Today was a day like no other in my teaching career. I have huddled under a desk (Yes I had one then!) while my classroom was upended with an Earthquake. - It was only when allowed back near it, I realised the levels of damage as scanning the room for anything other than learners wasn't a priority at that moment in time.
Today Term two began with me rolling out of bed, past the jug to throw a coffee together and then hitting the couch. I set myself up with my laptop on the ottoman in front, a diffuser nearby sending a calming aroma throughout the house.
There was a slight panic as I attempted to email a link to parents through Hero, which we have literally just migrated to from Linc Ed. The migration has had a few glitches, included not transferring some emails across! As always when using a new tool, it's a little different from what you're used to. I couldn't find how to send it to just my class. A mayday call to my team had that sorted and I was away.
I waited...
I spent a little time commenting on the few blog posts that had been put up on individual blogs over the last week or so. Paperwork was caught up on. And I waited...
My big lesson for the day came with a screencastify to help one of my class members siblings get access to his blog. He should have had it bookmarked prior to the rāhui, however, somehow slipped through the cracks. After sending instructions via email... then messaging him step by step... I took a few moments to make a screencastify. This is were my lesson came in. You may have noted when I described the start of my day that at no point did I mention having a shower or getting dressed. I spent the day in my dressing gown with my hair looking like it hasn't been done in days (Maybe it hasn't...?)
In the interest of documenting this momentous occasion, I'll post it here... in a bid to remind me never to repeat this again!
My best friend today... something I have come to rely on quite a lot, is my daughters A4 school whiteboard. I'm using this for all sorts of things, from draft timetabling to scriptwriting and note-taking. I need this in my life right now!
My high for today was watching my daughter participating in the Les Mills Kids exercises on the Learning Channel (Sky Channel 502) today. It was great and she was right into it.
Her 11-year-old brother, on the other hand: "I'm having no part in that!"
To prepare for this Learning time we are posting a video each morning and outlining tasks for that day. Here's yesterday's video:
Tomorrow, I want to set a few challenges to grasp how much engagement I actually have. I want kids to email or message me. I've also scheduled a Google Meet to touch base with them. It'll be interesting to see how many touch base.
