Last week ended up being way more stressful than I expected. I was up past 1am every night grading my students’ work and creating what they needed to do for the next day. I spend the daylight hours on Zoom call staff meetings and answering my students’ endless trouble-shooting questions (turns out middle schoolers don’t read directions very carefully, or take the initiative when they aren’t sure about something. Shocking!) Oh, and I was doing all that while managing my own children’s distance learning. Every day felt like a marathon-length sprint and by Friday I was absolutely done.
I worked a lot of hours this weekend (probably half of each day) getting my content created so I could spend less time at night doing that. I still think that posting their grades helps them stay motivated to keep doing their work, because they know they’ll see the effects of a missing assignment immediately the next day (I’m lucky to have students that are, for the most part, motivated by their academic standing). But I hoped to have everything created and ready so that every night I could just paste a slide into my agenda and post a saved announcement on google classroom, and I didn’t meet that goal. I do have three days of work ready, but I’ll need to keep doing things throughout the first half of the week to avoid late nights on Wednesday and Thursday.
And then I have a week of spring break (stuck at home with my kids) to figure out how I’m going to make this situation work for the rest of the school year. (We haven’t been told officially that we’re not going back, but I’m assuming we won’t this school year, with hopes that maybe we’ll get to go back in May… a girl can dream.)
I recognize that my current setup is untenable. The volume of work I’m creating is more than I can maintain. Grading and posting scores every night is also not viable. I’m going to have to figure out a better way, because I simply can’t keep this up in the long term.
One of my problems is that I have five different preps, which means I have to create content for five, unrelated classes, and post it in five different places. The good news is two of those are A/B schedule electives which means I don’t have to post that much for either of those classes; I only would have seen them 2 times a week, and no one cares that much if I give them an impressive set of distance learning activities. Now I just need to remember that, and not push myself to meet my own personal expectations about what I should be giving them.
So yeah, I’m going to be mindful of what feels meaningful and what fills me with frustration this week. Hopefully, with a week afterward to percolate and plan, I’ll have a better map laid out for reaching my overarching goals by the end of the school year.
I also need to do a hard reset on our schedule at home. I’ve been watching what works, and what doesn’t, and I will continue to do so. I’m lucky that my kids have met, or exceeded, most of their grade-level standards this year already (I’m so glad we just got their second trimester report cards last week!), so there isn’t much I need to be too worried about as far as their academics. Mostly I just want them to retain the ability to sit and do some not-so-amusing work, and to maintain their grade levels skills. Oh, and to work on their Spanish. So far I’ve protected our “Hora de español” more fiercely that anything (first “academic” hour of the day) and I’m still brainstorming ways we can keep that up. Otherwise I’d rather they explore some topics of their own with a project based learning approach. The problem is, that while my 9.5yo daughter can probably manage that with less guidance, my 6yo son cannot. I still have to figure it all out, but I know I need to make some big changes.
I really liked this article that mom sent me on the topic. Maybe it will help you shift your expectations too.
I promise to keep writing what I’m doing here, in the hopes that it might help others. To all the people who are just doing what they need to do, and not stressing, my hats off to you. Please don’t think my kids are engaged in meaningful academic work all day. That is not the case at all. Mostly I just want to create a routine that brings them a feeling of security, while also maintaining my own sanity. It sounds like that is what most of us want.
Wow, that sounds like a ton of work to have to create new on-line based content for all your classes on the fly. Very wise of you to realize that your current pace is not sustainable and also that you don’t need to stress about your kids’ academics.
I definitely need to work with my 3rd grade daughter on her reading, writing, and spelling since those are weaker areas for her. But that my job is PT and already home-based definitely makes it easier although it still feels somewhat daunting when we have no end date in sight. This is Day 1 of our new normal of all being at home but trying to do work and school (we were off for spring break this past week).
So with my six year old, the only rules are 1) no tv before 4 and 2) we need to practice reading or writing every single day. Other than that, I view his school work as optional. I just can’t oversee his work when I have my own work to do.
The total Mandarin immersion school grand is only allowed to watch shows in Mandarin. Depending on what show is English subtitles MAY be allowed.
You, and SOO MANY OTHER TEACHERS are doing amazing work. Thank you! And, yes, you will need to find a medium ground work level so can personally survive. Depending on economic level of your school MIGHT you be able to use Spanish tv programs no subtitles in any of your classes as ear practice? Could be equal access problem! Be careful!
THANK YOU AND EACH AND EVERY READER for the help you are providing, the normalcy and proof the world is turning and you are here. And Noemikjames, thank you for always have thought provoking posts.
I teach high school chemistry, in our state we are not allowed to count grades during elearning, I am hoping this changes. I made 5pt assignments that are graded by the class management system we use, Schoology. I set them so they do not enter into my grade book. Students contact me with questions when they miss or do not understand a question. I also had to do a lot of work this weekend to prepare for the next two weeks. During spring break I am going to need to figure out what I am going to do if the closure is extended.