WatchDevRun

Wow, what a change a week makes!  No snow this week, light running, some strength training and new challenges put into place.  The Al Ain Triathlon Club started a set of workouts and meets this weekend that helped re-energize me and where I am right now.  There is definitely something to be said for teammates, even virtual ones.  Certain things can help point you in the direction you know you should be going, even if your heart hasn't been in it and that's what's happening. But it's not the biggest thing on my mind this week.  No, it's the news of education cuts for next year and what that means.  The world is struggling and we all understand that.  Teachers were asked to revamp their entire curriculum in a short period and we did that.  Schools were asked to shut down and still reach out to feed students, set them up with the technology they needed and help this transition and they did that.  Now schools are being told thanks for everythin...

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...