A Whole New World

 

We returned to in-person hybrid instruction this week after 4 weeks of all online learning to start the school year.

It was my first time teaching students in the school building since March 12, 2020.  It's definitely very different.

(sanitizing shoe mats)

After all of the planning, discussion, changing of plans, and worry, I have to say that the first week went pretty smoothly.

About 1/3 of our students have remained completely online, and the remaining students are split into two groups that alternate attendance days.  So, instead of 1600 students in the building every day, there are more like 600 on any given day.

This certainly made maintaining physical distance easier.  My classes have between 6 and 12 students in them, which allows everyone to be well spread out.  

We have block scheduling, so that plus the hybrid schedule meant that it took all 4 days of the week before I met all of my in person students.  It was like 4 first days of school!  Needless to say, everyone was exhausted by Friday.

But students have generally been cooperative about mask wearing and physical distancing in the classroom.  

It's difficult, though, to figure out how best to help a student from 6 feet away and how to continue to work with my online students when I have students in the classroom.  I'm using a flipped classroom model, which is not how I chose to teach BCE (before COVID era), but it seems to me the best option in the CE (COVID era).  Many things just aren't ideal right now.

The first few days just felt weird, but by Friday I did feel like I was starting to get a little more comfortable.  It's just a very different school world now, and I think it will be for some time to come.

Ready, set...

I went in to school on Friday to make sure my room is ready for a hybrid return to in person instruction on Tuesday.

I've got 16 desks, spaced 6 feet apart,

my required CDC posters,

spray cleaner and paper towels (instead of books) on the bookshelf,

and the schedule on the board so hopefully we know who is supposed to be where.

Contact-free Bathroom Signout

 

People who have been reading my blog for a while know that mid-class requests to use the bathroom are the bane of my teaching existence.  

I thought I had solved that issue once and for all with my bathroom flowchart.  COVID-19 now laughs in the face of my naivety.

In preparation for a return to in person classes after Labor Day, I spent yesterday afternoon pondering a way to keep track of student bathroom use for contact tracing while not using a pass or a paper signout sheet.  

The solution: a Google Doc Contact Free bathroom signout.  

From the Course Resources page on Canvas, students click on the Restroom Signout button,

which takes them to a Google Doc which they can all write on.

Students will sign themselves in and out and will be able to check if they need to wait because a classmate is in the restroom without my involvement.  Hallelujah! 

Because 2020.

Need one for your German class?  Contact-free German Bathroom Signout Form