DAYS IN QUARANTINE
Check out your classmates' days of quarantine pages too!
Mrs. Parker's entries:
April 1st- Day 1
It has actually been longer than "Day 1", the last day we were in school was March 13th. Online work and occasional Zoom chats are our reality right now. When I go out to the grocery store I wonder about everyone I pass. Are they having symptoms? Are they sick and they don't know yet? It is such a surreal experience, one that I only thought I would read about in books. In fact, I have read several books with this as the plot line. Interesting that I am now a part of the plot. I'm still getting the hang on online teaching, but it really just feels like online "assigning" because it has proven impossible to get my students all together. I will work on some videoing of myself teaching soon so my students can watch and maybe feel a little more like a "normal" time in class. Our new normal is difficult. I miss a lot. I miss greeting my students at the door when they come in and trying to get a smile out of them no matter how sleepy they are or how badly they didn't want to come to school that morning. I miss joking around and just being silly. So many other things I miss, I think I will pace myself and add a new one each day. We still got a long way to go. See you tomorrow computer screen!
April 2nd- Day 2 (actual day 18)
Another day of online communication. Hopeful that my students are able to stay positive and have a good day. As we get into more and more days of this I can tell that some moods are changing and boredom is really starting to set in for some of them. I encourage them to stay motivated, but sometimes, to be honest, motivation is difficult for me too. I think these journal entries will help. This morning I talked to my mom, a nurse at the VA hospital, and she reminded me of positives for this time we are going through. It has forced our world to slow down a bit and families are spending more time together. We tend to take things for granted and this experience will make everyone appreciate things more. I told my husband this morning that I will NEVER complain about going to the gym again! That's another reason for documenting this time: anytime we start to forget how it felt to not be able to freely come and go, we need to read these entries.
Ok, so another thing I miss. I miss hearing my students say the Pledge of Allegiance and our class mission statement. I miss hearing that combined voice of unity even though the rest of the day might have challenging situations, at least for that time we were all one.