Day 29-Governor Newsom rescinds restrictions. Outdoor dining reinstated!

Specialty Class 1A implodes tonight…

2/22/21. Monday.

8:30 – 9:00 - I’m awake early today, for whatever reason. Up and I pull my clothes out of the washer and hang them, but put socks, underwear, and jeans in the drier.  I get dressed in my Covid-19 uniform. Wash face. Brush teeth.

9:00-10:00 – Downstairs and I say good morning to the dog. She’s awake and wagging her tail so we go outside straight away. She goes potty, but I see that earlier in the day she pooped on the patio.  Great. I clean it up. Back inside and coffee for me; pieces of chicken from Lucilles for her. Kitchen duty and I also sweep the floor.

10:00-12:00 – Blog posts. Packing my suitcase in between. I have two Girl Scout cookies.

12:00-12:30 – I meal plan for the upcoming two weeks and prepare a grocery list for L.

-L. leaves to pick up N., so they can go to the grocery store together.

12:30-1:30 – I have leftovers from Lucilles and read a Money Diary.

1:30-2:30 – I check emails from both Colleges.  Some of the students from College No. 1 are still having technical difficulties with the Inquizitive software.  They’ve had 45 days to complete just 5 quizzes and are incapable of doing this.  It’s very irritating. One student asks me to reset four quizzes so he can improve his grade.  After you’ve had the past 30 days to complete them?  No. Instead, I send him the Syllabus and ask him to see Pg. 4, where it says I don’t accept late assignments. What is wrong with these people?

-At College No. 2, my high schoolers finally have access to Canvas, which means they can access the course content now.  I don’t have to email the assignments to them anymore! Yay!  I send an email blast to the students and let them know all assignments are on the Canvas shell.

-Several college students want to crash the class, but I turn every student down.  My Dean dumped so many kids into my TWO classes that I’m inundated; crashers can find someplace else to go. 

-Still no word on the “Home Page” I created for my DE class.  If I turn in an assignment on a Thursday evening, it’s a certainty it won’t be graded until the following Tuesday. I could move through this course much faster if the Anonymous Grader worked consistent hours. I can’t advance until the current assignment is graded.  Most of the time, I’m in “hurry up and wait” mode. Very frustrating.

-The next week’s assignments for my French Cinema class dropped.  My teacher wants us to read Chapter 1 and take a quiz.  She also wants us to post on the Discussion Board about our favorite musical score.

-L. returns from grocery shopping, then goes to work.

2:30-5:30 – Core Class #1 begins. There is not much going on today: AUDIO lecture; a documentary; and a video quiz. I post the Discussion Board and the lecture, then take attendance.

-I send an email blast to the students reminding them that there are three Inquizitives due next week and the Midterm is the following week.

-I email those students who failed to sign in on the Discussion Board and inform them that they’re absent and will receive a 0 on today’s video quiz.

-I forgot to post a prompt on the Discussion Board for my upcoming 6:00 class so I prepare that.

-Personal admin.  I check my bank accounts and place a Wine.com order.

-I post the link to the documentary.

4:00-4:45-I take a quick shower and wash my hair.  Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. I proceed to braid several sections of my hair over the next hour while deploying course content.

5:00 – 5:15 - I post the video quiz.

5:15-6:00 – Yard work.  I sweep the patio then sanitize/treat the Astroturf with Simple Green.  This involves mixing Simple Green in a bucket of water, then repeatedly dumping the bucket on each section  of the Astroturf.

-L. resurfaces. L. is going to make fried rice balls and R. is coming over at 9:00.  She says I can have some of the fried rice balls. Can’t wait!

6:00-9:00 – I post the Discussion Board and AUDIO lecture – Chapter 5 – PART 1 and the link to tonight’s assigned podcast.

-I return to the yard and finish sanitizing the Astroturf.  Some light trimming and I’m done for the day.

-6:30 – 7:00 - Return inside and our WiFi goes out and L. and I have no internet for the next 20 minutes!!! After this, everything that can go wrong, does.

I run upstairs and ask L. if she can access College No. 1 with ANY of her devices.  I HAVE to “publish” an assignment as I’m in the middle of class.  We work on the problem and I’m finally able to post AUDIO lecture – Chapter 5 – PART 2. 

HOWEVER:

-Several of the students have emailed that the link to the podcast isn’t working. They’re too dumb to try to find the podcast themselves – or maybe too lazy – and are whining that they can’t access it. One student, in an accusatory tone, says she can’t access the podcast and “other students are having the same problem.”  This means that a few of these students have started a “Discord”, where they are currently talking s—t about me in a secure platform.  There are only 4 students who keep saying they can’t access the podcast.  L. and I access it and it works fine. I know they just want to get out of the assignment.

-I send the same link to the students and tell them to copy-and-paste it into Google chrome.  Surprise.  The same four students email back, saying, “Oh, it’s working now.”  Noooooo shiiiiitttt. You couldn’t figure that out yourselves?

-Those students who were actually able to listen to the podcast are finished and began emailing me, stating that AUDIO lecture – Chapter 5 – PART 2 is only 1 minute and 40 seconds long.  That’s impossible!  It took me 1½ hours to record!  L. and I check our devices – my Ipad and her laptop, where she airdrops my material – and, horror of horrors, IT’S TRUE!!!  Although I recorded a 1½ hour lecture two weeks ago, my Ipad must have cut off after only ONE minute of recording.

-Devastated, I email the students and tell them I’m experiencing technical difficulties, then ask them to report straight to the video.

8:00-8:30 –To console myself, I go to Whole Foods for sushi and champagne.

8:30 – 9:00 - Return and I post the Video Quiz. I prepare my script for AUDIO lecture – PART 2 and the accompanying sound bites.

9:00-10:30 – I re-record the missing lecture.  How redundant!! and a complete waste of my time.

10:30-11:00 – I wrap up things and update attendance.

11:00 – 12:00 – R. is gone.  L. reveals that she did not make any rice balls for me…BUT, she’s going to make them now.  They’ll be finished at 12:00 midnight?? So, I can’t start on kitchen duty until after she’s finished AND there is nothing to eat.  At least I was able to eat the sushi I purchased.

-Finish packing and clean my bathroom. Lay out my clothes for tomorrow.

12:00 – 12:45 - Kitchen duty and I eat a rice ball while I work. Tasty. L. actually did most of the dishes tonight. I pack my lunch bag with snacks and more rice balls.  I still have Lucilles leftovers so I add that to the bag. Take the dog out and lock up everything. L. airdrops the new PART 2 lecture into Canvas. But, who I am kidding?  The students are never going to listen to it now.

12:45-1:30 – Nighttime routine. Bed.  Frustrating day.