Just Checking In!
How are you doing right now?
No, really. I want you to answer. How are you doing right now?
Today is day 9 since the state mandate here in Illinois that closed schools. Some of you have been working from home longer than that. Some of you are still working outside the home--to all of my healthcare and safety workers, thank you! To the truck drivers and delivery folks, thank you! To the people who are stocking the shelves at grocery stores, thank you!
We are in a state of limbo right now. Nobody really knows when things will get back to "normal." We are all at different stages in this shelter-in-place, this quarantine, whatever you want to call it. Some of us are starting to get stir crazy. Some of us are relishing this time. Some of us are just getting by.
How are you doing right now?
Last week, I posted in a very optimistic fashion. I shared what I planned on doing during these days at home. This week, I'm still going for optimism, but with a dash of realism thrown in. When you've binged multiple shows, read multiple books, cleaned every square inch of your home...and the quarantine is still not over, what do you do? How do you stave off boredom?
First, let me clarify something here. Many of you probably know the phrase that goes something like Only boring people get bored. I disagree with that for lots of reasons. Boredom is not a bad thing. It means you are searching for something more. Tolstoy wrote, "Boredom: the desire for desires." This I like much more, and I'm going to amend the original thought {which is obviously not mine; I've heard it said for years and never really liked it}. Only boring people STAY bored.
I've been trying to post things to my students for them to do during this time at home. Things that will help bust their boredom and engage their minds. And, tiny rant here: please stop talking about how lucky teachers are right now. We are not lucky. We are the opposite of lucky. In some states, teachers will not see these students again, as their governors have decided to close schools through the end of the school year. We know that our classrooms are sometimes the safest places children can be. We know that some of our students receive little to no encouragement or positive engagement outside of our buildings. We know that some students get their best meal during lunch time at the school cafeteria. We also know that we have students who haven't gotten off the couch in nine days. We have students whose adults are still working and so they have no supervision during the work day. We know we have students whose parents are not following the shelter-in-place guidelines. We know we have students who do not have an internet connection beyond cell phone data or a device other than a smart phone for doing any kind of learning. We are being asked to totally change education as we know it over the course of a few days. We know our students' parents and guardians did not sign up to be homeschoolers. And we have so many questions that no one seems to know how to answer! This is unprecedented. It is frustrating and heartbreaking--do you have any idea how much learning is being lost right now? And I am not saying that every family needs to create a homeschooling schedule and force their child to sit down and do work from 8:00-3:00. We are in a very scary time for all of us. Our students need to have dinner with their families and play outside and build forts and play video games {within reason} and sleep in and get bored and try new things!
And maybe we need that, too. We, the adults, are beyond stressed right now. Some of us are facing very scary financial situations. Some of us are stuck in our houses with our teenagers and things are getting dicey. Some of us are concerned about our elderly family members and fighting the urge to break the shelter-in-place guidelines.
So what can we do?
We can take care of ourselves. Self-care is more important than ever right now. Set up some routines for yourself. If you are working from home, set up some kind of makeshift office area that isn't your bed. Sit and actually enjoy your cup of coffee in the morning {or your glass of wine in the...not morning, I hope, but no judgement here}. Let yourself just be for a few minutes. Take care of yourself mentally.
Start a better skin care regimen. I haven't worn makeup in days, and I've been trying to do a facial mask every couple of days. Change your clothes. It can be from one pair of yoga pants to another, but at least it's a change. Try not to eat constantly {I know, it's hard...what else is there to do?}. Do some kind of exercise. The yogi I love, Erin Motz {aka the Bad Yogi}, has posted on her blog a free two-week quarantine yoga challenge. Follow her on Youtube; she has a lot of great videos. Or find another yogi to follow {I know several people who love the Yoga with Adriene channel as well}. Go for a walk or run. Some gyms are posting circuit workouts you can do from home. Take care of yourself physically.
If you find yourself getting bored, listen to that part of your brain that just wants to do something different and new. Use this time to actually deep clean your closets! Try everything on {I mean, you've got the time}, and make piles of things that don't fit or that you don't really love to wear or that are out of style. Go through your DVDs and make sure the right disc is in the right case! Reorganize things! Alphabetize your bookshelf! {I'm sorry, I couldn't resist}. Go through your saved recipes and cook something new. Write a letter or send a card to someone. Clean out your email inbox! {SERIOUSLY. If you have a little red circle with a number that is higher than 10, stop giving me anxiety and purge that inbox. Use unroll.me to help!}
Take a bubble bath. Rewatch an old show you loved for the feel-good memories. Color! Get on Youtube and learn how to tap dance or brush letter. Start using DuoLingo to learn a new language {and then start planning a fabulous vacation to that country so you can flex your new linguistic skills}.
And check in with your friends and family. Introverts, we have to be looking out for our extroverted friends right now. FaceTime with each other--my friend told me last night that she and her daughter FaceTimed with Grandma and played Uno together. How cool is that! Send each other funny memes. Send each other funny videos. Tag people in weird Facebook games {anybody remember doing those long questionnaires on Facebook back in like 2009? Somebody should bring those back}.
So, let me ask again. How are you doing right now? Please, share your answer. Share what you are doing to keep boredom at bay. In the words of High School Musical, we're all in this together!
No, really. I want you to answer. How are you doing right now?
Today is day 9 since the state mandate here in Illinois that closed schools. Some of you have been working from home longer than that. Some of you are still working outside the home--to all of my healthcare and safety workers, thank you! To the truck drivers and delivery folks, thank you! To the people who are stocking the shelves at grocery stores, thank you!
We are in a state of limbo right now. Nobody really knows when things will get back to "normal." We are all at different stages in this shelter-in-place, this quarantine, whatever you want to call it. Some of us are starting to get stir crazy. Some of us are relishing this time. Some of us are just getting by.
Last week, I posted in a very optimistic fashion. I shared what I planned on doing during these days at home. This week, I'm still going for optimism, but with a dash of realism thrown in. When you've binged multiple shows, read multiple books, cleaned every square inch of your home...and the quarantine is still not over, what do you do? How do you stave off boredom?
First, let me clarify something here. Many of you probably know the phrase that goes something like Only boring people get bored. I disagree with that for lots of reasons. Boredom is not a bad thing. It means you are searching for something more. Tolstoy wrote, "Boredom: the desire for desires." This I like much more, and I'm going to amend the original thought {which is obviously not mine; I've heard it said for years and never really liked it}. Only boring people STAY bored.
I've been trying to post things to my students for them to do during this time at home. Things that will help bust their boredom and engage their minds. And, tiny rant here: please stop talking about how lucky teachers are right now. We are not lucky. We are the opposite of lucky. In some states, teachers will not see these students again, as their governors have decided to close schools through the end of the school year. We know that our classrooms are sometimes the safest places children can be. We know that some of our students receive little to no encouragement or positive engagement outside of our buildings. We know that some students get their best meal during lunch time at the school cafeteria. We also know that we have students who haven't gotten off the couch in nine days. We have students whose adults are still working and so they have no supervision during the work day. We know we have students whose parents are not following the shelter-in-place guidelines. We know we have students who do not have an internet connection beyond cell phone data or a device other than a smart phone for doing any kind of learning. We are being asked to totally change education as we know it over the course of a few days. We know our students' parents and guardians did not sign up to be homeschoolers. And we have so many questions that no one seems to know how to answer! This is unprecedented. It is frustrating and heartbreaking--do you have any idea how much learning is being lost right now? And I am not saying that every family needs to create a homeschooling schedule and force their child to sit down and do work from 8:00-3:00. We are in a very scary time for all of us. Our students need to have dinner with their families and play outside and build forts and play video games {within reason} and sleep in and get bored and try new things!
And maybe we need that, too. We, the adults, are beyond stressed right now. Some of us are facing very scary financial situations. Some of us are stuck in our houses with our teenagers and things are getting dicey. Some of us are concerned about our elderly family members and fighting the urge to break the shelter-in-place guidelines.
We can take care of ourselves. Self-care is more important than ever right now. Set up some routines for yourself. If you are working from home, set up some kind of makeshift office area that isn't your bed. Sit and actually enjoy your cup of coffee in the morning {or your glass of wine in the...not morning, I hope, but no judgement here}. Let yourself just be for a few minutes. Take care of yourself mentally.
Start a better skin care regimen. I haven't worn makeup in days, and I've been trying to do a facial mask every couple of days. Change your clothes. It can be from one pair of yoga pants to another, but at least it's a change. Try not to eat constantly {I know, it's hard...what else is there to do?}. Do some kind of exercise. The yogi I love, Erin Motz {aka the Bad Yogi}, has posted on her blog a free two-week quarantine yoga challenge. Follow her on Youtube; she has a lot of great videos. Or find another yogi to follow {I know several people who love the Yoga with Adriene channel as well}. Go for a walk or run. Some gyms are posting circuit workouts you can do from home. Take care of yourself physically.
If you find yourself getting bored, listen to that part of your brain that just wants to do something different and new. Use this time to actually deep clean your closets! Try everything on {I mean, you've got the time}, and make piles of things that don't fit or that you don't really love to wear or that are out of style. Go through your DVDs and make sure the right disc is in the right case! Reorganize things! Alphabetize your bookshelf! {I'm sorry, I couldn't resist}. Go through your saved recipes and cook something new. Write a letter or send a card to someone. Clean out your email inbox! {SERIOUSLY. If you have a little red circle with a number that is higher than 10, stop giving me anxiety and purge that inbox. Use unroll.me to help!}
Take a bubble bath. Rewatch an old show you loved for the feel-good memories. Color! Get on Youtube and learn how to tap dance or brush letter. Start using DuoLingo to learn a new language {and then start planning a fabulous vacation to that country so you can flex your new linguistic skills}.
And check in with your friends and family. Introverts, we have to be looking out for our extroverted friends right now. FaceTime with each other--my friend told me last night that she and her daughter FaceTimed with Grandma and played Uno together. How cool is that! Send each other funny memes. Send each other funny videos. Tag people in weird Facebook games {anybody remember doing those long questionnaires on Facebook back in like 2009? Somebody should bring those back}.
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