I am really impressed with my coworkers and students when I think about how we have risen above all the challenges we have faced since the pandemic began. I think the toughest moment was in January and February, during the peak of these anxious times. Here is an example:
When I get to the classroom, I make sure the windows and doors are open, even if the nearby classes are noisy and there is construction outside. Sometimes, the wind makes the posters flap on the wall and if the kids don’t weigh down their work, they may end up chasing it across the room as the wind whips it around. I have to start the Zoom session on the big monitor, with keyboard and mouse A. Then I need to position monitor A so that the 15 kids at home and 20 in the class can see the large projection screen from Computer, mouse and keyboard B. I have to put on the microphone for Zoom for Computer A, and position it on my jacket under the microphone I use so that my students in person can hear me. I need to use mouse A to turn off the Zoom microphone, so that I can correct the behavior of students in person and get them to settle down and organize the distribution of materials. Then I need to use mouse A to turn on the Zoom mic, and mouse B to bring up the presentation on an over-saturated Internet. When it finally loads I make sure that the students at home and in person call all see the projector, and remind the students at home that the same presentation is in Google Classroom and on Google Sites. I give the presentation, stopping to turn off the microphones of the students at home and turn off the video of a student who is misbehaving at home, and then give the instructions for the students who are in class along with the adaptations for the students who are at home and don’t have their book or their materials (not to mention the students in class who have their book at home). There may also be a 3rd microphone to check if a student has a hearing device. Then I spend the class answering questions from students in class and at home, playing relaxing music while students try to focus and work with the noise, cold, humid wind blowing through the class. At some point the phone will ring, and it might be the secretary telling me there is a student who has to leave for virus related reasons, or my supervisor telling me I need to sub because a teacher is confined. Once in a while I need to silence a student at home again, ask parents not to use “palabrotas” while their students’ microphones are on, or silence the class’s mic to remind my students to speak in English, work quietly and stay seated, or, um, speak to them less politely. Then I have to check my phone for WhatsApp work updates and last minute changes, take attendance at home and in person on my iPad, and grade work as students upload pics. When a student has done something really well, I try to show it to the kids at home, and I invite kids from the class to look at the students’ work on Zoom so that the kids at home can also feel connected to their classmates. Near the end of class I tell the kids at home that they can take a break, that they are free to fly like penguins, and they laugh at the joke and sign off until their next class. And then my head explodes.
The kids, for the most part, adapted and got their work done. Roll on spring. Please.
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