How do you leave your classroom and your students after twenty years? How do you not enjoy “Teacher Work Week” and prepping your classroom and actually having time to go eat out for lunch with your “teacher besties”at work? How do you change your entire routine and transform your craft room into a makeshift classroom? You do it! I did it!
It is now August and we have been battling the COVID pandemic for over five months. We have gone from remote learning this spring for our schools to “stay at home” and quarantine to a state-wide mask mandate. We have gone through the toilet paper shortage crisis. We have learned how to buy our groceries online and I have become an Amazon Prime Shopper Addict! I actually know my credit card number by heart and can manually type anywhere online to purchase anything! I have found myself sitting in bed after midnight cruising Amazon for bath mats and double dog leashes! I have actually been make-up free for months! I pull my hair in a pony tail daily. My husband asked me about my hair the other day and I actually turned to him and spat out, “Do you have a problem with my appearance!?” He took two steps back. I do shower daily and try not to live in pajamas that I wore all night into the new day. Okay I do still wear pj pants almost daily, but I do make sure I am wearing nice shirts without wrinkles and coffee stains and I do put make-up on before any Zoom meetings with teachers or parents. I have also learned how to double and triple check my mute button when I am in a live meeting. Unlike one woman who proceeded to take a cell phone call during our meeting and told her friend on the other end of the line that she was in yet another stupid meeting! I have also learned that sitting at the kitchen table can be problematic when my coo-coo clock goes off when I am speaking to a fellow peer online and that the dogs barking can also echo all the way upstairs. Living and learning for sure.
Even though I had settled into the new routine of COVID, I was still feeling anxiety over returning to work. But I have definitely settled into the new COVID routine for sure. I order my groceries on line every week and put all of my items along the kitchen counter top as I spray everything with bleach and wipe them off. I think I can finally remember my face mask when I go out. It is having an ample supply and making sure I have extras in my car, my daughter’s car and my husband’s truck. I have also learned to walk my doggies on their new double dog leash with my mask in my pocket and making sure I step along the grass from the trail for people as they look at me frantically and pull their mask on their faces. Even with this new routine and finding comfort in plenty of toilet paper and hand sanitizer, I was still not feeling comfortable with returning to work. I was having “going back to work” dreams. I would find myself in my dream not being able to talk to students loud enough and their shouting and talking was drowning me out. I was trying to get somewhere and I just couldn’t get there in my dreams. I always have “back to school” dreams but this was more. So I made a decision for myself, my health and my family. I chose to teach online. We allowed our students to decide if they wanted to go back in person or online. We, as teachers, had the opportunity as well. I filled out my health accommodations form through American with Disabilities Act and filed it with my district. A few days later, I was approved. I would be teaching online for the year. My new journey was going to start.
