Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Agree with both your comments, DD.

WAY too much excitement in our neighborhood a while ago. While the AC guys are in the back doing that work, the tree trimmers hired by the condo association arrived to trim branches hanging over my roof. The guy on the roof fell off!!! He seems okay except for a huge egg over his eye but the HOA president asked that he not go back on the roof today. They are coming back tomorrow to finish.

Oh my gosh! I hope they make him have it looked at. Head injuries are nothing to mess with!

I know! I hope so!

Oh dear :( Not good. Hope he is with someone who will observe him for a good period of time. Head injuries are not to be taken lightly :( I hope he is ok

Yesterday I got so upset about the primary voting in Wisconsin. People were out in lines for hours and hours. Some in the rain. The governor tried to postpone until June, but was overruled by the courts, saying he didn't have the authority to do so. It felt like a callous, genocidal blow to a certain subset of voters. Either they can't come to vote, or they risk their health. My son's girlfriend served ad an election judge. She lives in an economically challenged community, and explained that in her community, people don't always know about early voting options, or they don't trust it. They come to the actual poll. She wore a mask and medical gown, but I worry about her sitting there for 14 hours. She decided to volunteer, because the usual volunteers are retired citizens, and they were more at risk. Sigh.

After I posted yesterday about the gloom, the sun came out and it was a beautiful afternoon. I worked outside in the yard, dealing with brush and sticks from our self pruning trees. In the evening, DH and I sat on the garden swing with wine and had a little fire in the fire pit. It was nice.

Today, some school stuff, then, if it isn't raining, I'll probably do some more yard work.

As of our most recent election, my county now sends mail in ballots to every registered voter. It was decided pre-pandemic, but should be helpful for November.

If only this were an option for all voters.

Strange fact, but my tiny county (area wise) has a bigger population than 21 of the 50 states. So certainly more resources to pull something like that off than most counties...

I am taking a food and mental break from my morning meetings done on line. I'm getting to be quite the Zoom master, though I have not yet figured out how to include a virtual background. Of course, some of my 8 and 9 year old students have! LOL!

My weekly (to every 10 days) shopping excursion was quite different from Ann's outing. I went to Trader Joe's first. The sidewalk out side of Trader Joe's is marked with tape every six feet. EVERY shopper was abiding the six foot rule. Trader Joe's is strictly maintaining their per person limit for the store. In the morning upon opening they allow X number of people in the store to shop. Once that number has been reached the waiting line begins. As one person leaves the store one is allowed in. If you are a couple shopping together you are not allowed in until another person has left the store. Upon entering you are given a Disinfectant wipe and you may ask for a spray of hand sanitizer. No reusable bags are allowed in the store and only shopping carts are allowed to be used. Each shopping cart goes to a sanitization station in the parking lot before being allowed to enter the store again. NO SHOPPING BASKETS are allowed. People were so polite and took turns retrieving items from the shelves, refrigerator and freezer sections, and were clearly very aware of personal space. I was so up lifted to see so many people being so kind and respectful of one another. The queues to check out were also well managed - tape on the floor, an employee managing the lines (directing traffic), and a taped box on the floor at the check out stand in which customers must stand to allow for 6 feet of separation from the checker. I'd say about 50% of the employees wore masks, but all were wearing gloves. My second trip was to a Lucky store and it was pretty much the same.

It is clear how seriously COVID 19 is being taken here in the SF Bay Area. My county has a population of 1.15 million. We are in easy commuting distance to San Francisco. We have to date only 442 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 7 COVID-19 deaths. San Francisco Co. has only had 10 confirmed deaths and 676 confirmed cases. I

I shopped for my brother who has left his house rarely since March 9. We spoke through his open house door and maintained a distance of 15-20 feet. I'm sure the people down the street could hear us chatting! My father, however, dropped by and though he was going to come in and visit. I had to explain to him that even though I was not sick and he was not sick I could be in the incubation stage. I think he was disappointed I was hard lining, but he went with it. We had a nice chat maintaining adequate distance on my front porch.

Distance learning is HARD! It is hard on the teachers, but it is REALLY HARD for parents and students. I had no idea how overwhelmed some parents would be. So, while my district is advocating for "robust" learning plans for the students, after seeing some of my parents with puffy eyes and several confessing to me they were having private melt downs and the tears were flowing, I have decide to keep it simple. I told my instructional coach I was not going to adhere to some district curriculum and she gave me a big thumbs up and said she wished other teachers would see the reality of the situation. The coach, my third grade partner, and I all agreed that we could plan do-able and relevant work and lesson for the kids without it being overwhelming. I love having this type of autonomy right now. What are they going to do, if I don't tow the curriculum line? Fire me? Not likely.

As promised, some positives of my new work situation:

1. I have never had the ability to work my own hours before. Yes, I have some parameters, but mostly I work when and how I want. This one thing is extremely freeing.
2. I am gaining an appreciation for time management like I've never had before. Working from home presents so many distractions. I am loving the challenge of keeping myself engaged and motivated. I have great admiration for those who have been living the life of working from home. It is a unique experience and an adjustment that screams for boundaries where there are none. All boundaries must be invented.
3. I feel like this lock down is giving me some insight as to what I can expect from retirement. I realize I am going to need to be an active retiree. If I am not, I will plunge into depression.
4. I am so grateful for the lessons in self care I am learning. Having time to indulge in thought and learning what I need as a worker is HUGE.
5. I am finding that many of my beliefs and philosophies about teaching young children are becoming validated. My theories and practice are seeing open appreciation from parents. I am keeping my fingers crossed that administrators across the nation use this pandemic experience to revisit appropriate stages of developmental learning. We are seeing today that what students are missing is not the technology provided in school, but the actual hands on learning, one to one attention and the physical structure the classroom provides to build community, and the importance a teacher has in building a child's confidence and trust in his or her own ability to think and learn.
6. The closure of schools (but not teaching) has allowed me to be with a litter of puppies pretty much from start to fini**** is nice to be here 24/7 and see how they live their puppy lives. I now know they sleep most of the entire day. As long as they get their lunch on time, they are happy campers!

So there you have it. Lots and lots today. Hope you all don't mind.

Best to you all. XO - Me