Zooming in the Dark

I am good with some technology. I am getting better with others. I’m not sure how to switch from Netflix to Hulu still though and my eight-year-old does it for me. How does this work with remote learning you might wonder? Well my sweet reader. It really freakin doesn’t. For starters give me the props where props should be given. I figured out how to set a meeting. Thats right, I set that meeting all Devil Wears Prada style in true force. But then , THEN when kids get on the zoom, my issue is I am on sensory overload. Cats are meowing, dogs are barking, babies are crying, somewhere in the distance I can someone laughing in this dark hour (now I know I must be going crazy), but it’s a LOT. Don’t get me wrong I love to see my Smushies. My second graders, in their jammies, in their cars, I just love to see em.

And Still, I am missing my rocking chair, my white board. I’m even missing those shitty expo markers that don’t really even erase. I’m missing that drip drip drip in the sink that I wanted to ask Scott to fix. But I’m adaptable you guys, I’ve been at this awhile. So then last Friday, I tried something new and I set the ground rules from afar. I told those cherubs, no talking while I”m doing Knuffle Bunny, just I like I tell em at school. I don’t know everyone is this okay to do? to anticipate behavior ahead of time? to discipline? is this still allowed remotely during the zombie times? I have learned, it def is and I think it is comforting to some kids to hear rules and procedures in place. To think ohhh there is Glinda the Good Witch, but wait she still has her striped stockings and her mean witch cackle underneath. I also asked them to pull out their doodle boards and draw pictures of how they were feeling. Some of them wanted to talk about it and some didn’t. This is always okay in my classroom and I let those that wanted to chatter away really unleash. I then let those that wanted to clam up, give that look of girrrrl I told you I was done and went on to the next kiddo. I left that zoom party, like I left my second kiss on the school bus. Feeling like maybe I’m getting better at this, but I can’t really tell from my audience and so this week I have vowed to really up the ante. I need to get a good high interest book and at least one other non-fiction and I’m going to read them and post a few questions using the white board feature I discovered while my daughter was zooming her basketball team. I am going to come out of this week, not loving zoom, but liking it better… Fellow zoomies, what are your tips and tricks for connecting to your people and connecting to your students? Any advice for a newbie to try? I haven’t figured out how to turn on the comment section yet, BUT WHEN I DO, please leave me some advice.