WatchDevRun

Wow that's it -- school is over and summer is here...crazy to think this whole pandemic/quarantine started in March and now in June, we have riots and protests breaking out all over the nation and the world.  What a different place we're in now than when I moved back in July.  I'm pretty sure no one could have predicted what would happen and what is happening, I know I couldn't and wouldn't.  But now on to new goals and a new way of life.  School always comes and we learn what we learn. This year has been a lot of growth for all of us but now we're moving on to a summer we didn't expect but gives us a variety of opportunities to try.   Time to set the goals for the summer!  I'm a planner so setting up the goals is crucial for me to get work done. So here are my preliminary goals for the summer: 1. Work through the DataQuest curriculum to focus on data analysis work. 2. Find a part-time job to help the transition to the US a bit easier. 3. RUN - my mile...

Last week marked a few occasions in this ongoing saga of the pandemic.  The first included a completed week of remote learning, not only as the teacher but as the parent.  It has been a learning curve for all of us as we have worked to figure out the remote learning process that works best and how to make all the pieces fall into place.  It wasn't perfect but nothing is ever going to be....not in life and not during the middle of a crisis. Most students want to be engaged and are thrilled to have an opportunity to use Google Meets or any other video conferencing just to have an opportunity to talk to teachers and peers.  It has been enlightening to find out that students do miss the people who are a part of the school, as much as the staff does. As a teacher, I'll continue to worry about the ones I can't reach but I'll also continue to do what I can, that's all I can do. On the parent side is incredibly grateful for my daughter's teacher and the staff ...

I've never been as grateful for this image on my morning run as I was after the news was released that Michigan will not be re-opening the schools this academic year.  As a parent, it's going to be rough. I have an only child so her whole social world will, and has been me, for the last 3 weeks already.  Add in we just moved back to the US so a lot of her friends are still overseas makes this a bit harder.  As a teacher, knowing my students are home and not sure how they're doing, except the ones who email me back, that is just as difficult.  Not knowing how to provide the right instruction to help them stay as successful as they've been this year is going to be difficult but we'll manage.  How do I know we'll manage?  We're teachers.  We walk into a classroom every day not knowing if our kids have eaten, slept much less gotten any work done.  We don't know who is getting abused at home or struggling to get electricity or internet s...