Teaching In Person and Virtually During a Pandemic Edition

Tuesday, May 18, 2021

I chose last Thursday to document; I figured I had better hurry before school ends. I find these interesting, plus I thought it might be something I would want to remember.

The last time I did this was early 2021 when I was still teaching virtually from home.

You may find my day more boring than watching paint dry!

I am getting up later and later and leaving later and later. I get up between 5:00 and 5:45, depending on how tired I am. I start my day with two cups of coffee at home and some quiet time/blog reading time. It only ends up being 1.5 cups of coffee because I dump the mug out when it starts to get cold!

I only breakfast prepped for two days so I had to make my to-go breakfast burrito on a low carb wrap. I still had a bit of baked potato, which I added to one egg and some light Trader Joe’s shredded Mexican blend.

I shower at night but also take a super quick shower in the morning most days. Then I have a very basic makeup routine because of the mask and curl my hair.

Hair and makeup done.

Then, I go to my closet and get dressed from my outfit staging area. I have pre-planned outfits and just choose one most days.

I was leaving for school at 6:45 but as you can see I was leaving at 7:01.

Happy signs of life in a school bus in the distance. My kids never got to ride one but I rode one and have so many memories! Jack and Mason were in walking distance (spitting distance, really) of their elementary, middle, and high school!

I enter the designated door and scan my badge in. This door is super far from my classroom and a new Covid thing. I finally arrive in my room and take my outfit photo first thing before I forget.

Then, I have to do my attendance and my health screener. I have about 30 minutes to make sure everything is ready for my virtual class that starts at 7:40.

I eat my breakfast burrito after heating it up in my classroom microwave.

After I make sure everything is ready I put my mask back on and go in the hall to say hi to my department colleagues. We have six Spanish teachers, one French, and one Japanese. We all have first period planning and all teach virtually that period. No kids are in our hallway to speak of because none of us have live students until second period. We are lucky to have our own little language wing.

I finish virtual class and run to the restroom. I am trying to drink more water and you know what that means!

My first in person class. I took a picture when heads were down for privacy. There is another student by the window and more on the other side. This is on a Group B day. Group A comes Monday and Tuesday and Group B comes Thursday and Friday.

Each period I have to take attendance for in person students for that day and for the students who are at home because they go different days and for virtual students. Yeah, it’s not hard at all to keep track of all that!

I always start with the day and the date and then I do announcements and plans on the next slides. This slide looks kinda boring.

I teach second, third, fourth, and half of fifth period and then have lunch. My lunch on this day and the whole week was vegetable soup. Erica and Elizabeth and I have the same lunch and they come in and use my microwave and we chat and eat for our twenty minute lunch. The other department members have different lunches this year.

I teach the second half of fifth, sixth, and seventh and then the bell rings! Erica, Elizabeth and I have started walking after school on Mondays and Thursdays. This is when I got home from school with my walking clothes on. I have been loving my two pocket biker shorts for this.

I had about two hours at home to sit for a bit, make dinner, eat a quick dinner, and then I left for the junior and senior awards ceremony. I am the World Language Department chair and had to present the departmental award to the best senior language student. It was easy this year – we have a senior taking Spanish 3, French 3, and Japanese 3. I don’t think we have ever had that happen before!

It was super weird because of how spaced out we were. Also, the students were spaced out and everyone was masked up. It was good that we got to do this, though!

It ended at 7:45 and I got to see some old students and chat with some in the parking lot. I got home around 8:00, took my shower, and watched a bit of telly.

The day was pretty typical, but I haven’t had any evening school events for a long, long time!

I didn’t do a great job with taking photos, but it will do, and this will be a good reminder of how the last eight weeks of the 2020-2021 school year played out!

If you are still awake, thanks for reading!

Amy