Finding Joy in Covid Teaching
It has been a rough month. The last time I had my whole class in my room was November 1st. I know because I took a picture. Since then, on any given day, I have been missing five to twenty three students. Now I am teaching a few in person and most online. It has me doing double duty and is really discouraging. It is why my blog posts have slowed down. Last week I ended up sick and had a covid test. I was negative, thank goodness, but I ended up making choice boards and jumping online, even though I was home ill. I knew I would have to think carefully about this week so I could find joy!
Surviving Online Teaching/In Person Teaching
I reduced my topics: Reading, writing, science, math, and art
I logged out of online teaching: I stopped answering emails and responding to the online classroom outside of school hours
I set one meeting per day: I have a 9:00 a.m. meeting each day and one specific thing to talk about or outline for the kids in the room and online
I enjoyed connections: I am taking time to really connect with the six kids in my room right now…we spent time today workshopping their stories
I let go of the plans I had made: I had this great storytelling/writing unit that was all planned with my librarian. We are not going to rush it and have moved it to January. Also, my class was supposed to finish Simple Machines with Mrs. Salter’s Arcade. Cancelled! We will do it in December. Right now it is all chemistry all the time, because they can make hot chocolate at home and call it science.
I advocated for my needs: My kids needed technology and I asked for it. I needed support asking my admin to prepare something since I was away, and I asked for it. I let my admin know that my FreshGrade portfolio would need time, because I haven’t had kids for about a month and they understood. Advocating for needs can be hard as teachers. Remember, you always have your union rep to talk to and help you have hard conversations.
Writing Stories: Joy Activity #1
Planning a Class Story
On Monday last week, my students helped me brainstorm topics that matter to them. Then they helped me plan the start of a story called Hazel and the Trash Monster.
They Drew Characters
This is Metal. She is a plastic water bottle that wanted to be reusable.
And Trash Monster…
This is the Trash Monster named Yortsed who wants to destroy the world by piling up garbage.
And so we wrote. Then….my class went from 12 down to 6! Today we looked at the first half of the story and the kids are thinking about possible endings. What matters is that the kids (including my online kids) have all finished the Overcoming Adversity Black Line Master from Adrienne Gear’s Writing Power for their own picture book. They all have a great story planned. The six kids in my room discussed their ideas and collectively helped each other fill in details. We really worked hard together and the kids are excited about writing their stories!
Emily Carr Art: Joy Activity #2
When I was in grade five, my teacher Mrs. Alden took our class to the Vancouver Art Gallery. We were all assigned one Emily Carr painting to look at deeply and try to recreate with oil pastels. I still have this piece of artwork. This field trip was at the end of a unit exploring Canadian painters and diving deeply into the art of Emily Carr. I remember being that kid in the gallery in awe of the movement in the art and layers of colours. I wanted to see the world through her eyes.
I felt like this week, I wanted to bring that joy back. So, I today I taught my kids a little bit about Emily Carr and her paintings. I took my six kids outside and sketched nature in several places near the school. These sketches will become Emily Carr inspired art by the end of the week.
We Looked Carefully…
With my six little humans, we spent an hour outside. We found unique connections. We noticed things. It made me think of how much I miss running The Walking Curriculum, and how I should get back to it. My kids found animals, and we spent a good ten minutes just watching the ducks move and interact. It was bliss.
We looked so hard, we found garbage!
When we were walking around the pond, we noticed something strange. A line about two metres from the water that was all garbage: dirty styrofoam, plastic bottles, firecrackers…so much! This was the high water line from the flood last week. My six little humans were disgusted by the garbage in the pond and the impacts on the wildlife. We have decided to do a garbage clean up on Wednesday.
We Ended At the Park
Our day ended at the park…with all of us climbing on equipment. I still have four more days of double duty, but I will make them quality for myself and my students. This is such a strange time. I am finding joy where I can. Right now, it is sitting on top of the playground listening to six small humans play happily together while a global pandemic continues to rage.