Welcome to my Weekend Coffee Share, hosted by Allison at Eclectic Ali. I only had half-caff today, but it really invigorated me, maybe because I finally got at least six hours of sleep last night!
I have made it through week 1 of online teaching! Our school district was told there would be no return to school until April 15th, but I suspect it will be longer than that. I worry about our world, I worry about strangers I pass by in the store, and I worry about how much worse this might get. But I am really happy that I am able to connect with my students again and have some sort of influence on their lives and how they view their world. I’ve seen students helping each other while online when I can’t reply to their questions right away, and they seem so grateful to be able to chat with me on our educational platform, too! For a brief while, I forget what is happening outside. I try to focus on the positives and tell them some jokes.
Sent from a student in the Microsoft Teams chat after being told to start on The Giver or read a book they already have at a set time daily:
“Can’t wait for reading I have a good book to read!” Another messages at 1:50- ‘Yay! Reading time!’**
They warm my heart! Do they know how such things keep me going? I’ve tried really hard to distract their minds from world news and fill their heads with imagination and art. A number of parents e-mailed me thanking me for being so positive in my educational videos, stating that my videos make the student feel part of a classroom again, somewhat back to normal. Though I admit, I did not teach anything new yet except for how to navigate a new learning platform and turn in assignments, and that is likely the way it should be.
The above shows my go-to hairstyle these days. I have canceled hairdresser appointments two weeks in a row. I am afraid to be around people in that close capacity right now. My mom is 78 and I don’t want to bring a virus back to her! I re-scheduled for two weeks from now. We’ll see. Meantime, I am growing my hair and putting it up. I am trying to take at least two yoga or pilates classes online per week and to do ab exercises along with my arm/shoulder workout every other day. I’ve found many helpful online exercise videos, too. So, my health is holding
After watching my church’s service online, I went to the grocery store this morning, and guess what: no toilet paper. I have some on order from Amazon, and a friend ordered extra through some other shopping app. They told me at the checkout that I could not get more than two of any particular canned food item. I wish they had started that with toilet paper before this whole fiasco first happened! Sadly, I had 8 cans of Chef Boyardee since I wanted to donate some of them to a Food Bank. The cashier apologized and said they were just being really strict about that.
If you are interested in a dystopian/apocalyptic story, you can download my free short story here at https://bookhip.com/HPNJFT It is called “They Shall Inherit the Earth. I also started on a love story, set in these times of Coronavirus. It is a little more hopeful and should be available next week or so, and will also be free!
Take care my friends! Stay healthy and stay sequestered. We can do this!
pamelascanepa 