Reaching that Saturated Place of the Semester, but Refueled by Awesome Graduate Students and the Possibilities of What's to Come

Have I mentioned that I'm on my 2nd composition book of notes I've taken from Zoom meetings?

Have I mentioned that yesterday, I was on ZOOM from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m., only to be followed by the fact that my Merit application for the University was due (whoops)?

Ah, but yesterday was a celebration: (1) Chitunga and I returned two items on our lunch break - for me a piece of glass for the fridge...sent the wrong size, and for him a fan that wasn't powerful enough (1st world problems, I know). We, otherwise nerded out in our rooms.

For me, I had student meetings, teacher meetings, National Writing Project meetings, a search committee meetings, Academic Council meetings, and a class to teach.

Thank the Great Whatever for the class. They rocked it. Last night they presented to one another, conference symposium style, their research for the semester, especially in a time of Covid-19 when halfway through the semester we all had to adapt quickly. Seriously, the innovation, flexibility, creativity, and ingenuity of these pre- and in-service teachers needs to be celebrated and showcased. They collected data on:

• at risk youth,
• gaming and play in the classroom,
• learning disabilities,
• teaching comprehension to students on the autism spectrum,
• balancing work/life stress for personal wellness,
• bringing art into the science classroom,
• adapting Maslow's pyramid to sudden online learning in an urban district,
• classroom arrangements for what works best with all students, and
• funding Catholic Schools in a period of low enrollment.

I wished several of my colleagues were available view/experience their questions, contexts, literature review, methodologies, findings, and conclusions. More amazing to me were the ways they thought on their feet to move online quickly, and to discover other ways of knowing. 

I have to say, too, that in terms of presentations and efficiency, the ZOOM format as a conference/ symposium technique worked exceptionally well. In fact, I might even say it did better than in-face presentations. It was crisp, targeted, and a better use of time. I definitely made note of it.

I'm simply proud of my students for carrying forward their initial plans and persevering as we lost access to our data points, our hard work, and our intentions. Still, they were able to adapt to a period of Covid-19 and unravel findings that are unique to this period of time. What they found from the materials they gathered was very educational and enlightening, especially in a period such as this.

With that noted, and after updating materials for Merit, I'm officially starting Tuesday completely brain-dead. Even so, ZOOM meetings begin in 3....2....1.

This too shall pass.