When I woke up this morning I wanted nothing more than to stay home and work virtually, but the expectation was for us to be in-building even though it was a teacher workday. I gave the snooze button an extra workout, and I lingered over my coffee and steel-cut oatmeal. Eventually I dressed, gathered my devices, and pushed off in time for a 9:00am arrival.
Circling the hallways allowed me to reconnect with colleagues personally, which immediately helped the building to feel friendlier. Catching up on toddlers Charles and Teddy, as well as Kimberly’s dogs, then poking my head into Jeremy’s little cave... all of these personal touches felt comforting, and just as necessary as updating my co-planning folder or pulling up student interims.
Elita helped me solve a MacBook conundrum, and while doing so I witnessed Mr. Bee’s triumph in figuring out the crucial SMART Board settings and webcam placement for concurrent teaching. Being able to carry this information down to Ms. Vernier so that she could finalize her own classroom set-up, which we tested out in a Teams meeting with Meagan, was also exciting.
Later on, as I was getting ready to head out, Tracey arrived to conquer her own classroom set-up so that we will finally be able to enjoy an echo-free two-way connection with our classroom students and our virtual students beginning on Tuesday.
Today underscored for me the importance of showing up, even when the task ahead feels impossible. Today also highlighted the joy of connecting with the people around me, and how working together helps to move us all forward.
We sure do have a lot of things to connect— your point that people are the most important is well taken.
ReplyDeleteI feel the love here. Human connection is key!
ReplyDeleteI was glad to connect on Friday, too. I enjoyed reading about all your moments of successful connection throughout the day.
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