stevenpiziks (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-11-01 01:15 pm
stevenpiziks) wrote2020-11-01 01:15 pm
The At-Home Routine
The pandemic and the virtual schooling have pushed me into an at-home routine. It usually goes like this:
6:45 Out of bed. Turn on computer so it can boot up during morning chores.
7:25 At computer. Open up Google Classroom, email, attendance program, lesson plans, Remind.
8:03 Post codes for Google Meet to first class of the day.
8:05 Send Remind message: "Come to class, folks."
8:10 Even though a third of the class is missing, begin class. Class has a sub-routine:
+Take roll with a daily check-in question ("Who is someone that makes you smile?" or "What's your favorite streaming service?"). Students must respond. This establishes a classroom norm and ensures students are present and listening.
+ Remind students to turn their cameras on. Over and over. Several times per class.
+ Deliver instruction or presentation.
+ Give directions for individual work.
+ Give students time to perform individual work.
+ 5-10 minute stretch break.
+ Return to large group for processing. Remind students to turn cameras on.
11:40 Lunch
12:15 Return to teaching
2:00 End classes for the day, start prep work. This also has a sub-routine:
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY Create lesson plans and materials. Post to Google Classroom on a timer so they show up on the appropriate day. (This is HUGELY time-consuming. Normally, I make lesson plans, then run copies, and do other things while the copy machine is running. The online version requires posting the same stuff over and over again and it's the worst part of my week.)
THURSDAY-FRIDAY Grade student work, update grading program, email weekly progress reports.
3:00 Brain is dead. Shut down all school related material. Get snack, go on treadmill run. Housework.
5:00 Make supper.
6:00 Resist temptation to check school email because there are always a thousand of them and it'll send me down a rabbit hole.
7:00 Try to get some writing done.
11:00 Bed
October was an enormously difficult month. It had no days off, no half days, nothing. And six hours of video meetings plus additional screen time for work is exhausting. A number of studies have show that video meetings create enormous amounts of stress--you have limited ability to process the facial expressions and body language of the people you're talking to, but your brain keeps trying anyway, which builds and builds and builds more stress. And I'm spending way more time at work than I have since I was a first-year teacher.
I want to sock people who say, "Oh, it must be so much easier teaching from home."
I'm trying to see the positive. No commute. No navigating crowds of dangerous, inexperienced drivers on my way to work. No going out in bad weather. No noisy hallways filled with teenagers who shout and shout and shout. But these advantages don't outweigh the difficulties.
6:45 Out of bed. Turn on computer so it can boot up during morning chores.
7:25 At computer. Open up Google Classroom, email, attendance program, lesson plans, Remind.
8:03 Post codes for Google Meet to first class of the day.
8:05 Send Remind message: "Come to class, folks."
8:10 Even though a third of the class is missing, begin class. Class has a sub-routine:
+Take roll with a daily check-in question ("Who is someone that makes you smile?" or "What's your favorite streaming service?"). Students must respond. This establishes a classroom norm and ensures students are present and listening.
+ Remind students to turn their cameras on. Over and over. Several times per class.
+ Deliver instruction or presentation.
+ Give directions for individual work.
+ Give students time to perform individual work.
+ 5-10 minute stretch break.
+ Return to large group for processing. Remind students to turn cameras on.
11:40 Lunch
12:15 Return to teaching
2:00 End classes for the day, start prep work. This also has a sub-routine:
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY Create lesson plans and materials. Post to Google Classroom on a timer so they show up on the appropriate day. (This is HUGELY time-consuming. Normally, I make lesson plans, then run copies, and do other things while the copy machine is running. The online version requires posting the same stuff over and over again and it's the worst part of my week.)
THURSDAY-FRIDAY Grade student work, update grading program, email weekly progress reports.
3:00 Brain is dead. Shut down all school related material. Get snack, go on treadmill run. Housework.
5:00 Make supper.
6:00 Resist temptation to check school email because there are always a thousand of them and it'll send me down a rabbit hole.
7:00 Try to get some writing done.
11:00 Bed
October was an enormously difficult month. It had no days off, no half days, nothing. And six hours of video meetings plus additional screen time for work is exhausting. A number of studies have show that video meetings create enormous amounts of stress--you have limited ability to process the facial expressions and body language of the people you're talking to, but your brain keeps trying anyway, which builds and builds and builds more stress. And I'm spending way more time at work than I have since I was a first-year teacher.
I want to sock people who say, "Oh, it must be so much easier teaching from home."
I'm trying to see the positive. No commute. No navigating crowds of dangerous, inexperienced drivers on my way to work. No going out in bad weather. No noisy hallways filled with teenagers who shout and shout and shout. But these advantages don't outweigh the difficulties.