Day 47 of rollback-California Covid-19 spike-Governor shuts us down

Friday. 8/28/20.

7:30 - 8:00 - I’m up bright and early, praying that everything goes smoothly this time around, for my 8:30 class. The dog pooped in front of the door, even though it’s 7:30. We go outside and she goes potty. I give her cheese, grab my coffee, and report to class (which means, I walk into my home office).

8:00 - 12:00 - So, if it’s not clear, I’m actually teaching two classes simultaneously, both at 8:30, since College No. 2 split my teaching schedule. One class contains my highschoolers, who STILL do NOT have access to Canvas, which means I continue to email them all of their class content, individually.

The OTHER class contains just my college students, who DO have access to Canvas. I pre-loaded all of THEIR course content onto the platform weeks ago. It’s much more manageable because they can sign onto the Discussion Board and I don’t have to reply to each one, the way I do with my highschoolers, who email me, individually, every morning [Wednesday and Friday] so I can take attendance. The college students can also play my Audio files from the Canvas platform without all of this bullshit I’m experiencing when I email Audio files to my highschoolers.

-At 8:00, I greet my highschoolers, via email, and resend the prompt - How has Covid-19 Changed Your Life? They have to email me their responses, but I don’t even know if they’re getting my emails. Will this work? OMG

-I post the prompt on the Discussion Board for my college students. Their prompt is a bit different - What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the word, Constitution?

-I sit and wait. Class starts at 8:30, but I wanted to give students in both classes a head start in case they need more time to think of a response to the prompt. If you need a visual, picture me, sitting motionless, staring at the computer, and biting my nails.

-At 8:30, I’m inundated by responses from my highschoolers! It’s working!! By the grace of God - it’s a private Catholic high school - 37 teenagers woke up at 8:30, actually read my email, and responded to the prompt. I am most impressed!! Some of their responses are heartbreaking. I love this class so much that I respond to each student, individually. Spoiler Alert: it’s 11:00 before I finish my last response.

-My college students sign into Canvas and post to the Discussion Board without incident.

-At 8:45, I email my highschoolers the PP slides AND my pre-recorded “Audio lecture file for Chapter 2 - Part 1” and tell them, “Ok students, this is the moment of truth.” I hope this works! If I had a rosary, I’d be praying it right now…or whatever you do with a rosary (I’m not Catholic). One by one, I start getting notifications from “Sharepoint” that the students have opened the Audio file and are playing the lecture!! Yes!!!!!!! It worked!!!! I spin around in my chair and pump my fist in the air. Success. I can’t believe it!!! L and R. were right - all the highschoolers needed to do was create a Microsoft Outlook account in order to access the file. Again, by the grace of God, 37 kids actually read the instructions I sent them last night, and then followed them.

-My college students open the PP slides and play the Audio lecture file on Canvas without incident.

-Nobody bothered to give me a roll sheet for my highschoolers, so I add their names to an Excel spreadsheet [the Catholic school administrator gave me their email addresses], then I go through 37 individual emails to see who responded to my prompt so I can mark them as “here” on an Attendance sheet that I created. What a pain in the ass!!!

-My college students already posted their responses to the Discussion Board so I “pin” it and take attendance scrolling through it that way. It takes 2 minutes.

-I am working non-stop, fielding a few questions and taking Attendance, until suddenly, class is over. It’s 10:05 and I only had two sips of my coffee! I send an email to my highschoolers, telling them that they’re amazing and to have a great weekend - only two kids bother responding. Oh well. At least they answered the prompt and opened the Audio file.

-I never hear from my college students. Because they have access to Canvas, they’re completely self-sufficient. My highschoolers will be the same way, once the IT Dept. creates the Canvas shell.

-I take a deep breath (I didn’t realize I was so tense) and now it’s time for basic paperwork and follow-up. A few of the highschoolers didn’t “show”, so I email the missing kids and ask what happened - I’m really gentle about it.

-A few of the college students didn’t sign into the Discussion Board so I email them and ask what happened. I am NOT gentle with them.

-There are at least 15 college students who want to add - my mail box is filled with their requests - so I disburse ADD Codes and send a pre-formatted email explaining how to access the class. This takes some time.

-I also check email from College No. 2 and respond to Administrators about a few things.

12:00-1:00 - I take the dog outside. She shit on the patio instead of the astroturf and I almost stepped in it. I clean it up, then have my leftover Mexican food from Huntington Beach. It tastes great.

“Lisa” from Blue Sky Windows and Doors schedules “Mike” to fix my lock on Wednesday, between 10:00 and 2:00. I’ll believe it when I see it.

1:00 - 3:30 - Back to work and College No. 1 has informed me that I have to input the SLOs [Student Learning Outcomes] from last semester into “elumen.” I mean, come on - we shut down in the middle of March so of course the students didn’t hit the markers. So, this is what I have to do for EVERY student (55 kids) in order to report the SLOs: Open the Final Exam and see if they answered 7 California government questions correctly AND 43 Federal government questions correctly. If they didn’t, I have to calculate the percentages for each section - if they scored 70% or above, they met the SLO. Then, I have to record it for the CA section and for the Federal govt. section. What a slog!!!

I take a few breaks to eat Ben and Jerrys Fish Food ice cream.

3:30 - 7:00 - By 3:30, I am SICK of working. I’m supposed to be retired!! Instead, I merely traded one job for another. I finally get dressed - I know, disgusting - then go outside to give some much needed TLC to my yard and my plants. The yard is a mess and I’m out here for the next 3 1/2 hours. I have to ‘treat’ the Astroturf with a Simple Green solution and water all of my plants so I lock the dog inside because she likes to play in the water and always ends up getting soaked.

7:00-8:00 - I come inside and the dog shit in two places inside the house, then smeared it on the floor near my dining room table. I think she was mad at me. I am so tired of cleaning up dog shit (sigh).

I eat the leftovers from the barbecue dinner I had at Huntington Beach - very good. I have a glass of champagne.

8:00-8:30 - I check email at College No. 1 and put out a few fires.

8:30-10:00 - I talk to B.

11:00-12:30 - L. and I listen to Radio Rental.

12:30-2:00 - Nighttime routine and bed. What did I even do today?