Week 2 of Con Ed has been a mix of OH-MI-I-HAVE-3-ZOOMS-TODAY-AND-A-VIDEO-TO-EDIT-AND-UPLOAD-BEFORE-8AM-TOMORROW-EVERYONE-LEAVE-ME-ALONE!!! and I-AM-SO-BORED-EVERYTHING-IS-CAUGHT-UP-WHERE-IS-EVERYONE-I-WANNA-HANGOUT!
PS: When I mean “everyone”, I mean my cat...I live with a cat. Not allowed to see anyone else....just my cat.
At times it seemed like Week 2 went by in a flash and yet lasted 6 years....cabin fever is setting in.
I wanted to through digital beanbags at my counterpart PE teacher this past week! She is a youngling! Oh boy is she a youngling. The 5th Grade PSStaff were on a Zoom last week and a discussion about students who were not attending homeroom zooms or math zooms or whatever zooms and what do we do about attendance and participation and do we keep track and should district officials be knock, knock, knocking on doors to check up on students....you know ConEd stuff...
I’m sitting there quietly, checking my Canvas analytics page to see if the same students who were not showing up for other classes were at least looking at the music class page.
Aaannnd then the Youngling opened her mouth....God-sigh-Bless-sigh-her...
So, I don’t do class zooms. I push out content through YouTube as I don’t have a homeroom. I prefer using YouTube so students can look at Music Class lessons at their leisure, after all other math, reading, written language, science etc, is done. We have a highly restrictive time allocation for all education during ConEd. Elementary level gets maybe an hour of “instruction time” everyday with the new rules. So, I embed an unlisted link in a Canvas announcement with an explanation and “SHAZAM!” Music Content viewable at the students’ pleasure and leisure!
Youngling during this one zoom pipes up: “Should we (Music/PE/Art) be tracking student who don’t “try” in our classes....?
I had to school my expression so hard after she asked that. Grrrrrrr....I wanted to scream “WTF!?!? SHUT UP!” at her but...you know Zoom Meeting, I was on camera at the time....siggggghhhh.....
The Classroom teachers have a shared document on the cloud drive so people can see who’s coming to which Zoom. The Related Arts are not privy to that for whatever reason and dang it, truthfully, I don’t want access. I wouldn't NORMALLY have access to stuff like that, so what is the point now?!?
Principal says “Yeah, you should be probably tracking that...”
Well, better late to the party than never...
Least we got an invite to the party...finally...I guess?
Wait...crap...more work, more screen time, more ass asleep in the chair time...damn.
So, I take an extra couple of hours, study the analytics, and come up with a way to communicate Music Class Attendance Records in succinct manner by creating a Table in a Pages Document (Word for people who don’t speak Apple) that can be updated and emailed weekly to the boss. It doesn’t take very long, just another stupid thing I wouldn’t normally have to do....
Youngling calls me today ranting about a different Zoom meeting we attended and discussed how to do grades and final grades for the year and so on. She thought grades were going to be one way, but now they've changed, but what do we have to do with our lessons instead to give a grade....
Good Lord Youngling, calm down, take a breath...this is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s probably gonna change again....breathe
She asks me about attendance and I walk her through what I figured out in abstract ideas.
Youngling: “Can you send me a copy of your attendance document? I need to see how you’ve done yours?”
Me: “Ummmm....It just a pages document with a table...not hard...”
I’m not a good share-er right now.
All the while I'm thinking: Look, Youngling you just had to open your mouth IN THE FIRST PLACE...now figure it out! We are doing the same thing...flying by the seat of our pants...roll with it...problem solve.
In the Meantime, trying to keep things in context....
People have lost loved ones
People have it way worse than I do.
My life is not in crisis...it is inconvenient, not in crisis.
Rant Over, appreciating what I do have, and movin’ on!
I still miss my students...
