Day 6 of Governor Newsom’s “Blueprint for a Safer Economy”

Wednesday. 9/2/20.

7:30 – 8:00 – I’m up and I go downstairs and take the dog out.  She pooped in front of the door. Back inside and I give her cheese. I grab my coffee and go to work (enter home office).

8:00 – I email the Good Morning prompt to my highschoolers and they start responding. I respond to every email, personally, and take attendance on the Excel sheet I created. Class starts at 8:30 and today’s menu consists solely of the “Audio Chapter 2 lecture, Parts II and III.”

I ‘publish’ the Discussion Board for my college students and they start signing in so I can take attendance.

At 8:40, I email my highschoolers “Audio lecture, Chapter 2, Part II.”

At 8:40, I ‘publish’ Audio lecture, Chapter 2, Part II, for my college students. 

I sip my coffee and listen to The Daily.

At 9:20, I email my highschoolers “Audio lecture, Chapter 2, Part III.”

At 9:20, I ‘publish’ Audio lecture, Chapter 2, Part III, for my college students.

I send an email blast to the highschoolers who were absent today.  I am gentle with them.

10:05 – Class ends.  Both classes are fully automated.

10:15 – 10:45 -  I send an email blast to the college students who were absent today.  I am NOT gentle with them.  A college student emails and says he’s been waiting for my prompt and it was never received. I know this is a lie because this is the second week of school and our third class meeting and I emailed him instructions two weeks ago regarding how to access the class. I don’t email my college students the prompt – all of them know that it’s on the Discussion Board. 

I tell him that he needs to log onto the Discussion Board, right now, or I’m dropping him from the class. I also said I’m going to stand by until he does.  He logs in immediately and answers the prompt. I knew it!  He knew what to do the entire time! I email him that I’m aware he logged in and tell him he can’t be late again. Then, I tell him he needs to catch up on all of the assignments.

11:00-12:30 - I check all of my email accounts, including my personal email.  At the same time, I have an online training on Bullying playing in the background – it’s mandatory for one of the school districts where I sub. I complete the Bullying training.

After the fiasco that occurred on Wednesday, 8/26/20, the first day of school for my highschool students, when they were unable to open the Audio lectures via Shared Point, B. suggested that I email the Audio lecture file to him, just to see if he could open it. A couple days ago, I emailed him “Audio lecture - Chapter 2- Part I” to determine if he had the same issues my students had.

Unbeknownst to me, B. went to a Verizon kiosk and asked for help downloading the lecture. Then, he listened to it on his daily walk. The next time we spoke, he made several references to the content - I was really surprised and kind of touched. Then, B. told me he thought this would be a great way for him to take a political science course having never had one in college and he asked that I send him my weekly lectures so he can listen to them on his walks. Nobody in my social circle ever cared about what I was teaching before…

I put B. on the same track as my highschool students and email him the lectures accordingly.

12:30 – 2:00 – I have breakfast (overnight oats) on my patio and read Mothership.

2:00 – 2:45 – Shower. I listen to What a Day. Dress in my Covid-19 uniform.

3:00-4:00 – I do a 1-hr HIIT full body circuit app with weights. I drink lots of water during this workout.

4:00-6:30 – I catch up on my blog posts. At the same time, I have an online training on Sexual Harassment playing in the background – it’s mandatory for one of the school districts where I sub. I complete the Sexual Harassment training.

6:30-7:30 – I eat my leftover fish and chips and have a glass of champagne.

8:00-11:00 – I record tomorrow’s lecture for Specialty Class No. 2. I’m introducing interesting course content for tomorrow’s lecture so I’m pumped - it should go well. Spoiler Alert - It doesn’t.

12:00-1:00 – L. and I listen to Radio Rental.

1:00-2:00 – Night time routine and bed.