Policy
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The Needs of the Many
I spend far too much time on Facebook these days. Being quarantined at home has it’s own toll on your mental health, but scrolling Facebook for hours on end also has it’s own toll. One of the tolls Facebook creates is actually a dichotomy. On one hand it’s a false sense of empowerment. The feeling… Continue reading
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Teaching During Covid-19
Recently, I saw a post (I can’t remember who even reposted it for citation purposes) that discussed the language we are using during our online teaching. The post brought up an interesting point that I want to dig deeper into. What do we call what teachers are doing right now? Is it online learning? Is… Continue reading
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Small Successes
I was going to come on here tonight and blast away at my problems and issues. This online learning thing is overwhelmingly anxiety inducing. But as I was avoiding writing by doing some grading, I noticed a trend that changed my attitude. My students are flourishing with the current work I have given them. Last week I… Continue reading
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Working on it.
I am feeling relieved. I have discovered some great tools; things that are possible leads on some potential classroom tech that I think will be very creative and helpful to my students. I have also come up with some backup lesson plans just in case I discover that the plans will not work. However, I… Continue reading
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Interesting Etymologies – Let’s Spruce It up!
Question: What do spruce trees and clean rooms have to do with each other? Answer: Etymology The other day I was reading the story of David Copperfield by Dickens. I have been reading quite a bit of his work recently due to my self confined state of illness and… Continue reading
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Distance Learning: Day 5 (Still Planning)
After having spent a disproportionate amount of time stress eating and fucking off, as the Brits would say, I am finally feeling productive. It’s difficult not to think about the challenges that I still face as well as the incredibly labor intensive task that online teaching presents, but I am incrementally getting comfortable and checking… Continue reading
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Distance Learning: Day 1 – Planning
Technically, this is day 2. However, yesterday I had just enough anxiety to make me productive . . . at reading and phone games. I did get a few things done near the end of the day, but the entire idea of online learning and all the things that my district is placing on us… Continue reading
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Comfortable Un-certainty
We are all stressed. Every teacher in the nation, no matter how adapted to using technology in the classroom, is now being ordered by their respective governments to provide all content through various forms of distance learning. Every teacher is now being tasked with not only handling their own families and anxieties but also with the… Continue reading
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Neologism
Today was pooptastic. I’m not sure if I am the first person to use that word or not, but I’m claiming it as my own. Hence the post title. Today was absolutely, 100% USDA Grade A, pooptastic. Today, I hit a breaking point. I could no longer tell myself to breathe and wait patiently for… Continue reading
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Breakthrough
This weekend was one of serious reflection and introspection. After the fight broke out in my class last week I spent a lot of time questioning my classroom management routines and set-up. I knew something needed to change. Nothing was being taught and nothing was being learned. Students were constantly talking, no matter who was… Continue reading