I woke up this morning with this song in my head and it has followed me all day long. Thank goodness it is one of my favourite’s from the 90’s, even though it was released in 1989 — there’s a little bit of musical trivia for you! Today is Monday, and in just two short sleeps, I will be entering my school the begin my 22nd year of teaching. And considering the reality of the COVID-19 pandemic that we are all experiencing, it will be my first time back to my school since March.
Normally at this time of the year, I am busying prepping a blog post highlighting my classroom decor. That will not be happening this year. When we left in March, we were permitted to grab some essential items such as laptops & personal items and only with an appointment. We didn’t have the opportunity to take down most of our stuff because we thought the closure of the school would be temporary. So, my classroom decor will remain the same as it was last year. You can see what I did HERE.
Normally at this time of the year, I am busy prepping materials and making long range plans for my language arts and math units. However, the provincial government has made a habit of changing their minds when it comes to schools being open during the pandemic. We were mandated back to work three times during the pandemic, and each time, the government changed their minds within a 24 hour period. Us teachers worked incredibly hard to prepare for our students in a very short period of time, only to be told that we were to stay home and teach virtually. I am worried that I will prep my class and materials for the new school year, only to be told that I now need to go virtual in record time. That is why I am waiting to see what my principal has to say before investing my time and effort into preparing any lessons for my students. I need assurances that what I am preparing will be valid once the real teaching begins. And for that, I need to know if I will be teaching in person or over a computer.
If you are visiting me from another province or country and would like to compare and contrast how the Quebec government is handling the back to school season this year, please click on the following document.
Questions and Answers on Education and Families During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The one thing I did do to prepare for my new school year is purchase my Happy Planner Teacher Planner! I was so happy to find extra grading papers, too! I *always* run out of space by the third term so I was excited to see that these existed! And as a bonus, there are a lot of papers in the pack so these are going to last me a few years!
My goal on this blog
My goal for this year with this blog is to keep you posted on how things are evolving at our school. I don’t think anyone really has a clear picture of what to expect or how things will flow once the students arrive on September 1. With talks of a second wave of the virus to hit sometime around October or November, just in time for cold and flu season, your guess is as good as mine as to what this year has in store for us.
I’d love for you to share what your school’s agenda is for this back to school season. Are you in class 100% of the time like me, does you school offer a hybrid approach, or is your school 100% virtual? Let me know in the comments below.
Have a great day!
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