8:12 a.m. - I didn't sleep well last night...combination of thinking too much about school/teaching, this virus stuff, and worrying about my oldest son (substance abuse). The virus stuff is bothering me. I'm not a President Trump "guy", but all of the sudden last night there are hints that he's planning on somehow "opening" the country back up in his words "sooner than later". And this is a direct contradiction of almost everything else I have heard from the scientists and medical professionals. From where I'm standing, it's almost like we are leaning more toward the economy than the health of those "vulnerable folks" ....the 20% of us that could really be in trouble if contracting the virus. I don't know if this is right or wrong, but up until last night, I though our country was going to focus on the healthcare first, and just deal with the economy as best as possible. Now it seems we are going to deal with the economy first and just deal with the virus as best as possible. I wonder if I'm in the minority if that seems wrong to me. Are we going to be okay with sacrificing the 20% so the 80% of us can live more normally? This shelter in place stuff sucks, and admittedly, I'm starting to run out of "someday" things to complete, but I'm still not prepared to just say "good luck" to the healthcare system and the 20% of patients that are going to get seriously ill and perhaps die. Right now in Illinois there are almost 10,000 recorded test results, and about 13% of test results have come back positive. If we relax shelter in place measures, are we saying that we can just live with those statistics as long as the folks who have tested negative or haven't been tested can live more normally? I don't like the idea of e-learning, but what's teaching going to be like if students continue contracting the virus? What am I going to be like if I contract the virus? Does that turn me into an e-learning teacher anyway?
I just don't understand why we can't give the current policies in place the time that the President had initially dedicated. The plan was to go to 15 days, and the reassess the situation from there. Why start sending out these mixed messages half-way through the 15 days? Geez. Well, with that, I'm late to my morning stretch and exercise routine, so I'm headed downstairs to the workout room.
4:18 p.m. The sun came out, so Amber and I took Lily for a walk around town. We saw several people out and about, having the same idea we did to enjoy a little sunlight. The temps are still cool, but definitely better than they have been. Our EMeet staff meeting went well; I'm under the impression that teachers are staying pretty calm and figuring out how to best provide some type of education to our students while we are in the mode of shelter in place. We still have a lot of questions and there are still a lot of answers yet to be determined, but we are making progress. I did manage to score a few research papers today...doing it digitally and getting scores to all the students is going to be a long, slow process, but hopefully it will get faster as I get used to it. Tomorrow, I'll get more finished and just keep working at it. I have time, and perhaps having these research paper to grade is a good thing to help me pass time. (Did I just say having research papers to grade was a good thing?)
Jay's NEW NORMAL WORK DAY SCHEDULE (in development)
In order to attempt to keep a sense of normalcy, I think I'm going to try to establish a 1:30 dismissal schedule to each day.
Prior to 8:10 a.m.
- wake-up, feed animals, make a cup of coffee, watch the morning news (usually around 6 a.m.)
- stretch and exercise (varies) and clean kitty litter
- weigh myself and enter weight in the Google spreadsheet
- check banking account online and make any changes needed to Google Spreadsheet
- shower, shave, and get dressed for the work day.
8:10-8:46 - 1st period English III
8:51-9:23 - 2nd period Advanced English III
9:28-10:00 - 3rd period Advanced English III
10:05-10:37 - 4th period English III
10:42-11:14 - 6th period Study Hall
11:19-11:55 - 7th period English III
12:00-12:55- 5th period PREP
1:00-1:30 - C Lunch
Things for today
- Possible
- stretch and get a work out in (completed before 7 a.m.)
- get another walk, jog, bike in later in the day
- Scheduled
- GoogleMEET at 1:00 p.m. tomorrow March 24th - HS Staff meeting
- Will the "worst-case-scenario" projections come true.
- I now consider all the people I'm coming in contact with, and I fear that the more people I come in contact with is increasing the likelihood that I could contract the virus and either experience symptoms or be a carrier.
- When someone coughs or sneezes or suggests he/she isn't feeling well, I automatically wonder if they have contracted the virus.
Things I Could Do or Need to Do In the Future
- Look for Modern Woodmen policy update - Ruth Ahnen
- Get the lawn tractor ready to go - sharpen the blades.
- pick up my umpiring/officiating pants at Monster Sewing - was scheduled for this coming Tuesday.
- Make Google Form of training path presenter series questionnaire to be available to students.
- Pick up the trash around the grounds.
- Finish course syllabus
Things For E-Learning
- Read a new book to the students.
- Use Google Meet
- Still could do (encore sessions) training path presenter series from videotaped sessions from past years.
- Still could do short stories unit
- Would need to get novels out to students to complete those units.
- Videotape a lesson and post to classroom.
- Still do journal write (not sure about share) using Blogger
- Still have Free Read Wednesdays (e ticket/slip?)
- Still can update EnvisonMe sites
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