Since I’m having my students document what is going on in their life, I figured that I should probably do the same…
March 12th I get a call as I’m headed to a 5th/6th grade Computer class that we are going to have an all High School meeting. I let the Elementary teacher know that I need to be at that meeting. We go to the auditorium and learn that MACS has been postponed, and that there is a very real possibility that we might be going to distance learning. The administrator, Mr. Reese, asks to talk to me afterwards and says that he wants to talk to Scott and me about how we could go to distance learning.
The rest of the day I spent with Scott coming up with three different ways that we could accomplish distance learning if we needed to:
-3rd option was all paper packets
-2nd option was One Drive and Outlook
-1st option was Microsoft Teams.
I sent my afternoon classes to other places to help come up with a more solid plan and talked with Scott about how it could all happen. School finished, and we continued to brainstorm. I was “interrupted” to go coach my Patriots Basketball team, and then back up to my room to keep working. When I did get home to send Joel off to work, my mind was spinning and continued to play around with Teams. Friday came, and still, my mind was spinning and continued to work on the plan. We kept hearing of other states closing their schools throughout the day, but PA was still open. After school, around 3:30, we got the official news that PA schools were closed for two weeks. Now our plan had to go into action. Although no one knew for sure how long we would be out, we had to plan as if we weren’t coming back.
[As a side note, we were to have a youth group afterglow at our house on Sunday. I went out Thursday night to buy what was needed from BJ’s, but it was incredible, the aisles were bare. There were no paper products on the shelves. There was no meat left. The aisles had been picked over with very little left. After school on Friday I went out quickly to Karns to get the meat we needed for walking tacos. Joel had run to Giant to grab a sloppy joe mix and the line was out the door. So his mom had called was at Weis, for whatever reason the lines weren’t as bad so she grabbed one for us. When mom and dad came over, they were conversing with the other college parents about how to get the kids back to PA since BJU had closed for the semester. On Sunday morning, dad announced that we were not going to have Sunday night service. Joel and I had the kids come over Sunday afternoon for walking tacos and a time in the park. Little did we know that would be their last get-together as a group until mid-June.]
On Monday, we met as a staff to talk through how to teach long distance. We took the week to set up online teaching. I worked through teaching the teachers how to teach online and making sure that they had the equipment that they needed to be able to teach online. Throughout the week, some counties went on stay-at-home orders, and fewer teachers came out to school. On Friday, the first stay-at-home order came from the governor, and we were to work from home the next week. I started working on getting my classes put together on Microsoft Teams, my other post (Hope in the Midst of Loss) factors into this time frame too, I continued to help teachers and set up student Chromebooks. On Friday, March 27th, the teachers came out to the school to pack up lockers, and on Monday, March 30th, we passed the materials to a “carline” of parents and students who came to get their belongings.
School started on Tuesday. We muddled through our first week fairly successfully. The feedback was overall positive, and we went into Spring Break. Joel and I went to Pittsburgh for Easter. It was a much needed time with family, but something we deliberated over with the stay-at-home order and his potential contact with Covid-19 and being with my grandparents. But after praying about it, talking to my mom, and pouring through the stay-at-home order, we decided that it was okay to go. We were able to all be home for Easter and were able to “go to church” for the first time in a while. It was still a live-stream service, but we were at church with my family as dad preached. Joel and I were actually in two Easter services. We had pre-recorded to be in the one in Mechanicsburg for an “Easter cantata,” and were pre-recorded to be in the one in Aliquippa. We ate Easter dinner in the lobby area with the family and were able to stay until Wednesday. Joel had a “week on week off” rotation to keep nurses from overlapping-although that didn’t last long-hospital bureaucracy if you ask me…Anyway, We worked at the Peacock house for a bit with B, T, Bobby, and Kayli, and took Aspen for quite a few walks. On Tuesday, I was able to go over to my grandparents’ house and comb through their mail and spend some quality time with them. When we came back to Mechanicsburg, I plunged back into teaching. However, it was a refreshing time, and it was nice not to have time constraints.
Over the next couple of weeks, days blurred together. Somewhere in there, grocery stores required masks and had arrows on the floor, indicating which direction you had to walk. There was a routine, yet not a routine. I’d get up around 9:15 to stumble out to a video conference at 9:30. On beautiful days that Joel had off, we’d go for long walks. Youth Group was on Zoom on Thursdays. We would have an occasional Zoom game night. Normal day-to-day things I forget what specific day things happen. Joel and I had some of the college guys come over to dig out the front bed, but when recalling the story, I forget which day they came (it was Thursday). We babysat Mack the other day, and I can’t remember if it was Tuesday or Wednesday unless I really think about it (it was Wednesday).
The days are busy, but at the same time not. I still have a checklist full of items I’d like to get done. Still, they look a little different- teacher spotlight videos, senior spotlight videos, tech tips, virtual walk-a-thon details, etc. instead of the running here and there to get play items, or to go to that practice or that game or writing finals. In fact, when we had a month of school left, I had all my content done and uploaded for the rest of the year. I still have weekly video conferences with my students to make sure they are understanding, but my “teaching” is done for the year. I have a weekly “routine” with the students of what day and what time I talk to which one, but it’s still fairly flexible. I’m able to take a walk in the middle of the day and wear sweatpants. I get to drink a hot cup of coffee from a mug each morning. Joel and I watch church from our couch in comfy clothes.
It’s quiet here. With Joel’s schedule not changing, most days, I sit on the couch or at the counter and work quietly. It’s such a change from when we were first married. I rarely know what days Joel is going to work week to week (that’s not different), but it doesn’t bother me that I don’t know (that’s different). Since each day is basically the same, there isn’t the need to know as much. I miss the chatter. I miss the interaction with people, but I do like the different pace. I do like the simplicity. One of the things my sister mentioned is that it is nice because we couldn’t plan anything. Yeah, in some ways, it stinks because some of the fun things we have planned have been canceled, but in others, we didn’t know we’d have time off, so we didn’t plan to have the time filled. Usually, with holidays, we fill the time because we know we’ll have time off, but with this, we couldn’t. If we knew that we would have two months off, we’d have booked it with a gazillion things, and it wouldn’t have been relaxing.
There have been quite a few good things that have come out of this strange time:
- a time to connect with family
- a dedicated time to memorize Scripture
- a more relaxed schedule to refocus
- our churches have been able to reach out and come up with ministries that can continue (live-stream; Facebook Scripture memory challenges)
- a chance for me to have a hobby again-even if it is with technology and for school-it’s still a passion of mine, and I love being able to do it and have time to do it
There’s quite a bit to be thankful about. I praise the Lord that He is good and His mercy endureth forever. “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” I Thessalonians 5:18
If you’ve read this post, I’d challenge you to reflect. What are good things or things that you can be thankful about because of this time? Possibly things that wouldn’t have happened had it all been “normal.” Possibly opportunities that wouldn’t have presented themselves. Possibly progress that would have taken a lot longer. Possibly interactions or connections with people that never would have happened. Possibly time you never would have had. Take time to thank the Lord for those “things.”
the kern klassroom 