Journaling during Covid-19 - Entry 4

(See this post for some background if this is the first entry you're reading in this series.)

The Core Questions

1. What did you do today?

• worked with 5 other colleagues on some planning around the destreaming that's happening of our grade 9 science courses next year (we'll no longer have separate "academic" and "applied" level grade 9 courses -- all the students will be together -- so we discussed some general strategies, exam questions, and resources/activities/etc. to use)
• this included indulging my normal habit of drawing during meetings -- it helps me focus better, honest! -- but I was too involved to do much. Here are today's sketches:

• afternoon class -- they had a diagnostic quiz, so we all remained connected to the Google Meet in case they had questions/etc. (they did, though the most frequent one was "Can you check to see if you got my quiz?"), but it was otherwise a silent class while they worked and then submitted their quiz
• made a call to a parent because this class has only met 5 times and I already have concerns about his attendance and rate of submitting/writing assessments...yup, I'm gonna be that teacher this quad
• grocery run for a couple things...turned into more things, oops
• mixed a drink, because it’s finally Friday 

• watched Toy Story 4 with the youngest, and he also drew some characters/things and wanted them cut out
• emailed follow up with the student whose parent I’d called — learned it’s partly a matter of a conflict with prayer time, but there was acknowledgment that I should have been informed, and I pointed out some concerns unrelated to that prayer time that he needs to address 
• [item withheld but I know what it’s about]
• got the kids to bed 

2. What did you enjoy?

It's finally Friday. It's felt like Friday all week, so it's good to finally know I don't have to teach class tomorrow (though I do have other work to do).

Enjoyed seeing and getting to chat with colleagues via Zoom this morning.

Also enjoyed my time with my youngest this evening.

3. What did you find difficult?

I wasn't crazy about the idea of starting the day with meetings today when it's a week when I really just want a break, but all that actually went well in the end.

4. What has changed?

As I mentioned above, next year we will be destreaming the grade 9 science courses, so it will be interesting to see how that plays out, though I hope the work we did today and will continue to do over the next few months will pay off.

The Stretch Questions

5. What are you grateful for?

A colleague at another school helped me with something significant today, and I am so grateful to her. (She knows who she is and what this is about and why I can't say any more.)

6. Which changes do you want to keep?

The closeness sometimes seen between my boys. Does it make a difference that being home all the time gives them more time together and not much contact with others?

7., 8., 9. -- These are too personal for here tonight.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

-- Joy