Back in the classroom...

 

For years, we have volunteered in Steph's classroom when we are in Arizona, during the winter (usually February and March).  With the pandemic, our trip to AZ didn't happen; we had reservations that we cancelled.  Except for about 8 days last fall, Steph's school has been all on-line.  That 8 day period was pretty much a failure, because the number of cases continued to climb, pushing it beyond the limits for in-school teaching that the school district had pre-determined.

Steph has been teaching from home, with an office set up in one of their rooms.  This week, teachers had to go back into their classrooms, but still teaching on-line.  Their spring break happens next week, and after that, they are back into the classrooms.  Pretty much full-on... classrooms full (they tried hybrid before, with classrooms half full, the other half on-line).  Their 4 teacher team for the grade level will be two teaching in person, 2 continuing to teach on-line.  Steph will be teaching in person after the break.

That's the background.  We found out that they are having a "Cutest Pet Contest" in their class, and I felt it was only right, since we are family, that Rufus should be included in that contest.  I sent Steph one of Rufus's photos...

 ... that I feel shows off his handsomeness, along with a short essay (Steph called it "campaigning") explaining all about Rufus.  Joan sent another photo of Rufus to Steph this morning, since today is the vote.  Not long after, I got a text from Steph, asking if I would like to speak to her class via a Google Group (similar to a Zoom group).

A few minutes later, I was on with her class.  When we have worked in her classroom in the past, there is always that introduction period, where the kids have questions... generally about what Steph was like when she was their age.  Yep, we did a bit of that, where I answered things like, "What bad things did she do?" and "What was the most embarrassing thing she did?"... I guess they want to know if she was a real kid, complete with all the things kids do.  Yep.

After that, I answered some questions about Rufus, then picked him up so they could see him on the laptop camera.  It was a nice visit, the kids were polite.  No idea how the vote went, but it was fun to be in her classroom again, even if it was on-line.

They will be having a section on ecology in her science class (Steph teaches math and science) and Steph asked if I'd do another on-line visit to talk about issues with the endangered Kemp's Ridley sea turtles in our local waters and the Southern Resident Killer Whales in the Pacific Northwest, sometime in the near future... of course.

While it is fun to experience their inquisitive minds, what I enjoy most from these classroom "visits" is getting to see my kid in action.  Teaching on-line is a whole different situation.  I can appreciate the risks involved in going back into the classroom (with full attendance); both Steph and Dan have had both vaccinations (Arizona put teachers into the first category), and there will be precautions taken, such as masks and hand-washing, but they can't have 6' of distance with 26 students in the classroom.

We'll see how this plays out.