Teaching During CoVid-19: Day...Feels like 1,000

By now, it's actually Week 3 of school closure.  We had 1 week (actually more like 2 days) to prepare lessons.  Then, we went on "Spring Break"!  Woohooo!  Oh, wait. #coronacation. So, this week, Week 3, we are getting back to a routine that was never fully established in the first place.  The order came down yesterday for 4 more weeks of closure. <deep breath here>

<deep breath again>

After 14 years of teaching, using technology and research at the forefront of my profession, why am I so nervous about delivering content online?  I've been training other teachers how to use tech tools for 5 years, but now the stakes are different somehow.

Students don't have access.  Students don't have support at home. Students don't have materials they need for basic LIVING, let alone LEARNING.

I want to bust out my very best Pear Deck lessons, and app smash the heck out of projects for reading and writing!  I'm ready!  I've been preparing for this my whole life!

To be delivered to....15 of 85 students???

So, I'm worried.  I'm frustrated.  I'm #allthethings.  Most of all, I want the students and families to know that I am here for them.  I am in the same position: mom, homemaker, homeschool teacher, spouse, human being.  What can I do to help you?  My purpose is to help students feel successful, not to overwhelm (because I certainly am), to communicate and to challenge. 

There is no easy way out, but we're #inthistogether.  Together, we will help each other learn, grow, and hopefully, show the best sides of ourselves.  I'm ready, if you are. How can I help?

Teaching during CoVid-19: Day 1

Day 1:

I.am.STRUGGLING.

I watched everyone get ready on social media.  I watched the store shelves empty faster than they could be filled.  I watched teacher blogs.  I talked to friends.  I group messaged people.  I shared my "summer learning" plan with my husband so that we could make adjustments to fit our current school shut down, but keep on learning schedule.  He made adjustments and sent it back to me.

Here's where we get teacher-y: Theory vs. Practice.

Theory: There's a "teacher workday" to get any work ready for students to pick up.
Practice: Very few teachers in the building because the union says, if you've already done your work to get ready for students, don't show up.  Teachers already sent packets home last week. (except me, the naive substitute "They said we'd have school!")

Theory: If you can teach 6th grade reading, you can teach 2nd grade reading.
Practice: WHAT IN THE WORLD KIND OF WORD MARKING IS THAT?

Theory: Stay At Home Moms have all day to do the chores and run the errands.
Practice: 8am-3:30pm is the fastest time frame for getting ANYTHING accomplished.

Theory: I can teach my kid while teaching other kids from my kitchen table.
Practice: My kitchen table is filthy, the dishwasher needs emptied, the dryer just buzzed, another *ding* from work email, *ding* family/friends texting because they are all home too, did I eat lunch?, my kid needs help with her reading, *ding* one of my students just emailed me, I start on MY online lessons, *ding* you missed Facebook Live at the Cincinnati Zoo with baby hippo Fiona-CRAP!, laundry! food? my kid! your kid! me?!  Did I go to the bathroom at all today????

So, my conclusion for all who put their kids on those great schedules to continue the learning and keep the routine--Good for you.  It's not working for me.  A routine works great for me if I'm being just one thing at a time: Teacher=class schedule, ring that bell!   Mom=let dad take you outside to play or to the store, go clean your room    Homeschool Mom=Reading 9am-10am, Math 10am-11am "yes, I can help you!"

If I am going to fluidly transition my roles while being out of school, I'm definitely going to need some new tools:

Alexa/Siri/Google Home: assign us chores for the day and remind us to get them done (first thing in the morning is best!)

Take it one assignment at a time: use a task list, not a time of day (if my child takes 30 mins and yours takes 45 mins, the goal of learning is still met.)

DRINK WATER throughout the day.  Exercise when your child has play time.  Enjoy a brain break when it's quiet time, don't keep working.

School's OUT at 3:30pm.  Time to be a MOM! :)

THE Behavior Card

Brought to us by our friend and dear colleague, Chrissy Young, our behavior card has now spread to other grade levels!  It's THAT amazing.  The rules are simple, follow the rules=get a ticket.  Tickets are called every three weeks to receive a prize.

IF a student doesn't follow a rule, they get a signature.  Signatures=consequences.  Start small: lose your ticket.  Each additional signature in a week adds another consequence.  We range from student conference to silent lunch to parent contact to office referral.

ALL of this can be controlled by the student.  If he or she manages his or her behavior, they'll get rewarded.  Middle schoolers pretend like they don't like prizes and to be caught doing good, but they really thrive on it.  Our behavior card is a way to reward students who are doing the right thing consistently, and even though some students may have bumps in the road, they also still have the opportunity to make the right choice and be rewarded.

We check the card at the each week and keep track of those who have earned consequences.  Every Monday, the student starts all over again.  The one card lasts the entire quarter.

We also use the back of the behavior card as their hall pass.  Students only get a certain amount of "get out of class free" passes.  They use these to go to the bathroom during class, get water, go to their lockers, etc.  However, once they're gone, they're gone.  Students have to make it to the bathroom during class change, or give up a ticket because they couldn't manage their passes effectively.  It also keeps students accountable for their cards!  They may want to lose their behavior card, but they sure don't want to lose their hall pass!

Teachers get sick, too

When I came down with a virus (not the A, B, or the beach-side-beer-kind) a couple weeks ago, I had to drop my coffee & creamer intake (roughly 2-3 cups/day) immediately. Caffeine and dairy contribute to inflammation in our bodies. What I had was definitely inflammatory!🔥 

Instead, I chilled my bottle of Young Living Ningxia Red and instead of filling my thermos with coffee, filled it with Thieves tea. I haven't gone back to coffee yet, so as a non-tea, non-soda pop drinker, I had a choice once I was over the virus: do what my body needed or go back to habits that were feeding my body negatively.

Ningxia Red is so good for my body, with natural antioxidant properties AND energy to get me through the day. I never had any caffeine withdrawal symptoms, even though I dropped coffee cold turkey.  Ningxia Red gives me all the benefits and none of the side effects of other energy drinks. Some of my friends add Lime or Lemon essential oils, some pour over ice with sparkling water, some (like me) shoot it straight like we're back in college🤣. 

Any way you like your coffee, I challenge you to 30 days of Ningxia Red. 2oz a day for 30 days. I am sure you'll feel the difference! Let me know if you want to take the challenge with me❤🌱

Recipe for Thieves Tea:

1 c. hot water

1 Tbsp. honey

1-2 drops Thieves Vitality essential oil blend

2-4 drops Lemon Vitality essential oil

Place oils on top of honey before stirring into hot water.

"Feedback..."

Our school's focus is on "feedback".

This is now a dreaded word in my school.  Even the AP is tired of meetings around this topic.  It doesn't even apply to the EOG in my state, it only applies to writing.

We have the students complete the "writing task" (no longer a prompt, essay, or paper), and are supposed to grade it using the state rubric and give feedback in the final product.  

Here's the problem: I don't think that the final product is the only time you should give feedback.  Feedback is a process, not a destination or merely part of the outcome.  So, when the district admin ask for our quarterly writing folders, we (all social studies, science, math, and language arts teachers) supply high, medium, and low examples of student writing (three of each, btw).

Then, we get the lecture that our feedback is not good enough, even though we have all spent time responding to the student writing samples, making corrections, assessing, and giving feedback according to the rubric and task.  

If admin wants to see quality feedback, they need to observe the process of the writing task.  I love using Google Docs with students because I can comment on anything at any time, students can make corrections as they go (not wait until the end), AND anyone with access to the Doc can "see revision history" to see how the student has edited and revised due to the feedback of peers and teachers.

As you can see, Students have gone through an entire thought process before they turn in their final product.  Feedback has to be integrated into the process, and as my colleague said during our last PLC, "We don't need to be comparing apples and oranges (narratives to argumentative pieces to research pieces to expository pieces).  We need to compare apples to apples: compare the student's journey from year to year as they write narratives.  How does their writing evolve over time?  That's where they need the feedback!  You made the same mistakes last year and the year before.  This is what you need to focus on."  Amen, sister, Amen.

Feedback: a process, NOT a final destination.

Gaffclass' Recommended Apps & Extensions

I'm not getting paid for any of these recommendations (I wish they would!), but these are the best tools I use with and without students in my classroom.

Symbaloo--My Symbaloo says a lot about the websites I use, and it's updated constantly.  Of course, these are web-based, but some also come as apps in the iTunes, Google Play, and Chrome Web store. I use all of these with my students.


Chromebook apps in addition to the ones listed above:
Notetaking/Organization:
Google Keep (available in iTunes & Android stores)
Dropbox

Student Assignments/Teaching:
Edmodo
Google Classroom
The QR Code Generator
Pear Deck

Video Projects:
WeVideo
TechSmith Snagit
Voice Recorder
PowToonEdu
Pixton for Google Chromebooks

Writing:
Tweetdeck
DuoLingo
Piktochart
MindMeister
Sketchpad
Storybird

iProducts:
Creation:
YouTube Capture App
Prezi (available on web)
GarageBand
iMovie
Thinglink (available in iTunes & Android stores & web)
QuickVoice
Canva
Book Creator
Assessment:
GradeCam (available in iTunes & Android stores & web)<--ASSESSMENT HEAVEN!!
Reference:
iPromptPro--a teleprompter for speeches
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Google Earth
TEDTalks
Kindle (available in iTunes & Android stores & web)
Booksource Classroom--my entire classroom library is digital & sends reminders when books are due!
Audible
Google Translate

Gaffclass' MUST HAVE Chrome Extensions: (I use them daily!)
Awesome Screenshot
TechSmith Snagit
Google Translate
Pinterest
Google Calendar
Send to Google Classroom
Save to Google Drive
The QR Code Extension
Goo.gl URL Shortener

Google Docs--Offline

This is the most common problem at my school:  "I can't do anything because it keeps saying 'waiting to connect!'  Can I get another computer?"

Unfortunately, getting another computer won't help.  We use Samsung Chromebooks in 7th grade.  Chromebooks act 95%+ in the "cloud".  The reason we can't connect is because our server can't support the amount of devices we have connecting to it.

Our awesome tech crew is working diligently to improve our accessibility in each school in our district, thanks in part to our former superintendent, who placed a priority on improving technology during his tenure.  HOWEVER, we need to be prepared.

How to get OFFLINE in Google Docs (Slides, Sheets, Drawings, too!)

If that's not enough, I created a video for my students to follow to earn their Chromebook Licenses.  View it here:

NO MORE EXCUSES!  Get working:)