Tag: corona

Day 2, so far so good. I tidied up my (home) office a bit, settled in, and did some tech support for my students. You wouldn’t believe how bad they are with usernames and passwords—then again, if you’re a teacher, you probably would. 🙂

My new microphone arrived, and it works really well. I’ve also ordered a webcam and started looking into ways to create videos for my students. Yes, I’m trying to make the best of a bad situation. If this goes on long enough, I might end up with a full production studio. John Oliver: watch out, I’m coming for you.

My students should be occupied for the next few days, so the plan for tomorrow is to think big picture. I need to adjust my plans to fit this new situation. I also need to properly organize the “Teams” I have with my students. I did quite a lot today—it felt like the whole day was spent adding people to lists and sharing materials with them.

I’m not complaining, though. Things could definitely be worse. There was a confirmed corona case among the teachers, but so far no one besides “patient zero” seems to have it. I didn’t have much contact with that person last week and haven’t shown any symptoms, so I’m probably fine. Knock on wood.

This first week is going to be a lot of work, but I’m hoping that by next week, I’ll be set up and can focus more on teaching instead of tech support and setup. It’s going to be challenging, but as long as I stick to my daily routine, I should be fine. I’ll share more on that tomorrow.

Stay healthy!

Day 1 of who knows how many. I’m one of those “scabs” who went to school today. The argument I can make for myself is that I’m just here to help others, but starting tomorrow, I’ll have to do that from home. It doesn’t make sense to go to crowded places, but our Department of Education seems to need a bit more time to reach that conclusion—or at least, that’s how it feels.

As the head of the English Department at our school, I have a meeting scheduled for 13:30. Hopefully, it will be the last in-person meeting we need. We need to set clear guidelines: everyone who can work from home should work from home. It just doesn’t make sense to do it any other way. Let’s hope the people in charge agree.

I know everyone is either overwhelmed, out of their depth, or both. Admitting it is the first step—there’s no shame in it. Count me in for both of those conditions. But I firmly believe we can get through this, one step at a time. Do your part. If you can work from home, it’s the responsible thing to do.

Don’t “scab,” and stay healthy.

Stay home and stay healthy.

I prefer this Corona.

This is weird. Really weird. I can’t believe how quickly it all happened. It doesn’t make much sense to dwell on the current situation—things will probably change again in the next 15 minutes anyway—but I’m going to share how it makes me feel and what I intend to do.

It looks like schools are closing for (at least) four weeks, along with restaurants, bars, and other public spaces. Public life is coming to a halt. This must be what it feels like when a war breaks out in a neighboring country. The uncertainty is the worst part. I know I’m going to be fine, but I can’t say the same for everyone I know. This sucks.

So, what am I going to do? First things first, I need to ensure my students continue getting a proper education. Not being in the same room with them is probably a good start. I already have some ideas on how to proceed, and I’ll do my best to adapt. It’s going to be challenging, but I hope I can rise to the occasion.

I’ll probably also need to help others get ready for this. Some of my colleagues are having a harder time navigating digital tools, and I’ll do what I can to support them. In a way, this feels like one of those “What would you do during the zombie apocalypse?” scenarios. I like to think I’d be a helpful survivor.

On a personal note, I plan to write more. The goal is to get some pages done each day (once the initial school setup phase is complete) and to post a daily blog to chronicle these strange, testing times.

Until tomorrow—stay healthy.