Oh Thursday, we took our cycle test. I like to put my students into breakout rooms so they have a quiet place to work and they can ask me questions through GoGuardian.

I had a student finish and I went into his breakout room and was talking to him for a few minutes. I mentioned something about this coming week being short due to Thanksgiving and he says, "wait....it's almost Thanksgiving????" :D

I think the kids' sense of time has deteriorated being at home. Mine too! I feel like the days have all blended together in some respects.

Alas, week 13 was good. We had some visitors pop in on Tuesday (our outside reading coach was visiting). It was our SFA coach (outside), our ELA coach (internal) and our principal. I popped them into breakout rooms and they really got to see the group in action. It was quite lovely. Not perfect, as my coach ended up in a room with an 8th grader who kept unmuting and yelling curse words into the room (yes, 8th graders are kind of like big kindergartners), but otherwise it was lovely.

My 3rd hour class really impressed me because I asked them to share out and three kids volunteered. That's unusual as usually I have to voluntell them :) (It is SO AWKWARD for them online -- I guarantee it wouldn't be like this in person.)

The week of Thanksgiving is super short - all day Monday and Tuesday and a half day Wednesday. We just finished up a cycle last week and are going to work on a short research unit beginning this week. I'm excited to give the kids something new to do that will break things up a bit.

Perhaps on Wednesday since it is a short day, we will have some kind of a harvest celebration and have 15 minutes at the end of each class to play some games together or something.

Gosh, time is slipping away and I'm forgetting to update. Eek. Oh well, I don't think anyone reads this but me so it's probably fine :)

Alas, I really want to chronicle this crazy year as we all navigate a new normal.

Weeks 11 and 12 encompass the first two weeks of our second quarter (2nd semester for this group). I began week 11 with a "reset" for all of the students. As we are treating each quarter like a semester, grades started over and I wanted to make a big deal out of that. I made it a point (such a point, we spent an entire class period talking about it!) to reinforce for the students that this was their chance to step it up if they hadn't done as well as they wanted in the first quarter.

Some behaviors haven't changed but I have students who didn't do much at all before who are now passing. This is exciting. It's a step forward. It's progress. As some of them see success, it really becomes contagious.

This week, the students were working in their small groups in a breakout. Before I sent them in, I said something about how if everyone in their group contributed, I'd be the happiest teacher ever. One of the kids says in the chat, "Wait...we just have to do our work and you're happy?" Yes, honey, that's all it takes! It was funny.

The farther we go with SFA, the more I think the students are getting it. I stepped back in this cycle, with permission from our ELA coach, to add in a couple of "feedback days" where each group would be in their breakout working on something independently and then I'd go into each room, one at a time and offer feedback on their last team lesson. So far, it seems to have worked quite well. A few groups have had poor scores because they aren't using the role sheets and spend their time arguing rather than working, but they are chagrined when I pop in and we talk about it.

One thing I've really noticed as of late is that the students are much better (for the most part) with moving on even if someone is not doing their part. For example, students A, B, C and D are in a group together. Students A, C and D are all ready to rock and roll and are working but Student B is playing on their phone, paying attention to other people in their home, etc. Students A, C and D are working WITHOUT Student B. When we come back into the main room, the group's discussion director sends me a private message on GoGuardian or the Zoom chat and says "Dr. Wood, Student B wasn't helping today."

Simple as that. I make a note of it and when I do grades, that student doesn't get credit for the team's work. It has worked brilliantly so far. There are some kids who just aren't stepping it up, but as time goes on, it is fewer and fewer students who aren't pulling their weight. It's quite awesome.

What I find to be the most amazing is how negative some of my colleagues continue to be about this program we are using. I attended a supplementary PD on Friday afternoon with my coach and one other colleague in the ELA department and it was amazing how the other ladies in that PD, from all over the country, rave about this program. One woman told me they have been using it since 1998 (the year after I graduated high school!) and how amazing their progress has been.

It strikes me that the more negative mindset a teacher has, their students will also be more negative. It shows, big time.

I refuse to be that negative nelly. Nope, not happening. It doesn't mean I never complain. There are many frustrating things that have come our way this year. But when I complain, it is with an air of "help me fix this by brainstorming a solution" not just whining because I don't want to find solutions. There is a HUGE difference. And it's seen in my students and their approach to their work. I tell them every day I wish we were in person too. I want to talk to them, not a screen, but to keep us all safe, this is the way it is.

I'd bet they really appreciate that I'm real with them and share that I think this situation also sucks. Now that I'm teaching remotely again (before I was teaching from my classroom), the kids also get a glimpse into my house. On Friday they got to see my dog licking the carpet behind me because he's a weirdo. They are fascinated that I'm actually a person LOL (And yes these are middles!)

We just have to be real. We have to encourage them, empathize, [figuratively] hold their hand and help them adjust. Because this does suck. It sucks a lot. BUT it's not helpful to anyone to sit and whine about what could have been. Embrace the situation we are in and make the most of it.

I am confident my positive attitude is shining through to my students and they are recognizing that we can make this happen together. It won't be easy or pretty but we CAN do it together.

Goodness, things have been so busy around here, I didn't even realize I had skipped an update for week 9. Oops!

The last two weeks were the last weeks of our first quarter. As we are fully virtual with an in-person tutoring option, we are treating our quarters as if they are semesters. In other words, at the end of each 9/10 week block, the students have a "mid-term" or a "final exam" because they only have 3 of the usual 6 classes they would take. It isn't necessarily ideal but it was the best we could do as to not completely overwhelm our students at the secondary level and cause issues where they were plopped in front of a screen for 6 or more hours per day. (That's not to say they aren't spending that kind of time on screens anyway but that's neither here nor there.)

As such the last two weeks were a bit of a whirlwind. I had students who finally realized that I do know what I'm talking about and yes, those pesky assignments I ask you to do each day ARE going to factor into your grades and if you aren't doing them, your grades will reflect it.

I think it's interesting that this is not a phenomenon relegated to only secondary students. I had plenty of these conversations when I taught elementary school as well. What is it about our young people that they just don't understand that, yes, your EFFORT makes the biggest difference. Even though I say it to them at least 5 days a week (once a day but usually more), they just don't hear it. Maybe they don't want to? I don't know. It's interesting though.

Over the last two weeks as I began to mention that report cards were coming up, I began to get bombarded with emails from students asking about late/missing work, etc. Of course I will accept late work....however, it is unrealistic for any student to believe they are suddenly going to get the motivation to do 10 weeks worth of make up work in a night or two. (I actually had a student, who has not turned in a single assignment since school started, tell me that he was going to do all of his missing work Thursday night. I had to give him an A for his determination but I also wasn't surprised that he didn't accomplish that goal -- if you aren't motivated enough to do the work alongside me during class, it's hard for me to believe you'll have the motivation to do it all on your own in one night.)

But I have some hope. As many students who started to really fret that they might not pass the quarter, perhaps this can be a learning opportunity. So many of our students (I say "our" because it is true across my school) are not completing the asynchronous lessons they should be doing in the afternoon. Those lessons add up as well. I think perhaps my determination to encourage the students that November 2 offers them a grade reset will really help. I mentioned it many times on Thursday and Friday and some kids who just made passing with a D- seemed quite relieved that they have a chance to prove themselves now.

What's the most remarkable is that they probably think they have to prove themselves to me, but of course they don't. They have to prove to themselves that they can do this. I hope perhaps reminding them of that going forward will make a difference. I have always believed they can...now I just have to get THEM to believe it.

We are starting a new learning cycle this week as well. It is the 2nd cycle in unit 2. Now that they have several cycles under their belt and are more in-tune to their grades, I have high hopes I can really push them this time and show them what success feels like. As we do not have school for the students on Tuesday due to the election, I decided to take Monday as a "reset" day. We are going to do some goal setting activities and they are going to get to mingle and get acquainted with their new learning group.

As I have also learned along this virtual path, I have put some changes in place that should help them to stay better focused during our groups and be more productive on the outside of that. I really do have high hopes this second quarter will be better than the first, not only for them but also for me. I do plan to emphasize to them that even though I am an adult and I have taught for many years, I'm still figuring this virtual thing out too and we have to adjust as we go to make it work better for us all.

Wow. What an amazing, crazy and busy week!

My husband was out of town, I had a meeting or other event after school Monday - Thursday and we still made it through the week whole and complete :)

It is crazy hard to believe that in just two weeks, our first marking period is over! It's feeling a bit like crunch time for some of the students who realize they don't have much time left to get things turned in so turned in before grades are due.

My afternoon tutoring session tomorrow is packed! I've never had more than 2 kids in at a time and I think I have either 6 or 7 scheduled! That's a good thing because it means we can get these kids up to where they can be passing.

Last week we had conferences on Wednesday and Thursday and thus had Friday afternoon off in exchange for working those late nights.

Never in my 14 years of prior teaching experience have I felt so good and positive coming off of conferences. I know for an absolute fact this virtual teaching and learning situation is not ideal for my learners. Many of them are really struggling to stay on track, get their work done and stay focused. They get to the end of that third class and it feels like "wheeee, the afternoon is mine!" because they are young and forget they still have afternoon work to do. It's been rough on them and on me as I have to nag them often (I am kind about it, but firm because I do care about their success).

Being able to share with families at conferences is always interesting. You see a side of kids you usually don't get the benefit of seeing. This time it was really interesting as we were holding conferences virtually. I had a mom tell me she absolutely loves me because it's clear that I hold high expectations for myself and her son and she appreciates that. Made me feel super good as I have worked hard to build this relationship with this student.

On the second night, I had a mom who just didn't look happy when our call first began. She wasn't mad, to be clear. She looked defeated. At one point, very early in the conference, she said, "I just feel so sad and depressed. I don't know what I'm doing wrong."

And I interrupted and said, "whoa, hold up momma. Let me reassure you that you aren't doing anything wrong. First and foremost, you are attending this conference which tells me that you really care about and love your son. Secondly, please know that this is my job, it is my passion and life's work. This is what I do, I teach students to read and enjoy books. If I can take that burden off of your shoulders, please let me. Because it will NOT be a burden for me. It's your job to love [student name] and it's my job to teach him and I'm happy to take that responsibility."

I helped mom get him all signed up for tutoring (and he's one coming in tomorrow!) and by the end of that 10 minute conversation, it was like I was talking to a whole different person. Mom was smiling and looked like a huge weight had been lifted off of her.

At the risk of sounding egotistical, I know I am a good teacher. I have years of positive evaluations and feedback from families to back that up. However, never before in my life have I come away from conferences feeling like several of these families needed me this year. Several even commented that I'm not like the other teachers their sons have had (I say sons only because all of the parents who mentioned it have sons that I work with). I told one mom that I was an elementary teacher for 13 years and she snapped her fingers and said, "that's it! That's what makes you different. You really care."

To be fair, no one (including me) is implying my colleagues don't care. But I have always worked with kids in trauma and I was one myself. I get it on a level that many people do not. I know this situation really sucks for a lot of the kids and their families. If I can ease that burden even a little by being positive, taking their (virtual) hand and walking across the street with them, by golly I will. And if this helps some of these boys, most of whom have well fallen through the cracks before now, finally realize what success can feel like, then I also will.

I'm so grateful that this shift in position fell into my lap this year because on the daily I am affirmed that this is really the position I am needed in. If I can boost a child's confidence and make them realize that I am there for them and will bend over backward to help them be successful, then it is my pleasure to do that.

I just realized I missed week 6. Oops! I think I was in a perpetual state of fog last week and it just slipped my mind.

We have started our second unit (each unit has 2 cycles). While I have some students who refuse to even log in and take their tests, the students who did take it are starting to realize why I harp on those rubrics so much.

We have a half day this coming Friday (conferences this week and thus Friday afternoon is our comp time for that). I plan to spend the shorter class periods on Friday really going through the rubrics again and having students rate themselves on their progress so far. It is the only thing I really dislike about the virtual model with the program we are using. If we were in person, I'd have plenty of time built-in to spot check and coach and that's so much harder to do virtually. While the students are in their breakout rooms, most of the time the coaching I'm doing is tech related and I can't really get to to heart of where they need support. That's frustrating but it is not something I can do anything about. This program was not designed to be done vitually. In a perfect world, we would have been able to hold off on our adoption until next school year, but we wouldn't have had anything to replace it with so it's what we have to use.

Alas, I think taking advantage of a shorter schedule, wherein I don't want to try to cram in a whole lesson, and instead providing specific feedback and support will help in the long-run. We shall see.

This week was good. It warmed up again and it was quite difficult to see the beautiful sunshine mocking me through the wall of windows in my classroom where I was stuck inside teaching. But content-wise things are cruising along. I'm really grateful that each cycle gets a little more interesting for the students. One kid, whom I have had trouble getting to complete things, even declared a lesson was "low key fun." I will take that as a success.

Each cycle I have also tried something different. We started with a Google Slides notebook style lesson and the kids liked it but felt it got overwhelming to keep track of what slide we were on. So we switched to Nearpod and they really liked that. The embedded games were super nice. However, this cycle we have to create graphic organizers so I switched to a Hyperdoc style format. So far that seems to be working better but the graphic organizer part is tougher on the students as they don't have a mouse to use. I am going to have them try the next G.O. in Seesaw and see if that helps.

One thing I have learned this year is that it is important to continue to try new things and switch things up to make it functional for the scholars. I do not like it when I hear teachers complain about having to try new things -- this whole year has been a total crazy mess. If we aren't willing to adapt and try new things, how can we expect our kids to do that either?

It is unbelievable that we've finished 5 weeks of school! It has gone so quickly.

I have to admit that I am increasingly grateful to be working where I do. I think our model is very reasonable and doable and so far, it has been going well. It's not without its issues but it is getting easier with each passing week.

The students are also getting used to it. They are really making me proud. Of course, there are always unmotivated students that it's so much more difficult to get to do anything; that is exacerbated with the virtual model. Alas, we have an incredible admin team in our school and they, along with our youth advocates and coaches, are really providing wrap-around services to help us support our students.

I had some students join me for virtual tutoring this week and a couple of students for in-person tutoring. That was funny because my projector system is not working so we Zoomed from in the classroom together so I could share my screen with them. #whateverworks

One of the students who came in person really got off on the wrong foot: total attitude, not completing work, etc. But after spending an afternoon with me and seeing that yes, I would absolutely help her get caught up, she's been as sweet as pie ever since. #RelationshipsMatter

I began to use Nearpod exclusively this week for delivering my content. Each lesson is split into two days and with the games and features in the program, my reading lessons are so much more engaging. Our cycles are 8 lessons, lessons 1-4 are the reading content. The first half of the lesson is mostly direct teaching, the second half is where they demonstrate their understanding and answer questions about the reading. At the start of the second half of the lesson, on day 2, I included the Time to Climb game from Nearpod and they love it!

On Friday, my first hour class had a student who won by 1800 points. I mean, this scholar kicked butt. But in 2nd hour, the first and second place winners were only 5 points apart! 3rd hour's first and second place winners were 7 points apart. They were so into it. (I think my 1st hour scholars might have been half asleep haha)

I invited my reading coach to observe me this week. I sent her the video recording for the first part of the lesson (which I taught Thursday) and she popped into my live Zoom on Friday during 1st hour. It was so awesome to have someone else there to help monitor the chat and answer questions. She told me later she thought the lesson was awesome and well paced. :) Our coach from SFA is coming next week and i'm excited to hear her feedback.

I know this program was not well liked by my colleagues and while I recognize that there probably were other programs we could have chosen that might be better, I am making the most of what we have. My excitement about it is spilling over to the kids and they are starting to recognize their effort makes a tremendous difference.

I'm stoked to complete the reading portion of this cycle this next week and see how their growth shows in our next test.

It's crazy that we just finished our fourth week of school!!

My classes finished our first cycle in our new reading curriculum. I'm really excited to see how they do as we move into cycle two now that they are a little more familiar with the curriculum.

I was just upgraded to a Pro Nearpod account on Friday so I am going to use Nearpod for our second cycle. I'm already seeing how much  more beneficial it will be for the kids to use as I can put in .pdf pages of the reading, I can insert games and I can really help guide them in a more interactive way. (My favorite element so far is putting in a video we are supposed to watch and being able to stop the video and have them answer questions before we move on. It will help me make sure my virtual learners are on task with me [because I can't see them all at the same time anyway] and it will help me to see if they are understanding what we are doing.)

Interestingly, I asked my scholars this week if they were enjoying our book and all but three students (across all of my classes) said they liked it. I am confident they will like the next book even more as it's about a competition as men race to be the first ones to visit and study the South Pole.

Each week gets a little easier in terms of delivering content across the screen. I would still much rather be in person where I can interact with more of them at the same time, but I feel better knowing the kids are starting to get into the rhythm too.

As I am a principal licensure student this year, I have 300 hours of internship to do. One of the first big projects I'm going to do is create and produce a video showing our families what their scholars should be doing on their "school day." I think many people think school is just 8:30-12, but they are not recognizing that their scholars will need to utilize 12:30-2 or 2:30 to do the afternoon work they are being expected to do.

In retrospect I think we really did a disservice by not having them begin those afternoon lessons the first week of school. We will be going into our second month and suddenly kids are going to have this extra work that should have been there all along. Nothing to do about that now but it's definitely something we need to keep in mind if this ever happens again. We have to provide the kids with the tools to be successful, not just toss information out there and hope they figure it out.

I cannot believe I just typed that into the title spot! How have 3 weeks gone by already?? We're already 1/3 of the way through the first quarter! Insanity.

This week we started our SFA/Reading Edge curriculum. Add in some tech issues and middle school students who aren't super jazzed about being in the breakout rooms and it was an interesting week. Fortunately my scholars have been really quite awesome and except for their hesitation with the breakout rooms, they have really taken all of the bumps in stride.

They are getting more used to the breakout rooms and it's interesting because some of the students have said they are really enjoying them now and some students are saying they hate them. The students who don't like them seem to be in groups where no one is talking. I will keep surveying and keep tabs on who is working and who isn't and when we switch up groups, the "non-talkers" will be together so everyone else gets the benefit of being in the group. I know in my heart the group work is really going to be the heart and soul of this program so I don't want to let it go, but I also don't want anyone to feel like they won't earn their points if their group isn't all participating.

I offered some 1:1 virtual meetings this week and several students took me up on them (and honestly some signed up and forgot to come back lol). It is really fun to even just spend 2-3 minutes with a student and see how they are doing. They have been really sweet and some kids are really letting me know where they are struggling. Of course the ones who really need to meet with me aren't, but I'll keep on it.

Someone told me today that they just don't care anymore. (This was an adult.) My first thought was "please stop teaching then." I get it that coming from teaching honors high schoolers to teaching 8th graders is a huge change....but if you don't care about the kids, they will know. I have kids confiding in me, asking me about things not even relevant to my content area and more. They ask me because I've already made it clear to them that I do care. It makes a difference.

A student whom I didn't have last year but who knows who I am because I pushed into his English class for one of my EL students is in my class. I know for a fact that his English teacher last year doesn't like him. She didn't try to hide it. If I could tell, you better believe he could tell. He didn't come to class the first week and I was really worried. But then he showed up last week. I made a point of saying how happy I was to see him in class and left it alone. As this week went on, he kept coming back and while he didn't say much or participate as much as I would have liked at first...each day he did a little more. Today I got him to actually turn on his microphone and provide an answer to the class. It made me so happy!

What makes this story so amazing in my eyes is we were clarifying if our class answer was right. He kind of hesitated and said he felt like it might be right but that it could also maybe use more. I said "so are you unsure if we need to add more?" and he said "yes." I couldn't have planned it better if I had tried, because it gave me an opportunity to remind everyone that it is 100000% OKAY to not be totally sure yet. That's why we are here and that's why you have me.

Building relationships is something I strive to do. And you better believe it is paying off in spades. One of my ELs from last year told me this summer (before we knew we would be virtual) that he didn't think he needed my support anymore. I said that was cool but that I'd always be there if he needed me. And low and behold, today he asked me if it was too late to be transferred back to my class. Oh my heart.

I told him that because I'm in a dual role this year and we are virtual right now, I don't have the EL class like I did last year but that he is welcome to come to tutoring and I'll help him. He even jumped on Zoom with me today and we had a really nice chat. He said he is going to try his best to catch up in his classes but he promised to reach out to me again if he needs my help.

That relationship has been built over the last year. I really strove to get to know my students and I constantly reach out to them to let them know I'm still around. It makes such a difference! Having a reluctant student realize I do care about him allowed him to answer a question in class even though he wasn't sure and a second student to realize he can swallow his pride and admit he needs some extra support.

I have long felt like God has guided me to where he wanted me to be. I spent more years than I should have in my old district because I felt compelled to be there. But now, however, I know I am right where I am needed. These kids need and deserve someone who will love them and make them each think that they are my favorites. I'm convinced that 8th graders are really just big kindergartners at heart. They want to be accepted and acknowledged. If I can provide that, so be it.

It's hard to believe we have ended our second week with students! Each of the first two weeks only had three days with students but we packed a lot into those 6 days!

I focused a lot on procedures and getting to know you type of activities the first week. This second week I was really intentional with teaching the students how to utilize some of the things at our disposal for virtual learning. We practiced the breakout rooms and team talk procedures, we learned how to use Google Keep, we talked about the face-to-face tutoring option coming up and went over the at home reading requirements.

It was a great few days. They are really coming along with procedures and getting more used to the online environment. On Wednesday we did a reading activity to practice the breakout rooms and talking to their group (which is SO AWKWARD for so many of them so definitely necessary to practice with something much less high stakes). I had a student let me know his Zoom kept disappearing when he was going to Google Classroom. This matters because he was trying to see what I was doing and follow me in Google Classroom but realized that his setup wasn't great. So I offered to stay on with him a few minutes after our class ended to help. Several other students stayed to see how to do it too.

It bothers me a ton when I hear other people assuming the kids know how to do this virtual thing. We had such poor attendance and participation in the spring because we weren't allowed to really hold them accountable. Now that we are doing the live Zooms, it is so important that we listen to them about what THEIR needs are and help them to navigate this system. Yes, they have all used their Chromebooks before but they haven't had to simultaneously use Zoom and have Google open and potentially their email and blah blah. It's new for them. I have had to learn a lot about how to really keep things on my screen so I can best serve my kids during this time as well.

I think one of my favorite things so far is that the students really are showing me and each other grace. Much moreso than I think would be happening if we were in traditional school; so many Americans are selfish people who only really think about themselves (I mean, there is a reason why we have "Karens") and it's heartening to see these young people really step up and be kind. Not only to me when something on my end stops working but also to each other. I really feel like they have come to appreciate school in a way they didn't before; it's their haven and they do miss it.

People constantly make comments to me about how "it takes a special person to teach middle school." It makes me kind of sad and mad at the same time. I love these kids. I want them to have the best future they can possibly have. Someone has to believe in them. I will volunteer as tribute. <3

Even though the first week with students was really only three days (and the second week is also only 3 days), it was a good week. Man, I realized how much I miss being with students. Of course, I am not with them; they are on the other side of the screen from me but it's so nice to have some interaction with them.

We have done a lot of getting to know you and procedural type of things this week. It's always hard the first few days when the students really want to get into learning (even if they won't admit it) but we really need to lay out the parameters for what that will look like. They keep asking me, every single day!, when they get to come to school. I wish we could be in person too but I know deep down it really is not safe enough for us to do that. (Plus I really can't imagine teaching all day with a mask on!)

At any rate, some key takeaways from week 1:
1) Middle schoolers are definitely a special group. I have only 7th and 8th graders and boy can I tell the difference! The 8th graders want to be "tougher" while the 7th graders definitely still have a sweeter side.

2) I taught elementary school for 13 years. After about 6 years, one of my colleagues said she always addressed her students as "friends" to help set the tone for cooperative learning and whatnot. Many of us began to do it also. it is HARD to break that habit after years of doing it! I said it the first day and said, "Oops! I'm sorry!" and then explained why I had said it. I have been doing my best to replace the word friends with the word scholars.

3) I am not a fan of Zoom over Google Meet. I don't know why we switched (I'm sure there is a reason; many of my colleagues and I speculate it is partly because Zoom already has breakout rooms and can be set up to record automatically). I prefer Google Meet. The students were all used to it from the spring and the teachers learned some tricks for making it work when we had to. The switch to Zoom has not been ideal; there is only so much room on my screen and I can't see all of the things I need to see at the same time. I am hopeful there will be some solutions for that coming soon.

4) At Home Learning is not ideal for most of my students. They are distracted by family, siblings, strobe lights in their room (not kidding; I have a student who has them on and I have to shut off their camera), pets, etc. Many of them don't have a quiet place to work except their bedroom so that is also hard because it's distracting in there!

5) It's really hard not to be able to connect with my students face to face. I miss that so much! Some of the students I don't even really know what they look like because I do not force them to keep their cameras on (at least not yet) because it actually makes their Chromebooks run better without the cameras on and I know some of them just are really shy about having them on.

6) The students probably would never admit this, but they are excited to be in school. I've had kids say they love their classes so far, they are happy to be in school and can't wait to actually be AT school. They are probably so bored from being at home most of the time. I've done a lot of getting to know you type things and I'd say 95% of my scholars have completed them all and I've learned a lot about them, probably more than I would have if we were traditionally face to face.



What I think is the most interesting about this whole job switch is this: before I accepted my ESL position last year, I had an interview in another district for a middle school position. One of the interviewers asked me if I thought I could connect with middle school students. I thought it was an incredibly odd question. They are just kids! They want to be liked, respected and listened to just like any other kid does. Showing up on the first day of virtual school this year with my crazy blue hair gave my students a glimpse of my silly side, but we've been all business since (with a few random jokes tossed in). But they know I have it in me to be silly and they seem to be enjoying that. (Might be a different story in person; they might be like "good lord Wood, would you just STOP IT?! lol)

Alas, I always think about that question. I have students emailing me to ask questions, commenting on their things they have turned in to make sure it was what I was looking for and more. I even had a student say he hoped he filled out his student survey correctly because he didn't want to disappoint me. Their anxiety is high from all of this uncertainty. Another student wrote on his daily check in that he was having a real hard time with COVID right now (not meaning that he's sick but meaning that it is preventing him from coming to school and seeing his friends and teachers).

I would like to think this first few days I have already shown myself to be a support for these scholars. I hope they see that I am there for them. I will bend over backward to help them because that's just who I am. I want them to be a success. If that isn't the first step toward connecting with scholars (of any age), I don't know what is.