Social Distancing Part 41

 August 13, Thursday

First day of students "at" school. Because we aren't AT school. We are electronically sharing a space of time. It was... not encouraging to look at all those black rectangles where I would have liked to have seen faces. I can't fuss at them, though. They may not have a camera, or the bandwidth or a background they want to show to anyone else. I get it. But I miss their faces. I miss them in person, all those personalities. Even - dare I say - the freshman drama.

Still the class zoom meetings went well. I am not a zoom expert, nor a Canvas expert. I told them they may have teachers making it pretty, but I'm just doing well to make it work. As the semester goes on, I might have the energy to put into making it look... at least not so plain. I did invite them to just "drop by" during office hours just to say Hi! I hope they will.

Even my stress dreams, leading up to the start of school have not been the normal ones, where I step out of my classroom for a moment, and then can't find my way back. I wander through school buildings and hallways, and - even though I KNOW the principal is waiting for me in my classroom - I never seem to find it. This year, my stress dreams were trying to get Canvas to do what I wanted. I would struggle through some set-up again and again and again. I hope I at least worked through some of my worries with that dream, but I think it was more a sign of things to come...

Three classes today, and each zoom meeting was only 45 minutes long at best. But it was tiring. I will definitely have to figure out my recharging. Maybe my craft room will help. I got out some different fabrics from my fabric hoard... uh... stash and ran them through the washer yesterday. I got some requests for masks from friends, my sister in law, and even Rain had a favorite or two. Cutting next and then time at the sewing machine. One thing about the masks is that they are quick to finish, once the prep is done, so there is a sense of accomplishment.

Think I will try making an apple and pear pie this weekend. Cooking is also on the agenda, it would seem. Now that I'm thinking about cooking, some homemade crockpot spaghetti sauce may be in our future. Brats go in spaghetti sauce, right??