Sparked and Idea for Teaching and Learning in a Pandemic

 I saw the image below in my news feed this morning and it made me pause.  This is truly what life for many of us looks like right now.  It is definitely they way my teaching and learning experience is going. I work at my computer, participate in virtual meetings, collaborate one-to-one with teachers virtually to do some troubleshooting or planning or lesson creating, visit with my extended family virtually, and check in with my friends that way as well. 

via

Ever the ELA teacher, I immediately thought about how it would make a great writing prompt for my students! I could ask them to identify which person represented them most, or of who does one of the images remind you most, or give three people a name and describe what they do each day, or describe the facial expression/features that you envision on one of these people, or so many other out-of-the-box ideas for students to pause, think, imagine, and write.  

Since I have made it a goal to create most of my own graphics for projects I create this year, I also took a moment to think about how I would create something similar and the time it might take to create such a large, in-depth graphic.

I also sent a challenge to one of my grands who is learning remote this week due to quarantining and being in contact with a fellow student who tested COVID positive.  I would love to have seen her face when I challenged her!  Unlike the folks pictured, I'm sure her eyes would be LARGE!  

Sometimes it is off-the-wall sorts of things that make the best lessons. I think this is one of those things that could make a good lesson.  I also think we have lots of people who are scrambling to come up with good virtual lessons using off-the-wall ideas like this that are tied to their own curriculum.  I wonder what other folks have paused in their scroll to think about ways to use something they see in a lesson?

Go Vote!

 

It's Election Day!

We Voted. (You Should, Too!)

As a young girl I recall my Daddy getting so frustrated with my Granddaddy when he would talk politics.  Granddaddy followed the party line and he preached it as well, as best I remember, anyway.  

He strongly influenced where my cousins and I attended school just because he disagreed with the county government over where they built a school.  The interesting thing is, the school for that area is now built right where Granddaddy thought it should stand way back when.

Even though my Daddy eventually became much like Granddaddy and followed a party line, early on he taught me to research and learn about each candidate. He taught me to look at years of service and how he/she had voted if they were incumbents. He taught me to look at which committees the incumbent had served as a member or leader. He taught me to become familiar with the issues and weigh the positives and negatives - not just blindly follow a candidate. And I always have.

As I reached adulthood - or what legally was considered adulthood, my Daddy stressed to me how important it is that I vote.  He always promoted the idea that as a woman I could do anything a man could do and when it came to voting, he stressed the importance of taking advantage of that right.  He talked to me about how people had fought and died to give me the privilege of voting.  He talked to me about how women fought to be granted the right to vote. He explained that it an obligation of mine as a citizen of this country to vote and let my voice be heard. He talked about how laws were made and that we relied on the people we elected to make those laws, see that those laws were upheld, and update the laws when needed.

As a result of the influence of these two men, probably, I have voted almost every single opportunity I was provided.  (There may have been a couple of times when I was younger that I didn't vote but I don't recall for certain.) At any rate, I usually participate in early voting or absentee voting.  I'm not a patient person and I don't like to wait in line for anything.  I do it at times out of necessity at the Post Office, the DMV, or the doctor's office or someplace like that but I really try to plan and work out ways that I don't have to wait in line.

This year I was determined to absentee vote by mail just because of all the hullabaloo that has arisen about it and because I wanted to keep my husband and family safe.  So, Mike and I sat down and requested the absentee ballot be mailed to us.  The day after it arrived in our mailbox, we sat down and filled it out and the day after that, we put it in the mailbox at the end of the driveway and lifted the flag to signal the postal carrier to pick it up.  After a few days, I began checking the website to see if they had received and posted our vote. Friday, I saw that they did.  

All of this to say that our government system may be broken in many ways.  We may be living in uncertain times by some measures.  However, if we want to make a difference, we all need to vote.  Early voting is happening right now in most places. Here in Tennessee, early voting is available until October 29.  If you can, I encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity.  If not, just be sure you get to the polls on election day.  

Voting is a privilege that everyone else in other countries might not enjoy. Voting is an obligation to help uphold this country of which you are fortunate enough to be a citizen. Voting is the most important thing we as citizens can do to make our wishes known and see that our lawmakers and leaders recognize that we support them and influence them.

Sign of the Times

I've been remiss at keeping track of my memories of this time.  I'll try to do better.  

Today is Memorial Day and, boy, is it a time to be thankful for those who gave all so that I may live free. Free to make the choice to wear my mask when I go to the grocery store to pick up my groceries that somebody else gathered for me, or to a restaurant to pick up take-out for dinner, or to the garden center to get flowers for my porch, or any other place I might need to go so that other people are protected from whatever I might encounter.  

Wearing a mask is annoying.  Wearing a mask is probably a bit overprotective in some ways when we are outside and six to ten feet apart.  However, I'd rather be overprotective than spread germs.  

It is a sacrifice I'm willing to make and it is quite a small one - especially in comparison to the ones that were made to provide me with the opportunity to make that choice.  

What is Memorial Day?

In Flanders Fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:

To you from failing hands we throw

The torch; be yours to hold it high.

If ye break faith with us who die

We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.

WHY IS THE POPPY A SYMBOL OF MEMORIAL DAY?

In the war-torn battlefields of Europe, the common red field poppy (Papaver rhoeas) was one of the first plants to reappear. Its seeds scattered in the wind and sat dormant in the ground, only germinating when the ground was disturbed—as it was by the very brutal fighting of World War 1.

John McCrae, a Canadian soldier and physician, witnessed the war first hand and was inspired to write the now-famous poem in 1915. He saw the poppies scattered throughout the battlefield surrounding his artillery position in Belgium.

WE HONOR THE FALLEN

We say thank you to those who paid the ultimate price. We will always remember the sacrifices of our nation’s heroes. We are deeply grateful. 

In remembering the fallen, we also honor their loved ones: spouses, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, friends. There really aren’t words to express our gratitude for their dedication, but we do live in gratitude each and every day for the precious gift that they have given to us - freedom.

What day is it, anyway?

I have been so busy and the days seem to run one into another.  I often lose track of what day of the week it is and I almost never know what date of the year it is.  Is anybody else so muddled?  

I thought today might be a rather light one since it is Friday and Mother's Day is this weekend.  I thought folks might be easing up and laying back a little bit.  Nope.  That's not the case.  I started off shortly after seven this morning and wound things up when the sky was beginning to darken.

I wonder what those folks who think testing holds teachers accountable are thinking now?  Do they realize what kind of dedication this group of people have to learning and children?

I have never been more pleased to be a part of the education world than I am right now.  The days might be hard but they are certainly more interesting than they have ever been!

Getting Up To Speed

How many times have we uttered that statement?  Getting up to speed means that you are well-informed about something or that you are moving, operating, or functioning at the expected rate or level.  Gosh! That is a hard goal for me!

I didn't get my usual start this morning.  I was later getting into bed last night and later getting out of bed this morning. That meant I was later being ready to work and later getting down to work and later getting work done and worked later to get things done. Not good.

So, now I'm asking myself if I'm needing the routine of work and interaction with co-workers or if I just had an off day.  Was it because it was rainy after several days of beautiful weather? Was it because it was cooler and I'd grown accustomed to the warm weather? Was it because I'd had some time off and getting back into the routine was not as simple?  Was it just A Monday, Tuesday, Friday?  What day is this exactly?

Why didn't I look at that notification and see that I was supposed to join a Zoom session at ten o'clock this morning?  Then, I wouldn't be scrambling to get all those questions that came in over the weekend answered so I could give the Zoom session my undivided attention.  How did I not know that I was supposed to facilitate the Zoom session at noon?  Why did I agree to participate in a summer PD planning session at one when I was hosting the noon session?  Why did I schedule two more one-to-one conferences after that?

At this point, I think I'd better hit the accelerator or I'm never going to get up to speed!