Ending with a Whimper, not a Bang

It's over.

The school year that was unlike all others ended on Friday, June 26, 2020. Filled with uncertainty and interruptions due to teacher strikes and a global pandemic, there were so many changes and cancellations. I looked back at my June blog posts for the last three years and they were filled with stories of celebrations, graduations and gala events like the annual So You Think You Can Dance assembly at my school. The last week of the 2019-20 school year was packed with Google Meets; I saw 8/12 classes via video conferencing in this week alone. Dropping off yearbooks on porches and in mailboxes on Friday was the closest I could get to our students. Thursday, June 25 was back-to-back virtual meetings (8 in all) and this doesn't include the phone conversations with other educators to coordinate summer projects.  

Yes, I'm already thinking about summer. I don't do well with unstructured time so it helps to have plans. These include:

• moderating two webinars for TDSB administrators on Navigating Digital Content
• supporting the MakerEdTO fifth anniversary event online
• attending training on web conferencing software (provided by ETFO for all facilitators)
• organizing and facilitating two ETFO Summer Academy sessions (July 21-23 and July 28-30)
• attending an ETFO Summer Academy as a participant August 11-13, 2020
• writing lessons and units that incorporate critical thinking practices (TC2)
• participating in a book club focused on The Skin We're In
• preparing for and presenting at the TDSB Beginning Teachers Conference August 18, 2020
• preparing for and presenting at the TDSB new Teacher-Librarian professional learning days

This doesn't replace the wonderful time I usually have teaching the York University Teacher Librarian AQ course in the summer, or our regular trip to Baltimore to feast on crabs and visit relatives. Neither of those will occur, and that does make me a bit wistful. 

I won't even start to contemplate what the fall might or might not look like. No one knows. It's a big question mark.

So, instead of whimpering, which I'm more inclined to do, I'll savor and enjoy the small pleasures I'm able to participate in at this time. I finally got my hair cut, safely with my favourite stylist.

I rearranged my rooms in Animal Crossing New Horizons and transformed my upstairs gym into my upstairs classroom. (I'm missing technology and the tables should be in pods instead of rows, but considering space restrictions, it's not bad.)

Things could be worse, so I'll replace my whimper with tempered gratitude and optimism.