I haven't been as reliable about posting to this blog for a while. I think my avoidance began at about the time that Covid hit our area. I think it had something to do with the fact that my job for the past ten or so years has been to support educators with their technology usage. Then, when the world suddenly got knocked off kilter, I suddenly became ultra busy and spent oceans of time staring at a computer screen. Thus, had no desire to craft posts about how my flowers looked and there were no birthday parties to attend.
News flash! We are still a bit off-kilter but I think we have begun to learn to live with that and are not wallowing in it as much.
Maybe.
These days I am fully vaxxed, boosted, and masked up, when necessary, and trekking on through life.
I recently found a blog that really makes me laugh at times. And don't we all need to find those things that make us laugh? Anyway, the blogger's humor makes me laugh as I read along - especially with the Sunday Q&A posts. Katie at Preppy Empty Nester has put together a couple of them that incorporate memes and GIFs that have made me pause and just laugh out loud. The opening of today's post really touched home for me...
On the Friday before Thanksgiving I went to one of our local schools to fill in and try to help out since they, like every other public school that I know of were having a difficult time with staffing due to illness. Even though folks in my department are rarely in school buildings anymore and are supporting teachers remotely by designing and creating materials for them to use, helping them to become more adept at using their digital tools, crafting how-to materials and asynchronous workshops to train them, and such, we heard their cry for support and we all are spending a bit of time filling in to help out.
So, the Friday before Thanksgiving was one of the days that I was scheduled to help out. I am proud to say that I spent the afternoon 'teaching' in a Spanish class at the local school. No. I have never had a Spanish lesson in my life unless you count Big Bird and the Cookie Monster teaching me to count when my children were preschoolers.
It was a great afternoon and the high school students and I learned a bit together, I'm proud to say. Thankfully, their teacher had posted some videos and digital handouts online in her virtual classroom and the time was not a complete wash for the eager learners.
No, all of the young folks were not as eager to complete their assignment as some were but I found a way to motivate them. In the first class where I was subbing, I gave some of them a bit of a nudge. Having a bit of tech savviness about me, at about the half-way mark of the class time I logged into the system and took a peek into the teacher's virtual course materials and noticed that only about a dozen of the twenty-eight students had submitted their completed work. So, I looked at the roster and called off a student's name, "Suzy Q, where are you?" (No, there was not really a student with that name, I'm changing the names to protect the guilty.) A young woman raised her hand and I asked, "Why are you sitting there chatting with your friends when you haven't submitted your work? You are going to make me look like the worst sub ever if you don't finish up the assignment and get it turned in! C'mon, now!" Her eyes got a bit rounder and she quickly started pecking away at the keyboard in front of her. I moved on to another name on the roster. "Billy, where are you?" A young fellow in a football jersey raised his hand a bit timidly. "What are you doing over there? Come on, now! The playoff game isn't till tonight. Go ahead and finish up this assignment and get it turned in so you won't have to think about this next week after the big game is over! Plus, do you want to make me look like I don't know anything about teaching? Help an old gal out here!" Suddenly, I heard murmurings from all over the room - "How does she know we haven't submitted? Do you think she can see our work? How did she find out? And then, I saw some smiles and heard clickety-clacking of their laptop keyboards. Within ten minutes the number of submitted assignments had grown to twenty-four.
That pattern and the fact that I walked around the room, chatted with the students, looked over their shoulders, and watched a couple of the video clips the teacher had posted helped us to try to figure out a few of the answers to the questions the teacher posed in relation to the Spanish-spoken videos. It truly was a collaborative effort. But, I'm sure having access to the teacher's online course and nudging them really helped out in getting students to stay on task. Plus, I wasn't bossy or hateful about it, I asked them to finish up as an effort to make it look like I was doing a better job and they were compassionate enough to think that was a good idea. So, I'm calling the day a success for me as a fill-in Spanish teacher!
At any rate, the Saturday following Thanksgiving, I wound up with terrible cold-like symptoms. I was scheduled to attend a conference the following week. So, on that Monday I went to the local pharmacy and took a Covid test. My results were negative but I was still coughing heavily on Tuesday. So, I made a televisit appointment with my doctor's office. In my conversation with the physician's assistant, I explained the situation. She encouraged me not to go to the conference unless the cough and cold cleared up. She mentioned that if I had flu, I was outside the window where she could prescribe anything other than over-the-counter meds and if I actually did have Covid, I was also outside the window where she could prescribe medications that might help alleviate those symptoms as well. However, she wanted me to come to the clinic, pull around to the back of the building and a nurse would come out and administer a test for both flu and Covid. She told me a timeframe for when they would expect me. I hung up and gave that option about five minutes of thought, called the clinic back, and told them not to expect me. If there was nothing they could prescribe to help me, why would I waste my time and effort (and money) going in for another test? I mean, I had already isolated and Mike and I would be around nobody till I was better. What was the need for the test?
I did quite a bit of eye-rolling about that telemedicine episode, I'm here to tell you!
I thought I'd also answer the Q&A Katie shared in that post that I shared above:
1. January usually has ample amounts of snowfall in parts of the world. Did you ever make snow cream as a kid?
My family did make snow cream and I probably ate a bit of it as a youngster. However, I grew up on a farm. So, after giving it a bit of thought, I decided that maybe I didn't want snow cream for fear that I might have a bit of farm flavoring in it as well, if you know what I mean!
2. January is one of the months with 31 days. What are you going to do with that extra day?
Um. I'm writing and illustrating this post aren't I?
3. In medieval times, superstition dictated that the 1st day of January was significant for prosperity, or lack of it, in a person's life. Farmers put a flat cake on the horns of a cow, and they danced and sang songs around the cow until the cake was thrown to the ground. If it fell in front of the cow that meant good luck; it if fell behind the cow that meant bad luck for the rest of the year.
Do you have strange New Year customs in your household?
Mike and I really go all out and do wild things on New Year's Eve because it is our anniversary! This year, I think we went to bed at about 10:45 after I sent all the kids a text message wishing them a happy one!
4. On January 14, 1986 motorists were required for the first time to wear seat belts? Do you always buckle up? Why or why not?
I've always been one who wore a seat belt. If you have ever ridden with me, you know why.
5. Have you ever blabbermouthed something to a significant other that in hindsight you really should have kept to yourself?
Do you know me? I don't blabbermouth anything. I hardly even talk at all.
6. Have you ever written anything on your blog that you wish you could take back?
Obviously you are not a loyal follower of my blog. I have sort of abandoned it lately.
Honestly, I have always tried to ask before posting pictures of folks, however. I know I don't appreciate it if somebody posts my picture without letting me know or asking me first.
Plus, I mean, who is really reading this stuff I post? Aren't you all just family members anyway? I kind of think you are just glad to see that I'm still alive and kicking.
Or maybe not.
7. Are you the blabber or the blabbee? Tell us your most embarrassing blabbermouth moment.
Are you kidding me? What could I possibly say that would be embarrassing? Remember, I hardly even talk at all.
8. Who is the biggest blabbermouth tattletale in your household?
The daughter who at about four years old informed everyone in the family that we were "pissed off at McDonald's, ain't we Mama?" (There's a whole story behind her statement but that is a tale for another day.) There were a couple of other times when she was a blabberer but I will refrain from continuing to point my finger.
9. You are the Blog Paparazzi! Which blogger's real photograph are you most interested in getting?
Gosh! I cannot even answer this one. I am always the one who is tisk-tisking because too many people I follow or am acquainted with are doing way too much oversharing on social media!
10. If you could hire the loudest and most skilled blabbermouth in the universe to do your talking for you and advertise it well, what message would you like to spread to humanity?
Use your energy for being kind. Just because you know more, disagree with somebody, or are just plain different, that doesn't mean you should let them or the folks around them know that. More often than not it is far better to just smile and be kind to somebody else than to try to put them in their place and look like the bad guy.
(It took me a long time to arrive at this understanding and I probably owe lots of people an apology but I truly do believe this.)
11. Are you always on time or just a tad late?
I'm usually squealing in on two wheels and the truck is still rocking when I am four steps or even fifty feet away from it with my hair and coat-tails flying out behind me.
12. Is there someone in your life that irritates you regularly about not being on time?
My Daddy was ALWAYS late! My Mama was ALWAYS fussing at him about it. My youngest child seems to have inherited one of those traits and I ALWAYS wear a seat belt and hold on to the 'oh-hell handle' of the vehicle when I ride with him.
I married a man that is very much like my father in lots of ways - he just doesn't seem to have the same time clock I do. But somehow he will ALWAYS get out the door before I do and I am left to close the dog in his crate, pick up everything that we are responsible for carrying to wherever we are going, and lock the door.
13. Can you think of a time when you were late for something and it was REALLY a big deal?
Did you even read the answer to the previous question? I think a better way to word the question might be something like: Can you think of a time when you were early for something and it was a REALLY big deal?
I'm thinking.
Can I get back to you on that one later?
14. If you were on your way to work and had five minutes to get there, would you stop in the road to rescue a crossing turtle?
See the image below? That is gravel and dirt flying out behind the truck that is scratching out of the ditch where the turtle was avoided but left to go on his merry, plodding way.
15. Have you ever had to actually punch a time clock?
Gosh, yes! I still do. Today, though, for me, punching the time clock is just sort of a register so that our payroll department can keep up with which days we are working and which days are some sort of leave - sick leave, bereavement, administrative, etc. When we are not present for work, we have to fill out a leave request and select the type leave we are requesting. The 'clock in' action is primarily to serve as data for them.
That is really a good thing for me because sometimes I will forget to clock in until I am getting ready to shut my computer down for the day! So, if my time sheet was ever really printed out for accuracy of my working hours, it might look like I was starting the day at four-thirty sometimes.
Another thing about my work hours, since the world was sort of knocked off-kilter, I have found myself working far longer hours than ever before. My job is to support teachers and these days their work is far more difficult than one can ever imagine. My heart goes out to them and I try to do whatever I can to help them out. So, if that means I'm still working on a how-to document or video or I'm collaborating with them to create a digital assignment, sometimes it means that I take a break to cook and eat dinner and return for another hour or two...or more and wrap things up. Nobody is really expecting me to do that but I feel so much empathy for those teachers who are juggling so many different things that I'm glad I have the opportunity to do something to make their job just a little bit easier. I figure they are probably working far harder and far longer hours than I am and I really just want to try to make their job easier.
So, please, I ask you to practice a little kindness to those folks who are carrying a heavy load - folks like teachers. When you have the opportunity to do something that makes their off-kilter world a little easier, please do so. And tell a teacher that you appreciate them for hanging in there and working to educate our children and prepare them for a world that we cannot even fathom at this point. Plus, if you can, why not volunteer to be a substitute teacher?
