Day 25-Governor Newsom rescinds restrictions. Outdoor dining reinstated!

L. ‘s Illustration class is stressing her out…

2/18/21. Thursday.

BTW, Trump was impeached twice.  The Senate did nothing about it.

10:30 – 11:00 - Up and I go downstairs to say good morning to the animal.  I rub her tummy three times and then she grabs her toy and out we go.  She does her business and we go inside.  Rotten chicken for her; coffee for me.

11:00-1:00 – I absolutely HAVE to check email at the Colleges since I let Wednesday go by without ever logging in.  Big mistake since this is the first week of Spring Semester for my high schoolers, they don’t have access to Canvas, and nobody knows what’s going on.

But first things first…what did the Anonymous Grader think of my close-captioned video?  I check my DE class and the Anonymous Grader wrote, “Nice work on your video!” and moved me on to the next module. Yay!

I go to work, focusing on College No. 2.  It appears that High School #2, who has no access to Canvas, somehow got with the program and almost everyone is able to open the AUDIO syllabus and lecture. There are a few questions, but most of the students are onboard.  I get an email from the Dual Enrollment coordinator who informs me and just 7 other adjunct instructors that our high school kids still aren’t registered in Canvas.  Great.  Of course, I’m one of the last few instructors to battle this problem.  The other 19 adjuncts are good to go (sigh).

High School #1 is a different matter altogether.  They DO, in fact, have access to Canvas, but nobody bothered to tell them how to log into College No. 2.  So, although, they technically are enrolled in the Canvas shell, they don’t know how to access it.  How this problem differs from a similar problem last semester is that the students from this high school are incredibly apologetic.  I receive email after email from these kids, telling me they’re sorry, they’re working with IT to access the assignments, it should happen soon…there is no sense of entitlement coming from them. Very refreshing! I try to help them as best I can, emailing the assignments to the students who are reaching out. It’s not their fault.  In fact, none of this is their fault. Shockingly, IT is handling this – last semester, I had to do it.

Of note is the fact that finally College No. 2 allowed all of the instructors to teach Asynchronous classes, meaning [I’ve explained this repeatedly throughout the blog] there is no mandatory date/time that we have to meet.  This is NOT the case with College No. 1 which is still mandating that we teach at set dates and times.

At College No. 2, everything is so much smoother this semester because of the change.  LAST semester the same problems arose, but were compounded by the fact that my high school students and TWO college classes were expected to log into my class at 8:00 in the morning, two days a week.  My accelerated college class students had to log in at 8:00 in the morning EVERY DAY, which  means I had to log in at 8:00 a.m. every day.  It was horrible…for all of us. 

It’s been so long since I had to suit up and show up to a brick and mortar classroom at a designated time and day, I’ve forgotten the significance of this. Why, exactly, did we make our teachers and students do this?  Why aren’t ALL colleges online? Or at least 50% of the curriculum?  Does anybody really want to report to work/teach in a classroom on a set day/time anymore?  I can understand the importance of this for little kids.  But, COLLEGE students?

-I take attendance for my three classes, even though I technically have TWO.  High School #1 students were dumped into my college class with the other college students and I have to parse them out because the high schoolers need special attention and I need to know which students are in high school and which are in college.  This takes some time.

1:00-2:00 – Starving so I take a break and have some of the spaghetti squash lasagna for lunch. I read a Money Diary.

2:00-2:30 – Dress in Covid-19 uniform.  Wash face. Brush teeth.

-L. goes to work.

2:30-4:00 -  Back at it.  I focus on College No. 1, where I have three classes that are heading towards the Midterm. These classes are stable now and mainly run themselves, but because they are synchronous, I log in for lecture and questions on the designated days/times to field questions and massage the class, even though my lectures are recorded.

College No. 1 is on it when it comes to scheduling and my Division is requesting our Spring Semester 2022 Preference Sheets [the classes, days, and times we hope/expect to teach NEXT YEAR].  At College No. 2, they TELL me when I’m teaching – I don’t have a choice in the matter – and sometimes I don’t find out my placement until a week before school starts.

The Preference Sheet has been made into an online submission that will. not. submit.  There is a strange error about “too many white spaces” in “Line #1.”  OMG, this is driving me crazy and I spend an hour on this simple form before discovering the secret – hit the “Delete” key twice in front of the “Subject” space.  Ok, what?  I write a note to myself and file it for the next time I submit my online Preference Sheet.  I spend way too much time on this task and I’m irritated now.

4:00-4:45 – I take the dog for a walk and listen to the Political Gabfest.

4:45-5:45 – Yard work.  I sweep and put on a new plastic patio tablecloth that I ordered. Then, I pull the ladder out and feed vines through the trellis installed on my wall.  L. made a wire globe in her 3D art class and I hang that from one of my trees.  I like it, but I’m not sure it will hold up in light of the constant wind we’ve been having. I listen to Air Talk.

5:45 –9:30 -  I go to work. Core Class #2 starts at 6:00 so I post the Discussion Board and the class content.  There’s not much going on tonight: 1) an AUDIO-lecture with the Google slides; 2) a great documentary that I’ve assigned; and 3) a video quiz.

Since I’m technically getting paid from 6:00-9:00, this is an excellent time to do other work, i.e., double-dipping.

-I pull up my French Cinema class and see that the first week of content is posted. She has a PP presentation – no images, just straight text (my Google slides are better) – that accompany the text book.  I skim through some of them and note some typos.  I shouldn’t critique her, but I’m an adjunct instructor, too, and can’t help doing a compare and contrast.

-My next DE assignment involves creating a Home Page and I mull over that.  I’ll have to sleep on it to allow my subconscious to come up with ideas.

-I take attendance and send out two email blasts as the class rolls on.

-L. returns and there is drama at the art studio!  Apparently S., the intern, is telling students to paint their “background” with a medium brush instead of “the big brush” and L. had to tell a student she was using the wrong brush, thereby impugning S. Then, as L. is stopped at a signal on her way home from work, her other colleague and friend, C., pulls up beside her.  They roll their windows down and L. screams at C., while the light is red, “S. is f---ing up and the 2:00 class hates her!”  and C. screams back, “I knew that b---h couldn’t teach!  We’re the best teachers there!”  The light changes and L. and C. speed away, laughing.

There are tons of these “Stories From the Art Studio” and  I’ve encouraged L. to write them down – her experiences have the makings of a great sit-com, like Superstore with America Ferrera – but she doesn’t.  Too busy, I guess.

Note: L. has many stories about the Quality Control team at the art studio and they are soooo funny… I’m always laughing.

-Not much going on in class today.  I field a few emails.

9:00-10:00 - I pull down my treadmill and turn my home office into a home gym. I do a 1-hr HIIT speed walking app, reaching speeds of 4.2 miles per hour.  This workout kicks my ass every time and I am absolutely sweating. I read Strung Out during a large portion of the work out.

10:00-10:30 – I respond to the last emails of the night.  Nothing major.

10:30-11:00 - L. is having a terrible time with her crazy Illustration art instructor. She insists that the students have two, 3-hour Zoom meetings per week, for a total of SIX Zoom hours. I sat in on 20 minutes of lecture and it consisted of the Instructor berating a kid, in front of everyone, because the student didn’t understand the adjunct’s vague and ambiguous instructions. As a fellow teacher, it was painful to watch.

Additionally, L. submitted an assignment 4 days before the due date, only to have her instructor email L. that she was in danger of being dropped from the class because the instructor alleged that the assignment was late. The due date is very different from what the instructor alleges - I saw it in the Canvas shell. This instructor is nuts and makes capricious decisions. I told L. to drop this class immediately - the teacher doesn’t know what she’s doing.

L. is conflicted because she really needs this class. If she doesn’t keep it, she might not be able to receive her AA Degrees in June, which means she’ll have to take a summer class. But, I encourage her to check other community colleges - maybe she can find additional art classes that she can still crash for Spring Semester. L. is so stressed out that she tears open a box of Girl Scout Do-Si-Dos and eats an entire sleeve in 30 minutes (LOL) Spoiler Alert: L drops this horrible class and finds some online art classes at Glendale that she might be able to crash. Stay tuned.

11:00-1:00 – L. and I watch the last two episodes of The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel. It was…good.  I give it a B+. I eat pita crackers and hummus while I watch.

1:00-2:00 – Night time routine. Bed.