Liveblogging "Online Office Hours via Zoom" 3/26/20

2:30 Office hours were, sadly, exactly what I feared. Very few check-ins, not much content to discuss, no time to notify admin that students are jumping on. I’m going to develop serious neck problems from stooping over by the time this is done. Ugh. The days churn on.

2:29 My son is shrieking like a vampire bat. Or a howler monkey. Oh wait, he is being tickled. Such is life.

2:28 I’m serious. This is not going to work with this folding chair.

2:27 I will be going outside with my children in three minutes. I have to make them run the whole time, or they will sit in the grass and yell nonsensical phrases at each other, then act like feral cats when they go inside.

2:25 Five minutes left. Thank goodness my children have calmed down in the next room.

2:23 Seven minutes left. This chair is becoming horribly uncomfortable.

2:21 I politely end the chat with the sisters, who report that they have been staying busy on their large tract of land. They try to sell me Girl Scout Cookies for the fourteenth time. I admire their spunk and perseverance and tell them we have 8 boxes in the freezer, which is probably true. I don’t eat those things anymore. Pretty much all my students reported feeling restless in so many words, and these two look like they’re about to explode with pent-up energy. They need their friends.

2:15 Two sisters check in. They don’t really have any questions; just scrolling through teachers and saying hello. They show me their giant puppy. I wonder if I should call admin while one of them leaves the room to get it. I don’t bother. Too much of a nuisance.

2:13 My Zoom session ends, and I panic. Just kidding. I start a new one. It should still work, right?

2:05 They want me to write paragraphs about my classes for the yearbook. I go for the zany and surreal and hope they don’t make me rewrite it. This is how I behave when I am bored. Case in point: liveblogging office hours today.

1:57 I send the work to a student with special needs. I decide to do an email “reply to all” thread for some discussion pieces since she can’t access Google Classroom.

1:50 I respond to some student comments on the enneagram. A couple of them get the same results as me, which is fun. The clock ticks on. I’m already thinking that this might be a good time to get a lot of work done. Teachers keep emailing me.

1:45 I finish the enneagram. I expect to be “dogfooding” a lot with this online learning stuff. (Dogfooding is doing the work that you expect students to do).

1:31 My daughter needs me to help her log in to Google Classroom on the other computer. I have my wife hold up a “BRB” sign until I return. As I leave, Casey checks in. My family appears to be uninterested in “don’t bother dad, he is working” time.

1:24 I decide to take the enneagram test that I gave my students. I’ve taken it before, but I’ve forgotten whether I was a 1 wing 2 or a 2 wing 1.

1:22 I read some of the things the kids are posting on the discussion board feature. Simple sentences and no discussion. Shoot. I should have given them more specific directions. But whatever, we’re just figuring this stuff out, right?

1:20 7th period student has not reappeared. I feel sad. I decide not to text admin to join my video feed.

1:16 A student from 7th period appears to attempt to connect! All I see is a pink square, and she disappears.

1:15 The rice and beans are gone. I down a large pink cup of water, which I’ve been doing every meal. I can see my reflection in the iPad next to me. I need to trim my beard.

1:13 I answer an email about my students’ letters, which have been amazing and heart wrenching. I hope that admin will drop into my class and read some of them. Wow.

1:07 Eating beans and rice. My kids are getting in trouble in the other room already.

1:04 Shockingly, a student checks in to ask a quick question about Reading Plus. I am unable to text admin in time for her to ask her question, me to answer it, and her to leave.

1:00 I set up Zoom on my iPad so I can work on my Macbook for the duration when students are not popping in. I post the link to Google Classroom, just in time. Phew! My lunch was a little late. My wife nailed the pozole last night, though. Man, that hit the spot.