Reflections on Week 9, Term 1, 2020

Week 9 was one of the biggest weeks of my career. Not for any reason worth celebration but because we systematically, in the space of 7 days flipped education from face to face to online. We all had a crash course in Google Classroom and we are, almost, officially online.

I have been working enormous days and caring for my partner and child while getting everything established. I joked, and I regret this now, that I would appreciate a little break to catch up on everything because I was tired. While there is a break from face to face teaching time now, the alternative, our online 'revolution' seems almost like I am shouting into a void and as for spare time. There's none of that.

I have modified assessment for 7-12 and have converted everything so it works on Google Classroom and students will be able to hand in their tasks online. Instructions have been written, hundreds of Google Classrooms notifications received and it is safe to say that this situation is less than idea. 

We are contacting families next week to ensure students are accessing materials. I really, really hope that maybe after a few days off last week that students will now get online to access materials and get on with the work I have put together. 

A few parents have asked to be part of the classrooms which I have no problem about, especially now that everything is set up and ready to go. I wasn't happy to add them last week when I was still trying to work out how to use Google Classroom but now, I am feeling a bit more confident.

I have made a few errors - using Google Forms to collect information for an assessment task. Forms makes information so easily collected, however, it also dumps the information in one area. When staff are marking their own classes this is not helpful - now everyone is going to have to flick through all of the student responses to find their own. Class lists are arbitrarily organised so it is not possible for me to collate the information into classes without sitting and doing it manually. I just do not have the time or mental capacity to do that at the moment.

The future looks interesting and I am not sure I am ready.

Reflections on Week 8, Term 1, 2020

This week Covid19 has moved onto the radar in a more insidious manner. We are no longer laughing at the lack of toilet paper in the supermarket aisles but have seen canned goods, pasta and sauce, pain relief medication for children and adults, flour, sugar, and tissues become depleted. There are gaps everywhere and we, who have lived all our lives with constant availability, have never seen such a thing before. Supermarkets have begun to limit the purchase of toilet paper, tissues, long life food items to ensure customers are not missing out on the necessities.

At school the kids are starting to drop off. Attendance is usually fairly consistent but there are empty chairs appearing in our classrooms and teachers on social media are speaking about readying resources to provide to students. Sport has been cancelled. Things are starting to get a bit spooky.

I went to the doctor with my partner and baby on Friday and I had a slightly running nose. The receptionist nearly threw me out of the practice. She shoved a mask at me and handed me the hand sanitiser. I learned, once we got in for our appointment, that if the doctor fell ill for even a cold she would have to immediately take three days off work. She apologised for the mask. I wore the mask on and off over the weekend to avoid spreading my cold to baby - you can't buy them anywhere so it seemed smart to use it.

Everything feels difficult at the moment.