My new normal…for now!
This is the fourth installment in a series I started earlier in the week about what “teaching” from home looks like in the early days of the state wide school closure due to the Coronavirus.
Well...we’ve made it to Friday, week 1. So far things have gone relatively smoothly. Almost every student has, over the last 3 days, been able to access Google Classroom and work on the assignments I’m posting. As of this writing only 5 of my students aren’t “on” yet. I’ve reached out to each of them offering help if needed...just trying to cover all of my bases. I have no idea what individual family situations are like so I can only do what I can do...post and respond to assignments, post and respond to announcements, and offer assistance...if and when it is requested.
I’m doing a better job of not “being on” all day...giving myself permission to step away from the screen to do other things. For example, this is the second day in a row that I’ve made time to meditate.
Yesterday I made the decision to try to do all of this “teaching” from my 12.9 inch, first generation iPad Pro. If it doesn’t work out, no worries, my Mac Book Pro isn’t far away. I love writing on my iPad Pro and this unique moment in time has reminded me just how much I love it! There are several features that make it the device for me. The most obvious being its portability. I can take it anywhere in the house or the patio...which is where I am right now. Getting apps on it to get things done is super easy too. In order to do this new version of my work, I’ve re-loaded (reluctantly) the Mail app so I can keep up with things both from my principal and the families I serve. The split screen function is another reason I’m trying to go all iPad Pro. And yes...I know...I can split screen on my Mac Book Pro. It’s just so much easier on the iPad Pro. Having two apps up at the same time allows me to do things like take the text I'm creating in the Drafts app for a morning announcement and copy/paste it to Google Classroom for my students to read. So far...it’s working great.
Because I’m such an over achiever I have plenty of content, in draft form, in Google Classroom waiting to go live. That said... as far as schoolwork goes...I think I’m going to slow production down today and just focus on reading and responding to the amazingly creative student work my students are producing!