After the Covid Pause

The last time I talked about the Calash scarf, I said I was so close to finished that by the next Monday, it would be finished. Of course that jinxed it, and I came down with the dread plague. Sigh.

I'm not sure if I got the "mild Covid" or all of my shots did the trick or if it was a combination of the two. I felt like I had a cold. Sore throat to start. That gave way to a stuffy and drippy nose. 

I rested. I watched TV. I read blogs. I didn't go anywhere. 

And on Thursday the 5th I tested negative for Covid. Yay!

That evening, I pulled out the Calash scarf and knit the last little bit. 

On Friday, I ripped out what I had done and redid the last couple rows. A couple times. And then I sewed up the back of the hood and finished the thing. 

Now it's all done. Yay!

Winter break is now over. This week's posts will recount the last week before the break. And next week's will be about this week, assuming that I work. We'll see. As of the writing of this, I have nothing scheduled. (And every time I say out loud, "Maybe won't get called and I'll get a couple days off," the days magically get filled.)

What am I going to knit next?

Covid Update

Currently it is almost 1 PM on January 1st. As is my habit, I write my blog posts ahead and schedule them for the upcoming week. 

Before winter break, I put together the blog posts for last week, this week, and next week, leaving Mondays open for whatever I happened to knit or crochet. As last Sunday was Christmas, I wrote my Monday post on Friday, and I showed off my Calash scarf that was so close to complete I just knew it would be done by today. 

And then Christmas Day I tested positive for Covid. 

Deep sigh.

As of right now, I am still Covid positive. I felt terrible for a couple days. I felt pretty normal for a couple days. Today, my sinuses are a bit stuffed up. But school doesn't start up for over a week, so I should be back to normal by then. Hopefully. 

I haven't really been of a mood to knit the last week, so no progress on the scarf. When I do pull it out again (today? tomorrow? this week? next week?), it'll probably be a sitting or two to complete. It's that close. 

Until then, I figured I should give the illness update. 

I did get some goodies for Christmas: 

These are some great little yarn-y accessories. The cassette tape thingie is a needle gauge. The other is a keychain with small crochet hooks on it. It's the perfect size to bring along for projects as if one drops a stitch, those crochet hooks come in handy. (They wouldn't be great for a project, but they're perfect in a pinch.) 

And the rest are stitch markers. You can never have too many stitch markers.

I've been around the blogosphere. I will be again this week. I mean, I do have a full week's worth of posts already scheduled, so it's just the visiting. I'm not so sick that I can't sit up and read and type on the computer. 

I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Take care. And may you avoid the dread plague. I'll see you around.

Disappointing Via Email

One thing I don't think I've properly conveyed in my posts is how very child like these young adults in the program I'm covering are. They look adult-sized, but in some ways they are still very much kids.

Because of everything, we were informed that our community based instruction (CBI) has to pause for the moment. Which, while I'm disappointed, I can't really object to. One of the things we do is go into restaurants and eat. And I'm not feeling all that safe doing that at the moment.

Pizza was out all week. (Well, not Tuesday, but see yesterday's post for more about that.) On Thursday he sent me an email: 

Hi Elizabeth to let you know I didn't felt good today, I have to see you tomorrow for cbi, but i still plan on going to taco bell for cbi lunch.

Pizza had gotten his Covid booster the previous day. We had planned to go to Taco Bell on CBI on Tuesday before *waves hands* everything (see yesterday's post). Normally, we would have planned where we were going on Friday after lunch on Thursday. And while Pizza wasn't going to be there to advocate for his choice, he wanted to make sure his voice was heard. 

(Pizza likes to tell us staff members where we should go. We tell him he has to discuss with his classmates. He usually gets his way anyway.)

When I replied, I had to inform him that there would be no CBI on Friday: 

CBIs have been canceled for the foreseeable future. Hope to see you tomorrow, but plan on eating at school.

But remember, child like. Pizza's reply: 

 Oh, I hope that we will go on cbi next week.

(When I read this, I can totally hear his voice. It gives it that extra oomph that I can't really convey in text.) 

So, I attempted to explain again: 

It's not likely. It'll probably be a couple weeks before we go out on CBI again.

Of course, I'm being optimistic. We might not be allowed out before my tenure in the class is over. Such is pandemic life.  

Pizza did not return to school on Friday. Whether it was because he still wasn't feeling well or because we weren't going out for lunch, I don't know. By the time you read this, I'll probably have a better idea.

Covid Came for Us

*takes a deep breath* 

Last Monday was the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, so Tuesday was our first day at school for the week. Being a good and prepared sub, I had let the students pick where we'd go out for CBI on the prior Thursday. (The district gave us the Friday off as well. Woo-hoo four-day weekend!) 

We had barely gotten the day started when the principal pulled me out of class. She was cancelling our CBI. Again. 

But, I didn't have a chance to freak out about this as the principal informed me the reason the CBI was cancelled was because we had a positive Covid student in class. And now we were scrambling to get the students into quarantine that needed to be in quarantine. 

When the students arrived, we were three short. Sushi, who had been out the week prior as well. (He emailed me to say he had the flu. Or maybe Covid. I never heard back one way or the other.) Logan, who had gone home early the previous Thursday. (He had had a fever.) And Antoine, who hadn't been feeling well on Thursday, but did not go home early as he said he wasn't feeling terrible (and did not have a fever). 

Because of HIPAA, I don't get to know who was the positive Covid (unless one of them tells me, which they probably will). 

So, anyway, then began the scramble. Because, I guess, from what I understand now, anyone who is fully vaxxed is safe to remain on campus. Those who weren't, couldn't. 

As we had planned to go out, we had nothing to keep the students busy, so I put on a movie. (They picked Penguins of Madagascar. It was way better than I expected. That's not a high bar, as I didn't expect much. But funny. And cute. And perfect for that moment.) 

The first to go was Flash. They called him out of class, isolated him, and he was picked up by a parent. 

Then I got a call from the main office. They could not get a hold of Sydney's parents. Could Sydney text them to tell them to get in contact with the school? Well, she could not. (They aren't allowed phones where they work.) But eventually it was determined that she wasn't vaxxed, so off she went. 

And then there were four. 

I figured the four would stay, but then I got a call to send Pizza out of class. 

And then there were three. 

Aide 2 and I looked at each other. (Aide 1 was out already as she hadn't been feeling well over the weekend.) Could we handle three students just by ourselves? We figured we could.

But then the principal returned. Now that the students were squared away, it was time to check the staff. 

Alas, aide 2 is vaxxed but not boosted, so she was sent home.

So, then it was me and three students. 

I was asked if I needed another aide to assist. With three students? I said I was fine. 

We finished the movie. They had lunch. We did our usual afternoon activities. 

Eddy leaves early. He catches the city bus, and it leaves just before our dismissal time. So, I took him out to leave. 

And then there were two.

Then I got a call. Leanna's brother was there to pick her up. (She has a dance class on Tuesdays.) 

So, it was end of day, and I had one student left. Brittany. We cleaned up the room (which usually is done by all the students), and then she was dismissed. 

It felt like the students all trickled away throughout the day. Very strange. 

Students could return if they had a negative Covid test. The next day Flash returned. (Eddy stayed out, but returned to class Thursday.) Sydney returned Thursday and would have returned Wednesday if not for a mix up with her bus. Pizza missed Wednesday due to getting his booster (which he had told us about the week previous) and was out Thursday and Friday due to not feeling well afterward. 

And I got my very own negative Covid test as well: 

Regarding Attendance

Last Monday I had this email exchange with the school secretary who is also the attendance clerk. (It's a small school. All the clerking-type stuff is done by one person.) 

Secretary: hi Elizabeth, did you the attendance today in AERIES? or was everyone present???

Me: I did input attendance, or at least I thought I did. [Logan] and [Sushi] were absent.

S: Ok, thanks. [Logan] was put in, but not [Sushi]. I just put him for absent today.

Me: Weird. I must have run the cursor over [Sushi's] absence and it blanked it out. Oh well. Thanks for fixing it.

S: I know what happened. [Flash's] mom called and said that she got a phone call that he was absent and he wasn't

So I think instead of [Sushi] you hit [Flash]

I'm taking his absence out of [Flash]. If that is not correct let me know, but since you said that you only had 2 absences I think this is correct. Please check your attendance if it is correct.

Me: Yes, that must have been what happened. [Flash] was present. Only [Sushi] and [Logan] were absent. (This won't be the first time I miskeyed an absence. I can see how I could have done that.)

So, yeah, um, I totally marked the wrong student absent. I've done this sort of thing before. I'll hit the absent key for a student above or below the student I meant to mark absent. But in this case, Flash is near the top of the list while Sushi is closer to the end. There's like four students between the two of them.

How I made that mistake, I have no idea. 

(And I know it was me because I had written it on my paper copy of the attendance that way as well.)

Sushi was out of school all week. He sent me an email saying he had the flu. And he was requesting a Covid test. We got official Covid contact notification that Monday, but later I found out it was a different student, and that student (who is not in my class) didn't necessarily have it, but was a close contact of someone who did.

Ah, the joys of pandemic attendance.

Masking

Because of everything (and if I try to explain it more than that, I'm going to get off track way too quickly), we are no longer allowed to wear cloth masks to work. (Well, we can so long as we wear a surgical mask under it.) 

From what I've been hearing on the news and such, we really should just have schools go virtual at this point. But no. Let's allow everyone to catch this virus by keeping everything open and pretending that we have adequate mitigation measures in place. Which we don't. 

Like I said, this'll turn into a diatribe if I start, so let me get back to what I was going to talk about...

The thing that was great about my cloth masks was that I had knitted the ear straps, so they didn't irritate my ears. Alas, the kn95s I have have elastic ear straps. And after one day wearing them all day, I realized that was not going to work. 

But, if you recall from the early days of the pandemic, a solution was found for the irritating ear issue. Button bands. 

So, I made one: 

I wore it the next day. And... it was a bit too long. 

This was eight inches long, long enough to almost reach to my ears along the back of my neck. But, it didn't pull the elastic taut enough for the mask to fit snuggly on my face. All day it felt like my mask was slipping off my face.

Well, not all day. I gave it up as too loose and put the elastic straps back on my ears.

Then that evening, I made another one: 

It was half the length at four inches: 

And that seemed to do the trick. 

It pulls the mask elastic taut enough so that it stays on the face (although it still pulls it down so that I feel like I have to adjust the mask frequently throughout the day). 

But, before with the straps on the ears, I felt like the mask was pulling up into my eyes all the time. 

It's a small price to pay. I'd rather wear a mask and avoid the 'Rona as much as I can.

It's a simple knit. (You could also use fabric cut to the right length and just attach buttons. But I knit, so it had to be knit.) I used stuff I had in my stash. Those are "vintage" buttons. The yarn was Caron Simply Soft. It's on the lighter end of worsted weight.

I cast on 15 stitches (using size 8 needles), and I worked something like 8 rows (I didn't count; I just knit until it was wide enough) in garter stitch (I knit every row). The buttons were sewn on about two stitches in from the side. 

That's more for me. I find when I do something simple like this, I don't write down what I did, and later, when I want to replicate it, I have to start from scratch. By writing it in the blog, I can refer back to it later.

What tricks are you using to wear your mask comfortably? Please tell me you are wearing a mask when you're out in public. 

Allergies

The class I've been covering has a grand total of nine students. And most days we have full attendance. So, I notice when someone is missing.

The Monday before Thanksgiving break, Sydney was not in class.

She had sent one of the aides a text. She wasn't feeling well due to allergies. 

Syd missed Tuesday as well. On Wednesday when Syd hadn't returned, I commented to the aide about Sydney's allergies, and she got very quiet. 

Sydney's latest text was about how she was waiting on a Covid test before she could return to school.

And... I panicked. In my head. To myself. 

Because, while we do wear masks, and we're careful (and I'm vaccinated), I would consider myself in close contact with all the students in the class. 

I was not expecting to see Sydney until after the break. For a couple weeks, she'd been telling us about how she'd be leaving the Friday before Thanksgiving break to visit a relative in Utah. Why come to school for just the Thursday of that week? 

But, Syd did attend school on Thursday. And I was relieved. 

Because, Syd could not come to campus if she had a positive Covid test. She'd be on quarantine until she got a negative test (or was out for two weeks). 

She was still sniffling on Thursday. But she was looking forward to her trip. 

And as I'm eligible for a Covid booster, it was past time to get that thing scheduled. (I did. I got my third shot last Monday.) 

Close the Door

Monday, fifth period. Geography. 

Alden will not keep his mask on. (Alden belongs at the alternative education center. He would fit in so well there.) I am constantly on him to pull it back over his mouth and nose. 

In exasperation, I asked Alden what the issue was. He said he did not like wearing it. I replied I wasn't fond of the masks either. 

Ramses (seated next to him) then piped up. "You know, we could close the door, and then none of us would have to wear our masks..." 

via GIPHY

No. Just no. 

Just that past Friday the Homecoming Assembly had to be cancelled, and pretty much the entire football team was that day (and the whole week) on Covid quarantine. And Ramses thought it was a good idea to have fewer protections? 

via GIPHY

I just... I can't... I... 

This is why subs are needed. The kiddos can't be trusted without adult supervision.

Change of Plans

Last Friday was kind of crazy. It was Homecoming Week. (I'm not sure when this happened, but now it's called HoCo, and there were all sorts of HoCo "promposals" happening all week.) 

There were dress up days. The candidates for king and queen had signs up all over school. Then Friday was the game, and during school hours was the "rally" (read: assembly).

I hate assemblies. I have whined repeatedly on this here blog about how much I hate them. Now, you'd think considering everything that there would be no assembly, but the school has an outdoor football stadium. It was doable.

So, I was ready. I brought sunscreen. I had my sunglasses. I wore my walking shoes. (It's not that far, but it is a bit of a hike to get there.) 

The classes were all shortened. We still had enough time for them to take their unit test with time left over. (And I had students who came to take the test and then leave as they had setting up to do and such.) 

It was the end of fourth period. We were getting ready to go. I had my seating chart, so I told the class where our assigned seats were. (We were up high in the stadium.) I explained that they'd have to leave their backpacks in class (phones would be in pockets, I was sure), but the room would be locked, so their backpacks would be safe.

Then, the announcement came. "Wait." And then a bit later, it was all called off. 

Minutes before things were to start, the school got word. Someone tested positive for Covid. And they were hurriedly contact tracing. 

Considering who had been called out of class, it sounded like the positive case was a football player. 

The game was cancelled, too. The dance? Postponed. 

Deep sigh. 

I mean, who thought it would be a good idea to hold an assembly during a global pandemic, anyway?

Fourth period was stuck in class for another hour. But they had phones and computers, so they kept themselves entertained. (They had already taken a test that day, and nothing else was planned. And they were seniors, so there was no need for crowd control.)

Disappointing (for them), but not surprising, really.

Mask Up

Are you all still wearing masks? 

Masks are required of the in-person students (as well as the teachers and all staff). We have the masks, the partitions, air circulating, social distancing, and constant cleaning. Hopefully all will be well continuing on.

However, a certain problem has cropped up that I know you are familiar with, going by how often the complaint pops up on social media.

The kiddos don't keep the mask over their nose!

In public, I grumble. I see these people, and I wonder if they realize that the whole point is to cover the nose (as well as the mouth). But it's not my place to say anything, so I don't.

However, in school, it is actually my job to make sure the kiddos are complying with the masking up.

Yup, I get to tell kiddos to pull their masks up over their noses. And they do it. 

Ah, the power.

It kind of makes up for when I leave campus and no longer have the authority to do so. Sigh.

Falling Partitions

Because pandemic, all the classrooms have been outfitted with plexiglass partitions for the students. They look like this: 

As you can see, they're not attached to the desks. Because of this, the inevitable happens. Several times a day. 

(The inevitable being that kiddo knocks said partition down.) 

And, you know what? This makes me laugh every single time.

It's terrible of me. The kiddos don't intend to knock the thing over. Some of it is clumsy. (They are adolescents, after all.) Some of it is careless. And because we have them wipe down their desks after every class (yup, there are safety protocols in place), someone is going to touch something wrong, and down it goes. 

I'm not trying to laugh at them. Some of them look positively mortified when it happens. Although, as it happens every day, I think we're getting to the point where they're less upset when it happens to them.

I hope.

Because, the laugh response continues to happen. I'm tamping it down more and more. But a snort still seems to come out when I hear the tell-tale sound of falling partition. 

Timber!

Scare

First period, Thursday. I got a call from one of the assistant principals (AP). 

"The student that we pulled out... Don't touch his desk."

We hadn't been in first period more than five minutes (the co-teacher had barely started class) when security arrived. He asked if a student was in class. He was. Security removed the student. 

(In the before times, this was common, so I didn't think much of it. I figured he hadn't completed his self check or something.) 

The co-teacher went back to teaching the class. 

The phone call was quite a bit later. 

It wasn't until after class that the AP explained as she had us vacate the room. (We were moved to an empty classroom for the next period while they deep cleaned ours.) 

The student may have had Covid the week prior. Or, he had been in contact with someone who had. (The story changed over the course of the day.) He had been told to stay home this week, but he will be cleared to be on campus next. We'll see. 

And... I can't say that I was in "close contact" with him. He was in the room for less than fifteen minutes. He was farther than six feet from me the whole time. We were both wearing masks. And we were both behind plexiglass partitions. 

And I'm two weeks past my second vaccine dose. 

Still, it's a bit disconcerting. 

Ah, the joys of schooling in the dread plague era.

Fully Vaccinated

COVID vaccine shot, 28 days later...

On my last visit to the Long Beach Convention Center, I made my follow up appointment for vaccine shot number two. I figured the sequel would be much like the original. I was wrong.

The first surprise was that my school district decided that we were going to open to in-person classes. So, instead of heading from home to the vaccination site, I was going to have to leave from the school site (which is a bit farther away as I don't work for Long Beach's school district). 

And, I had hoped to leave early. But, the principal had an all staff meeting that afternoon...

Okay, this is a bit of a story. Normally I wouldn't be invited to the all staff meeting, but with the long-term and how things were opening up for us, I ended up needing to attend this meeting. All the whys and wherefores are way too complicated for this post.

I left campus in a bit of a panic. I figured I was going to be stuck in line for hours. 

I had scheduled my appointment for 3:56 PM. I got to the convention center at roughly 3:50. 

And... There was no line. 

I pulled up. Checked in. (It was a drive up site.) Pulled into the parking lot. Got my shot. And by 3:59 I was parked in the observation area where we were to wait fifteen minutes just in case.

This was my view...

See all those cones? That was the feeder line for cars. Notice there are no cars? If you can see those smokestacks in the distance, that's the Queen Mary.

To my right was this building...

I didn't have a chance to take pics before this as it went so quickly. Way, way different than the first time.

And so, now I have had two shots. I'll be officially fully vaccinated in two weeks (April 13th). 

I worked the next day and felt fine (other than a very sore arm), until I left campus that day. Then I got home. And that's when I felt it. I was so, so tired. And warm and cold at the same time. I went to bed very early, but I was fine the next day.

If you have not had a chance to be vaccinated yet, I hope you're able to get in really, really soon.

Dread Plague Face Coverings

Why am I making myself some more masks? 

1. I'm getting bored with the ones I have.
2. I cut out some fabric ages ago, and it's high time I got to finishing them up.
3. My district just opened to in person instruction (right before spring break), so I am going to have need of them.
4. I don't want to do another "I didn't make much progress on my seven (and a half) year cardi" post.

I only got those two knitted up. I have two more blanket stitched and just waiting for the knitting part...

And I think I finally got the dimensions right on the fabric. These fit so much better than the ones I made last year...

Although, we'll see how much better they feel after I've had them on all day... 

Wow, the freckles on my forehead really popped out on that one. 

I make no promises as to what I'll have completed by next week's post. I'm on spring break, so ideally I'll have more time for my projects, but who knows? 

End of Quarter

Last Friday was the last day of the third quarter. 

I flashed back to last year. I do remember exactly what I was doing on the last day of the third quarter. It was a graphic arts class. I've covered this teacher's classes before, so it was a fairly typical day in her class. It was so typical that I didn't even blog about it. 

It was also the last in-person school day we had. 

That whole week had been odd. Morning announcements told us of cancelled events due to the approaching COVID. They got rid of reusable restroom passes and they gave each classroom new disinfectants. 

We were all walking on eggshells. 

I remember leaving school that day. I had three assignments scheduled for the next week. I told the secretary I'd see her Monday. She had just gotten word another nearby district had closed. She wondered if we would see each other on Monday.

She was right.

After I got home I got word. The governor had issued orders that everything, including schools, needed to close. I got an email from the district as well as a phone call from the sub caller. 

It's amazing to think it's been a year. The nerves. The worry. The new normal. 

I think from now on, the end of the third quarter will bring up these memories. Where were you one year ago?

One More Thing

Three Wednesdays ago, I was eating dinner. Pasta with marinara sauce and turkey meatballs. It's a meal I've had many, many times. 

I was on the first meatball. I bit down, and I bit into something hard. I scrambled for whatever it was, and it turned out it was my tooth. 

I had chipped my tooth. 

My tooth. The penny is for a size comparison.

I have never done anything like this before, and I was freaked. But, as these things go, it's sorted. (I waited to post until it was sorted.) 

The first dental appointment I could get (they'd usually be able to squeeze me in, but COVID restrictions) was Monday. Then that Friday I got the notification I was up for my first vaccine shot. 

So, it was dentist Monday morning. Vaccine first shot Tuesday. And then back to the dentist this last Tuesday as that was the first appointment I could make where there was enough time to deal with getting a crown. (My permanent crown will be ready next week.) 

Everything kind of hit at once. Isn't that always the way?

The Long Wait

I got my first vaccine shot! 

And it's a story. We did testing last week (it was the same testing we did in September), and surprisingly, things went pretty smoothly. So, I'm going to skip a subbing story today and tell you the saga of my first COVID-19 vaccine shot.

I think it was late January when Long Beach launched a vaccine list. I signed up just as soon as I got notification. It wasn't my tier yet, but we were informed that we'd get notification when it was our turn. 

The first week I got an email saying, "Not yet". Same thing the second week. Then crickets for the next couple weeks after that, which was fine as I didn't need emails telling me it wasn't my turn. 

Then word was out that educators were the next to go. 

I do not work for the school district in Long Beach. And the initial vaccination efforts were for the employees of the school district and the university. When I signed up on the website, I clearly marked that while I lived in Long Beach, I did not work in Long Beach. 

It was Friday night when I saw the email. "IMPORTANT: Make an appointment for your first COVID-19 vaccine dose." I was shaking as I filled out the form and made the appointment for Tuesday. 

Then Sunday I got an email: "IMPORTANT: If you are not eligible to receive vaccine at this time, please cancel your appointment." 

Uh... 

So, I had a bit of a freak out. While I do not work in Long Beach, we were told that we could still get vaccinated if we were a city resident. And educators are up. But this email came two hours after another "make an appointment" email, so I chose to believe it was a follow up to that email, and I ignored the cancel request.

Then later that day I got two more "make your appointment" emails with appointments pretty much all week. I figured there was some mix up someplace, but it didn't impact me. 

Tuesday. The convention center is clear across town for me, so I set out early. Turns out, not quite enough if I wanted to be "on time". Sigh. 

I know roughly how to get to the convention center. As I pulled onto the street, I saw a line of cars going in the opposite direction. A line that long, it had to be the place. So, I followed it back all the way around the block (in downtown Long Beach, where the touristy stuff is, so long blocks), made a U-turn, and got in line behind the last car. This was about an hour before my scheduled appointment. 

I thought I was way early. By the time I snaked around to where they were checking IDs, I was ten minutes out from my appointment. 

We had been told to bring proof of appointment, proof of residency, and proof of employment. I was paranoid. I brought a couple other papers besides my driver's license and employee ID. But the guy who checked me in found those to be sufficient, and in dry erase marker her wrote on my windshield that I was good to go. (He told me he was writing what vaccine I was getting and that it was my first shot.) 

Alas, the car in front of me, the car that I'd been following for nearly an hour, was turned away and had to pull out of the line. Several cars were turned away at that point just as I was getting checked in.

Then another twenty minutes in line through the convention center parking lot. 

My appointment was for 3:56 PM. I got into line at nearly 3 PM. I got my shot at around 4:15 PM. 

We were directed to an observation spot for fifteen minutes so they could check for adverse reactions. During this time, I made my second shot appointment on my phone. 

And then I headed home. 

I had no immediate reactions. The next day my arm was sore. Really sore. The day after that, though, it was hardly sore at all. But that's a small price to pay. 

A local newspaper did a video story on the mass vaccination site when it opened. In case you'd like a visual of where this was... 

Have you gotten vaccinated yet? I hope if not you're up soon.

Bird Watching

Back in the spring, I mentioned that I've started regularly walking. Sometimes, those walks take me to local parks. 

There have been some interesting birds about. Alas, I only had my cell phone with me, so I didn't get great pictures. 

Two weeks ago I was at a local wetlands. (It's off of Pacific Coast Highway. On the other side of the road is the beach and the actual ocean.) The winds were gusting, but I managed to capture a couple interesting sights. 

I have no idea what kind of bird that is. Nor do I know what kind of bird this other one is. . .

But there were a few of them there. . . 

Then a few days later, I was walking in a park a bit closer to home when I walked past this bird. . .

I did not attempt to photograph the flying birds, though. There were many in the area, especially at the wetlands, but I did not think my cell phone camera was up to the task. I saw quite a few people with their fancy cameras with their long lenses. I'm sure they got some great shots. 

Are you still getting out for walks? (Or has it gotten too cold?) 

Familiar Faces

Last Friday, I covered an eleventh grade English class. They had a quiz. 

Substitute teaching during a pandemic is a strange mix of the familiar and our new reality. I know all the staff in the main office. I haven't seen them since everything shut down, but it was mostly the same, except we're only allowed to enter and exit through one door, and there are Plexiglas partitions up to shield the receptionist. 

There were administrator changes because new school year. I checked in, and then I had to check in with a new assistant principal because she had to give me access to the Google Classroom classes I would need for the day. 

Oh, and the masks. We're all wearing them, but oddly, when we interact, we make no mention of them. 

Once I had checked in, I headed for the classroom. The campus feels like a ghost town. There are people there, but not many, and I can feel the emptiness. Various reminders that we went home on March 13th and didn't return pop up. The ASB calendar of events wall outside still says March. And the classroom I was in still had the minimum day schedule posted. 

The teacher I was subbing for had not returned, although he was due to work the following week. That is why I was there. The sub who'd been covering his class was taking over another long term position, so they needed someone to fill the day. 

At the appointed time, the students logged in. A couple arrived at first, and then the whole rest of them started populating the screen. Only nine were visible, but the list of the 30-odd students was on the side. They immediately muted their microphones. Some turned off their cameras, but a few kept them on. 

(One girl in fourth period kept her camera on the whole time, but I don't think she realized it. She was clearly having a conversation with someone, and they were having a grand old time. Some dancing was involved.) 

As they had a quiz, all I had to do was announce it, and they got to work. And I watched a mostly blank screen. (They are required to have a certain number of minutes "in class", so they had to remain in class even once they'd finished the quiz.)

I had a chance to talk to the previous sub between classes. (There's a ten minute pause between each period.) He said the classes were fine, although sixth period could be weird. 

Sixth period weird? Imagine that. *end sarcasm*

So, sixth period started. And the names popped up on the screen. Names I recognized. Now, I recognized most of the names in the first two periods (they're only doing three periods a day), but sixth period names were different. I mean, not most of them. But about six or seven of them I remembered from previous interactions, and not in a good way. 

And all in the same class? Yikes. 

But, they're juniors now. As middle schoolers, they fought me. Now, they make a joke out of things. This is an improvement. We won't have the battles. But getting through material can easily go sideways.

Teaching to an Empty Room

Every time I do a first day of school, it's different. And every time I learn something new. 

And this year is so much different than any year that has come before. 

I am continuing the class that I was covering in summer school. Sort of. Instead of teaching English, I've been swapped into teaching math and science. (The principal discussed this with me during the summer session, and as I'm way more comfortable with math, I was quite happy to make the switch.) 

When the principal asked what books I wanted the kiddos to have, as they were putting together what they'd send home for each kiddo, I had no answer. Since we did the summer session virtually, I hadn't been to campus. What books were available? What did I have to work with. 

So, for the first time ever, I got prep time. . . 

via GIPHY

Friday before school started, I went to campus. I got assigned a classroom, and I checked out a key. 

via GIPHY

So, instead of scrambling on the first day of school, I had some time to set something up. I had time to look around the classroom and figure out what I had to work with. (For summer session I used an old summer school classroom photo. The photo above is of the actual classroom.) 

I'm still scrambling, of course, but it's not nearly as pronounced. The school had no chemistry textbooks, yet I have five chemistry students. I don't have access to the online component of the math textbooks yet. (I've seen what they have in other math classes I've covered.) And I was on my own to figure out lesson plans and such. 

But, I walked in on the first day knowing what I had to work with and having a plan for the kiddos. That's huge. 

Yes, walked in. I taught in an actual classroom on the first day of school. Of course, I was the only one there. . .

I live in Los Angeles County in California. Our Covid numbers are up, and the county has said no to in person school. We're teaching virtually. 

I don't know what each and every district is doing; I only know what my district is doing. We have a modified schedule. We meet online in Google Hangouts. And teachers have the option of working on campus or from home. 

The office staff is there. The principal is on campus. The instructional aides are working on some project. The janitorial staff is keeping it all clean. 

We have to wear masks, of course. They check our temperature when we get to school, and if we're going to be on campus, we need to do a "self check" before coming in. (If sick or possibly exposed, we're to stay home.) 

It's a balance between the familiar and the new normal. 

At least it'll keep the blog in stories. 

For the record, I'm working about half at school and half from home. I've been going in to get materials, and if I need to get materials, I might as well do my lessons from the classroom. They have the good air conditioning. I have a desk to work from. But if I have everything I need, I can sleep in another hour and do the lessons from home. 

We'll see if I keep going in. I haven't decided just yet.