Day 25 - Governor Newsom imposes new restrictions

Where am I supposed to be right now…???

12/10/20.  Thursday.

6:00- 7:00 - my alarm goes off and I’m up.  I lay in bed until 6:30 and listen to The Daily.  Then, downstairs to greet the dog.  At the second landing, I’m hit with the smell of dog shit. She’s asleep on the couch after pooping all over the house, in three separate locations. I light our pine candle and then go about disposing of the dog poop and spraying Nature’s Miracle on the offensive areas.  This is the last thing I want to do this early in the morning.

We go outside and she goes potty.  Turkey for her – how long will this turkey last?  It’s from Thanksgiving, but she keeps eating it – and lemon water for me. I go to work.

7:00 – 12:00 - Today is the last day of my accelerated 8-week class and it couldn’t come soon enough.  I check the Q&A on the 50-question Final and update the online grade book so the students know where they stand.  Five extra credit papers came in yesterday – even though it’s a 10-point deduction for a late assignment - that I still need to grade.  I am sick of grading papers.  Why would any student bother to submit an extra credit assignment for 10 measly points?  I’m done prepping the Final so I prepare the Discussion Board and tell the students they’re welcome to use the Board to say goodbye to each other.  Here are their comments:

Thank you, Dr. Coleman!

Thank you for being here each and every day Dr. Coleman!!!

Thank you so much!!

Thank you so much.  You were great. Just FYI, I’m on season two of Designated Survivor.

Thank you Dr. Coleman!! You were awesome!!

Good luck on the Final, everyone!

Thank you, Dr. Coleman!

Good luck

Thank you Dr. Coleman!

Thank you Dr. Coleman!

Thank you

I really enjoyed this class. Professor Coleman, you are a really great teacher.

Thank you [heart emoji]

Good morning and thank you very much for your dedication

Ima miss yall

-An email comes in from a student asking for her score on the Extra Credit essay that was due on 11/19/20. I email that the essays were graded and the scores posted weeks ago. The student responds that she sent it to me on the day it was due and sends an indecipherable screen shot to me. I ask her to email the assignment to me as an attachment, adding that I have no idea what she screen-shotted. When I receive the assignment, she states, “I shared it with you in your Google Drive.”  I respond: “All students were instructed to email me the assignment. I am now in receipt of your assignment and will grade it accordingly.”

The student responds that she doesn’t understand.  Clearly.  That’s why you didn’t follow the original instructions. I have to respond, yet again, “Please see my most recent email to you wherein I wrote that I am in receipt of your assignment and will grade it accordingly.”   This entire exchange took 20 minutes of my time.

I won’t miss this class or these people.

I grade four of the Extra Credit essays that came in yesterday, but leave this student’s essay for tomorrow.  I can’t stomach hers right now. 

12:00-2:00 – The Final is over so I start working on the Student Learning Objectives, or SLOs as they’re called, for College No. 1.  I have 24 hours to complete the SLOs for three classes and they can only be compiled by hand – the deadline is tomorrow.  The SLOs are separate percentages pulled out of the Final for every student, by name, based on whether or not they have a working knowledge of FEDERAL and STATE government.  If they get less than a C on these sections, I have to mark “Does Not Meet Expectations” in the “ELumen” database.  If they score is above 80%, it’s an “Exceeds Expectations.”

In Specialty Classes 1 and 2, the SLOs are computed by compiling the scores from their papers – for each student – and then dividing by 2 for the average. The same categories apply. All students are identified by name.

So, if you’re an instructor and you know your SLOs will be scrutinized, what are you inclined to do under this system?  Cue the “Jeopardy” music… 

Yes, you’re right.  It’s in an instructor’s best interest to give a grade of “A” on all the shit that comes in. But I won’t - I can’t compromise my principles like that. I’m a hard grader when it comes to their papers because A) I want them to improve; and B) I’m trying to prepare them for college when they transfer.  As a result, I think my SLOs are much lower than my colleagues, which is why my colleague, J., and I had to have a conversation about it last month.

 I work on the SLOs straight through lunch time and now it’s time to input the data into our sketchy database.  This takes another hour. A new podcast that I’m listening to – B.’s referral – carries me through 7 hours of semester grade compilations. Something Was Wrong – Season 1 – a woman is ‘catfished’ by her finance.  Highly recommend and it made SLO compilation much more bearable.

2:00-2:30 – Last night, I cut a small piece of the lemon chicken for myself and set it aside with some of the rice.  I eat that for brunch.

L. leaves for work but not before telling me that her coworker has the “rona.”  L. worked with her last Wednesday, but wore her mask the entire time.  On Friday, C. started showing symptoms.  L. spoke with her about a work-related question on Monday, over the phone, and she said that C. was so sick she could not string a sentence together. Even so, C. refused to get tested stating that she didn’t have Covid-19.  The owners, in turn, refused to allow her to return to work unless she was tested so C. had no choice. The test came back positive for Covid-19. It is now Thursday and neither L. nor myself have exhibited symptoms.  The 10-day window has almost passed.  Or, maybe we’re both asymptomatic?

The circle is tightening.

My former sister-in-law, L.’s aunt, tested positive for Covid-19.  She works at Sam’s Club and recently moved to South Carolina, where she and her husband live near my ex-husband.  She said Covid-19 was like a “bad head cold” except she also lost her sense of taste.

L.’s cousin, A., who’s a barista at the Starbucks near our home is quarantining right now.  The entire first shift contracted Covid-19 after one employee reported to work and infected them all.  Two other Starbucks are currently closed due to infections.  The first shift at R.’s Starbucks is also quarantining – thankfully, he doesn’t work with any of those people.

Starbucks has become the new meatpacking plant.  These stores are now superspreaders.

Like I said, the circle is tightening. I’m starting to know people who have Covid-19.

2:30-4:30 – I work on blog posts.

4:30 – 5:00 - I get dressed and drive to the Goodwill on the other side of the town, near the Jiffy Lube, to try and drop off these books.  When I get there, an employee says they aren’t taking donations – he doesn’t say why, but tells me I can try tomorrow at 10:00.

5:00-6:00 - I drive to Starbucks and order a peppermint hot chocolate with my gift card.  I mask when I get to the window, but then I’ve always masked when I’m at the window, even before I discovered that Starbucks is a Covid-19 hotbed.

I park my car in the Starbucks parking lot and listen to True Crime Garage while I drink my hot chocolate. I’m wondering where I’m supposed to be right now – this feels strange.  Then, I realize that I’ve had class every Thursday, from 2:30-10:00, for the past 16 weeks. That’s why I feel like I shouldn’t be here right now.

6:00-6:15 – I drive home.

6:30-7:15 – I take the dog for a walk.

7:15-8:30 – I compile final semester grades for my highschoolers and then forward them to Mrs. B, the wonderful secretary for the private highschool where I was teaching [virtually, of course].

8:30 – 1:30 - I skip dinner and work on blog posts for the rest of the night.

If you’re wondering when I took a shower today, I didn’t. If you’re wondering if that’s embarrassing for me to admit…yeah, it is.

1:30-2:00 – Downstairs and I shut everything down and take the dog out.  I steal a few bites of L.’s macaroni salad that she brought home from somewhere, then smooth the top over so she doesn’t know I ate some.

2:00 – 3:30 - I decide to write one more post and…      when I come to, it’s 3:30 in the morning.  That’s okay – I don’t have class at 8:30 tomorrow because the semester is OVVVVVEEEEERRRRR!!!!!  Yay!!!!

3:30-4:00 – Night time routine. Bed.