Me: “Good morning, ______”
Class: “Good morning, ________”
(Repeated twenty-two times). Just like old times.
“Alright, friends, today is Tuesday, March 31st! It feels like it should be March 97th to me! We are going to play a game together and then I will send you off for your own day of distance learning!” Kind of like old times.
We played headbands. I wrote an animal on a whiteboard while one student closed their eyes.
You may know that my class really wanted a class pet, a mouse named Jim. “Mouse” was the first animal written on the whiteboard. The first clue? “Jim.” No clues were needed after that. Like old times.
We continued to play for a few more rounds. We gave clues, we “clapped” and gave “thumbs-ups” for clues. The student guessed correctly. We “clapped.” Kind of like old times.
“That was so fun! I JUST love seeing you all together. When we are in Zoom, you can raise your hand by clicking ‘participants.’ Then, click ‘raise hand.’ Your digital hand is now raised! Everyone practice raising their digital hand.” New times.
“So, if you have something you want to share with the class, you can raise your digital hand now.”
Twenty-two digital hands were raised. Just like old times.
Allie Writes 
Such an encouraging post – life going like always, “in old times.” I’ve so enjoyed reading your slices, Allie. Thank you for ending on such a high note as this! Hope you’ll be back on Tuesdays. 🙂
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Your reassuring tone and repetition left me feeling hopeful and encouraged. So glad you wrote about this new normal. Thank you for sharing!
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I’m so glad you joined, and I’m so, so proud of you. You know that. We’ll keep finding our normal.
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I love this. And what I love about it is how you, we – all of us in elementary education – are having to find ways of keeping our community strong even in these tricky times.
What you’re doing with your kiddos is wonderful, and it brings them a sense of normalcy and continuity when both are in short supply.
Wonderful post. Thank you!
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