Teachers return to schools in one day! The students will return two weeks later. The school system is providing teachers with two weeks worth of training on distance learning. It is important to mention how it will be done. Teachers will report to their schools, do the COVID-19 check in with temperature check, and then go to their individual classrooms and participate by zoom. Well…we are learning like this, yet it is safe enough to bring roomful of kids back to school without even requiring masks?
I got to see most of the girls in Little AoA’s troop today. Most of them are choosing to do remote learning. We put together pen-pal supplies for each girl. If they write letters to some of the girls in our troop, they will earn a special “pen-pal patch”. We do our Girl Scout activities as “drive through”. We set up in the parking lot at our meeting location, and the girls stop by and pick up activities. I miss seeing them in person, but I know this won’t last forever.
My family is not happy about me starting back to work. They are all very worried about me bringing home these new germs. We have already planned that I go straight to the shower when I get home. Little AoA was upset about that, because she wants to hug me when I get home (she does not usually hug me when I get home, but thinking about NOT doing it was upsetting). Our home set up seems pretty safe for distancing. My dad mostly stays in his area of the house. I feel like I should try to isolate in my home when I start working in person with students. It isn’t a perfect solution, but I don’t think it will be long before our school system ends up having to move to all remote learning. Once our community reaches 965 active cases, it will be considered a high level of transmission. We are just about at 400 active cases right now (this does not include recovered cases). At the rate it is spreading, we will reach high spread within a month or so.
I feel like I worry about this quite a lot. The prospect of even one teacher or student experiencing the severity of Covid-19 is upsetting.
On a positive note, I am getting pretty proficient with Google Classroom. I have been putting lessons together for three classes. I have a social/emotional/mindfulness class, a Passion Project class, and another social skills class. The population I serve is the intellectually gifted. The kids I serve deal with crippling perfectionism, anxiety, executive functioning challenges, and social challenges due to asynchronous development. I have served this population for the last 4 years. Before that, I worked with kids who had a variety of mild to moderate disabilities. I did that for 15 years. My job has been both challenging and rewarding.
Stay safe!
~AoA
Army of Angels: Part 2 