Harvey] turned it off." I asked the class if there was something they felt they needed to share with me. I asked for direct messages if something needs to be said, and no one said anything. Harvey had already made me the host, and so we proceeded with the lesson. The next day, I was sure to head over to Harvey and Hank and thank them for whatever they prevented. Such maturity. I'm so proud of them.

Story #2

In one class, I have one student (out of two) who is consistently a minute or two (or more) late to the Zoom. The other was on the absent list. I opened the Zoom, put it half-way over the Jamboard warm up projected on the screen, greeted the in-person students, and waited for the tone to signal this student had arrived. The phone rang - it was the office saying that the one student was trying to get on the Zoom link. I told her it's open, so we'll look for them. Then one student told me to look at the Jamboard. Looking up, the entire thing was covered by a large (virtual) sticky note. It said, "We're trying to get into the Zoom!!" I'd done it. 120+ days into the school year, I'd started the wrong Zoom link. What a great way to get your teacher to know something!! Kudos to those two (yup - the one was suddenly not absent) for their quick thinking!

I love these stories. I had to document them, while still hoping we don't have Zoom open next year.

Day 74 - Advertisements & Webinars

The ads these days are changing... This one is from my Duolingo:

This one was on my Instagram:

This one was in a YouTube video, and I actually checked it out... They're $20 for one, and the price goes down as you buy more. I was seriously considering buying the five at $14 a piece (so I could give some away) until I read the reviews.

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I was able to attend two webinars this afternoon!

The first one my mom invited me to - it's for her ICL group - continued learning through Roosevelt University. I probably shouldn't have been able to be in it, but there weren't 100 participants, so it was okay. Plus, it gave me some fodder to help when we argue about that man that we argue about all the time... It was called "Logical Fallacies," and it included some of what (I believe) we teach in eighth grade:

Yup. This one is sooooooo true of DT on a daily basis.

It was also pretty hilarious at the start - the participants being my parents' ages - all talking over each other, making comments about the backgrounds, swearing and then repeating what that person who swore said... I was laughing a ton at the start! Adults - Just like the kids! Finally the man helping with the tech muted everyone so the presenter could start. I did learn a new setting for Zoom while sharing your screen. Here's HOW!

I then was able to attend one from Tom Driscoll at EdTech Teacher - Games, Simulations, and Virtual Field Trips. I did NOT know you can move that little yellow guy in Google Maps to where you want to see the street view! That was my huge take-away for that hour. He also talked about these sites which I want to explore further:
     123apps.com (to help with those with Chromebooks!)
     Games for Change
     Google Arts & Culture
     Mystery Doug
     GeoGuessr
     Wide Open School

Day 62 - Ramblings

Thursday, May 14, 2020

I woke up thinking about praise and how it affects me. Last night I read about half an hour before heading to bed. Hubby said, "Nice job reading tonight." He meant, "Nice job not being on the computer or phone tonight." I haven't been reading like I thought I would during this time. Like I used to. Like I love to do. When I woke and thought of his praise, I wanted to read. I wonder how the praise we typically provide students during a typical school day affects them. I wonder how the lack of that amount now affects them.

Our advisory activity this week was to interview a friend. We had questions to ask regarding their favorite activities during quarantine and their goals. My good coworker and I shared our answers (to share with the kids), and later I asked some of these questions to another friend. It's a good activity, and I hope the kids get something out of it. The answers shared on FlipGrid so far look promising.

I recorded a ten-minute presentation on genius hour for #GlobalBrewEdIsolation happening all day (in the U.K.) on Saturday. It starts at 3:30 am our time. Ten minute sessions from so many educators ALL DAY!


I don't know how people like @grahamandre pull all this stuff together!

I'm way more than half-way done with my cards for the graduating Seniors.... I'm so excited about it. I'm also excited to get back to card making once I'm done writing postcards to the seventh graders...

Hubby had his first Zoom chat today with an old friend in Detroit. I joined him, because his friend's wife joined him. She even dressed up for us! It was an hour and a half long, from noon - 1:30. Bob took a nap afterwards. He was thankful to me for helping him with the tech, and I'm pretty sure he was very happy with the whole thing, even if he didn't want to do it in the first place.
"It's not the same," he said.
His friend replied, "But it's what we've got." I think that helped him get over the hump.

Day 49 - Stories

Friday, April May 1, 2020

Nope. I'm not the teacher you've seen on social media trying to teach a student a math lesson through the student's window.

Nope. I'm not the elementary teacher who has a zoom meeting every day with her 25-30 students who can't hear each other over everyone's voices.

Nope. I'm not the art teacher sharing all the beautiful home art students are sharing on Seesaw.

I don't live near my students.

I don't have only 30 students.

I don't use Seesaw and can't ask students to try a new tool now.

This is what I CAN do...

I can let students and parents know we'll be meeting via Zoom days prior.

I can set up a safe Zoom meeting and find emails and invite students who responded to my invite 10 minutes prior.

And wait. With a smile on.

And afterwards, I can cry.

When only one shows up for one meeting and four for another, I make some connections I've been longing for. I put on my happy face and share in their feelings as they answer (what are supposed to be "engaging") questions. I act as if "we've got this!" I was able to hear a few stories shared.

Then I go for a long walk in the sun (thank goodness for the sunshine today).

I'm assigning about 30 minutes (maybe!) of work they don't need help with - two days a week. Of course they can read or write more if they'd like. They don't have questions about the lessons, because we're sharing them in videos and slides with examples. They just seem to want to see each other. And I want to see them.

My mantra today was, "I'm doing what I can. I'm following the advice and suggestions of other educators." Actually saying this aloud while in the sun helped me quite a bit. Soon a coworker teacher friend of mine will call, and we'll share our stories from today. I'm so grateful for our friendship and for someone who knows exactly what I'm going through.

Day 42 - Zoom

Friday April 24, 2020

I finally saw some students today via Zoom.

I was nervous as all heck, and yet knew it would only be about four (turned out to be nine) students. I had my co-teacher there with me, and she helped with some of the awkward pauses. I'm glad we met! It was good to see smiles and frowns, and confusion, and pets, and... I was finally able to get some genuine real-time feedback from my students.

Ahhh...

Zoom and Google have been used a ton recently - thank goodness for the use of this technology and for the Internet. That being said, it's exhausting! I read this article yesterday, and it's so true.

We ended the conversation with sharing what we're looking forward to this coming weekend. Believe it or not, it IS the weekend coming up.

And, of course, I saw this meme:

And I'm okay with goofy hair on the Zoom... maybe that will be our fun share with the next class!