What is a workflow even
Today is Tuesday. Second day of official "online teaching." I've been trying to keep to a schedule of getting up at 10 AM, having breakfast, and taking care of the animals in a leisurely way so that I'm ready to sign on to zoom by 1 for my office hour, which no one came to yesterday or today.
My composition program agreed to all give the same assignment to replace our big research paper to our classes. The reasoning behind this was that it would have been impossible for some students to do under the circumstances they find themselves in. We've got one hard due date the rest of the semester, and that isn't until May. So, I decided to use my office hour to reach out individually to each student using Canvas messaging. They all told me what book they're using for the final, so I write to them a little with questions about the book, or what they told me about why they chose it, or SOMETHING that is individual to them. And then I end with a "please write back if you need help," and so far I've gotten a couple of people replying to that individual attention who I don't think ever would have asked me a very necessary question without the prompting.
I've got all of my students and their book choices in a spreadsheet, and each day I'm taking out my random number generator and writing to ten students who come up that day. By the middle of next week, I will have gotten to all of them (I have 90 students, and I already wrote to all of the ones who didn't ever reply to my "choose a book" form). It makes me feel like I'm doing something tangible that I can show anyone who asks why I'm still getting paid (if the weekly pages and videos weren't enough), and I hope it adds to my students' sense that their English professor and their university care about them as individual people.
Things are pretty much the same in the house. Rae made the second corned beef we bought and froze before St. Patrick's Day, and it was just as delicious as the first one she made. Today, I'm attempting chicken soup made with bone broth that is currently under construction in the pressure cooker using the carcass of the chicken I made a few days ago. So we're still eating quite well and doing our poor Oklahoma Depression-Era grandmothers proud.
Media update: We watched the new Emma that was supposed to be in theaters. Utterly delightful. I love that they show KNIGHTLEY having an overflow of emotions in a very physical way. There was lots that was good about it. The Emma was perfect, Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse was... hilarious, Mr. Elton was THE WORST in the best possible way (right up there with Tom Hollander's Mr. Collins), and Harriet was cute as a button.
Also watched A Letter for the King on Netflix. Cute. Very watchable. Had pacing problems, but also had VERY pretty horses and a gay kiss. But then they KILLED half of the gay couple. Ending was... anticlimactic and left me with more questions than answers and not just in a "wait for season 2!" kind of way. Still adorable.
Finished Dragon Prince Season 3. SO MUCH SCREAMING. I love them all. I especially love Soren. He is Jaime Lannister's Small Dumb Son from Another Universe, so of course he is my child I want to curl up around and hiss protectively.
Last thing... we are learning how to manage our time, Rae and I, so that we get to spend time together in ways that are quality, and we both know what our expectations of the day are so that there aren't disappointments and misunderstandings. It's easy for little things to balloon out of proportion and for fears and insecurities that are there in the best of times to rear their heads and cause distress and fights over things that usually wouldn't have even have been an issue. We're getting better. We're both trying to communicate clearly and be aware of each other's needs. We love each other, so it mostly works. We aren't some couples who are already complaining on social media about how much they hate being stuck with each other 24/7, so I feel mildly superior about that. I suppose we're lucky to have a big enough house that I can be downstairs typing and Rae can be upstairs working on her lesson plan and it's ALMOST like we're alone and out of each other's hair, though we're available for quick consults. (I proofread and check zoom links a lot... Rae looks at the latest fic chapter I've written... things like that.)
My composition program agreed to all give the same assignment to replace our big research paper to our classes. The reasoning behind this was that it would have been impossible for some students to do under the circumstances they find themselves in. We've got one hard due date the rest of the semester, and that isn't until May. So, I decided to use my office hour to reach out individually to each student using Canvas messaging. They all told me what book they're using for the final, so I write to them a little with questions about the book, or what they told me about why they chose it, or SOMETHING that is individual to them. And then I end with a "please write back if you need help," and so far I've gotten a couple of people replying to that individual attention who I don't think ever would have asked me a very necessary question without the prompting.
I've got all of my students and their book choices in a spreadsheet, and each day I'm taking out my random number generator and writing to ten students who come up that day. By the middle of next week, I will have gotten to all of them (I have 90 students, and I already wrote to all of the ones who didn't ever reply to my "choose a book" form). It makes me feel like I'm doing something tangible that I can show anyone who asks why I'm still getting paid (if the weekly pages and videos weren't enough), and I hope it adds to my students' sense that their English professor and their university care about them as individual people.
Things are pretty much the same in the house. Rae made the second corned beef we bought and froze before St. Patrick's Day, and it was just as delicious as the first one she made. Today, I'm attempting chicken soup made with bone broth that is currently under construction in the pressure cooker using the carcass of the chicken I made a few days ago. So we're still eating quite well and doing our poor Oklahoma Depression-Era grandmothers proud.
Media update: We watched the new Emma that was supposed to be in theaters. Utterly delightful. I love that they show KNIGHTLEY having an overflow of emotions in a very physical way. There was lots that was good about it. The Emma was perfect, Bill Nighy as Mr. Woodhouse was... hilarious, Mr. Elton was THE WORST in the best possible way (right up there with Tom Hollander's Mr. Collins), and Harriet was cute as a button.
Also watched A Letter for the King on Netflix. Cute. Very watchable. Had pacing problems, but also had VERY pretty horses and a gay kiss. But then they KILLED half of the gay couple. Ending was... anticlimactic and left me with more questions than answers and not just in a "wait for season 2!" kind of way. Still adorable.
Finished Dragon Prince Season 3. SO MUCH SCREAMING. I love them all. I especially love Soren. He is Jaime Lannister's Small Dumb Son from Another Universe, so of course he is my child I want to curl up around and hiss protectively.
Last thing... we are learning how to manage our time, Rae and I, so that we get to spend time together in ways that are quality, and we both know what our expectations of the day are so that there aren't disappointments and misunderstandings. It's easy for little things to balloon out of proportion and for fears and insecurities that are there in the best of times to rear their heads and cause distress and fights over things that usually wouldn't have even have been an issue. We're getting better. We're both trying to communicate clearly and be aware of each other's needs. We love each other, so it mostly works. We aren't some couples who are already complaining on social media about how much they hate being stuck with each other 24/7, so I feel mildly superior about that. I suppose we're lucky to have a big enough house that I can be downstairs typing and Rae can be upstairs working on her lesson plan and it's ALMOST like we're alone and out of each other's hair, though we're available for quick consults. (I proofread and check zoom links a lot... Rae looks at the latest fic chapter I've written... things like that.)