Back in School

School started in 2022 a week late (Thanks, Snow). It was a new year in a few ways.

First, I have a student teacher! She's a career switcher. She's taught some upper level college courses before and spent the first half of the year at my school with an upper level math teacher. 

So my A-days were a revelation.  

It was an ok week overall. After 3 weeks off, some off behavior was to be expected. Wednesday, I threatened my 4th block with contacting the parents of anyone who didn't turn something in. Then on Friday I had one student catch me flat footed (and sliding on a jacket that was on the floor behind me) when he started an impromptu wrestling match! It turned out well, but the catastrophe index was huge. It was the first time in 16 years I've had a student run into me and thankfully it wasn't in anger! 

"Yeah, don't do that," I said later (My co-teacher, a veteran, thought the whole situation was quite funny). 

My intern is used to students who are at least willing to play the game of school. There's a lot more behavior to manage and relationships to build in the lower-level classes! I felt a little bad for her when she went out in the hallway with a couple of my 4th block students. One of the students came back after a bit to say, "You win. We don't want to work in the hallway anymore." Then the other student came back later and asked, "Could you call us back into the room? Please?"

It makes me a little concerned for the future, but at least 4 of my classes tend to run smoothly and another has a co-teacher!

It's a new experience for me, as well. I've never had a student teacher (nor would I have considered one at LMA!). It turns out my intern and I have seen each other before. Her daughter was in Shane's Taekwondo classes. I even have a picture of the two of them sparring!

There were a lot of absences over the week. It felt like a third of the school stayed home. It's safe to say COVID was to blame. Omicron is big in the news. It's supposedly easier to catch, but less severe. 

The wrestling team had a match Saturday, but cancelled. One kid got sick on Wednesday (1/12) and another went home sick Thursday (1/13). If the team went to the tournament and either student tested positive for COVID then any team we wrestled against might have to quarantine (and frankly, there were only 4 wrestlers left who would've been able to attend...).

I took a screenshot of the number of COVID cases each day. It kept going up and up! This screenshot is from Wednesday, 1/12. Cases were up eight-fold!

We jumped to the number 1 source of cases for a day, but we 've dropped since then. As of 1/22, I think we're fourth for total number of cases. 

People seem less worried overall. There are plenty of kids who don't distance or have to be reminded to wear masks. I've had several students get sick, get better, and get back. Some were only sick for several days and barely noticed it. It's better not to get sick, but if I do I hope it's Omicron.