Thanks to Twitter for increasing my circle of PLN (Personal Learning Network). One evening as I was watching TV I got a message from Dr. Ilene Alzaid, who invited me to be her guest on her podcast “Journeys To Belonging.” I read her message twice maybe three times. I was excited yet nervous! If you know me you know this is out of my comfort zone! I couldn’t believe it. I messaged back asking for more details about what I would be talking about and how it all worked. Very patiently, Dr. Illene answered all my questions and gave me more or less 3 topics to choose from. As you know, I picked my favorite topic which was speaking about my role as an AP. I would be discussing how I support my students and staff when it comes to belonging and what I do to try and bridge the gap between my International and local hires. We set the date and time and I began thinking of what I was going to speak about.
Tag: #teachers
Virtual School- Week 3-8!
By week 3, I felt I had settled down into a routine with my work/meetings and my kids and their work. It was a bit easier I must admit. Week after week things got better and I was able to have some sort of an organized life. There were a few bumps here and there with new decisions from our Ministry of Education but we managed through. By then our teachers got used to the fact that things might change mid week and when we had a meeting they were expecting it.
Week 7 and 8 were the toughest. Tougher than week 1 and 2 for me. Teachers by then were exhausted, overwhelmed, tired and running on low energy and on very low patience. It was hard. They had to plan and re plan based on a new calendar change. Then they had to assess their students for grades for their report cards that they had to do two weeks later. That week of reporting was difficult, they had so many questions and needed a lot of clarification. It was their first time to assess students virtually which was hard to grasp. But they pulled through and did an amazing job!
Week 8 was dedicated to Virtual Student Led Conferences. As a mother doing both of my kids’ conferences, it felt like it was on another level. It was so emotional and surreal. We couldn’t wrap our heads around the fact that we were saying bye to each other and wishing each other a safe and healthy summer.
Virtual school has now ended. We were in a better place week 8 than week 1. Of course as we all know anything that you do for the first time is always bumpy and crazy. BUT our staff impressed us and we were so proud of all their hard work they put into their 8 weeks of teaching virtually.
Virtual School- Week 1!
February 24th was the last day we saw our students. Had anyone told us our life would change over night we would have definitely planned something totally different. In Kuwait February 25th & 26th are two public holidays celebrating National and Liberation Day. February 24th all private schools celebrated this event. We planned big events and then students and staff went home at 12. That was the day we had our very first corona case… That was when everything changed.
We said bye to our students and staff as we had 5 days off. But who knew that was the last time we would all be on campus and saw each other. Had we known that we wouldn’t have been returning I promise you we would have planned something different.
Next thing you know, we were informed that schools were going to be closed for 4 weeks. Hello Virtual School. Luckily we were semi prepared for this as we practiced Virtual learning through Seesaw in January. Were we fully prepared? Of course not! Were we mentally ready? Definitely not! BUT as a team we pulled through.
The first two weeks of Virtual School were overwhelming, exhausting and insane. That is how I described my first two weeks as an AP point of view and mother with two young children. The first week we were booked into virtual meetings from 8am till maybe 2pm-3pm. The amount of screen time increased and that caused me to get very little sleep and I was sitting down most of the day. There were a lot of new things that we had to get used to. Between my husband being home, him needing his own work space, to my kids having virtual school and then also needing my help, (especially my 1st grader son), to my meetings with admin or teachers… It was a roller coaster ride and trial and error for my family till we got the hang of things.
I would finish my meetings then sit with my kids and help them with their assignments. By that time I was mentally drained and had zero patience for my kids but I had to sit with my son and teach him.
Week 2…