This morning I'll attend a four-hour training for Blended Learning to teach me how to simultaneously teach the students in front of me in the classroom as well as those online. I'm still not sure if those in remote-learning during illness and quarantine (or family choice) will be watching our classroom live via ZOOM, or if I'll be preparing parallel lessons to be viewed/completed on the students' own timeframes--or both?
If this sounds like doubling a teacher's workload to you, come sit by me and hold my shaking, well-scrubbed hand.
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My mom was frustrated yesterday when I called to ask how she was getting along. "I can't go get our mail," she said. "We've been gone for a long time, so I know we have a lot of mail, and I can't leave the room to go get it."
No mail comes on Sunday. Their mail had been delivered to my home for the past 4 1/2 months. There is no mail waiting in her mailbox.
Pointing out facts, I've learned, does little to calm my mother when she's jagging.
"Did you get your Sunday paper?" I asked hopefully.
"Oh yes, they delivered it to our door!"
Thank god.
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I wasn't looking at the clock when my parents' 8:30 ZOOM Sunday School class started, and by the time I logged them on at 8:40, the link was no longer active. I assume the teacher thought no one was coming.
I had better success with their church service on Facebook Live. But I can hear the weariness in my dad's voice as I prod him through refreshing his page, pulling up the volume, expanding the video to full screen. Despite my determination to modulate my voice to hide even a hint of impatience, my dad knows he's struggling.
His laptop's touchpad is glitchy. His hands are shaky and slow. As I painstakingly describe the little icons, he'll stop to say he needs to get his glasses.
Yes, it would be nice if he could see the screen.
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We still don't have his ZOOM camera working, but he could see me and my shared computer screen to play a hand of FunBridge in the afternoon.
As we decide together what to bid, what card to lead, he is once again the one in control, my wise mentor.
I am merely his daughter, and he teaching me things I do not know.
Enough.
Be well.
Write.
Allison
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