I have been a wife and mother for over twenty years. Now I am becoming my husband's lover, too.
We owe it all to my fellow bloggers who gave me the courage to come out to my husband as a spanko.
I do feel like this is a New Beginning for us.

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Thursday, August 13, 2020

I didn't think I could be happier to be retired, but...



Obviously many people are worried about school starting and I’m certainly one of them, I have a child starting back too, you know. But even if you set aside the fact that teachers and students are being exposed to a possibly deadly disease, I can’t imagine what teachers are going through. 

Mollie called me last night to run some questions by me. If I’d just been able to stand off and just listen I would never have guesses we were talking about the career I worked at for thirty years. It wasn’t that I didn’t have all the answers she needed – I couldn’t understand the questions! The vocabulary was unfamiliar, the methods were unheard of, and the overall concept of what they’re having to do was completely bewildering.



Teaching online was not somethings teachers ever expected to be doing. They didn’t train for this. I’m not worried about Mollie, she’s young and computers are second nature to her. Most of her questions she was able to answer herself, I was just a way for her to talk it through. In fact her principal asked her to do a workshop tomorrow showing the other teachers what to do. 

Picture the teacher with twenty to twenty-nine years of experience. They can’t retire, at least not with full benefits. I wanted to retire a half year early and found it would lower my retirement check by over four hundred dollars a month for the rest of my life! So they’re soldiering  on, scared and confused. 

Mollie has helped many of them individually. She’ll say something like, “Import the picture from your desk top into your virtual classroom and link it to the site you want.” Now I have the vaguest idea of what she’s saying because of blogging. But most of her teaching friends don’t. Their questions are:

What do you mean import? How do I do that?

How do I get a picture onto my desk top?

How do I take a screen shot?

How to make a virtual classroom?

How do you make a link?

And on and on. It reminds me of the time I spent in the early 2000's trying to teach my father how to email – he really wanted to learn, but it wasn’t to be. When he would finally get the mouse positioned on the right spot – and trust me, that took forever, he’d move it trying to click the button. It was frustrating as hell and I loved him.


Now picture trying to teach anxious, overworked, worried, pissed off middle-aged teachers who don’t really want to learn it. Mollie’s got more guts than I have. I was able to help her just a little. She would tell me what she was going to say to them, something that was so simple to her and I could say, ‘Wait, go back – you’re going to have to tell them what these things are and how to do it step by step.’ I just hope they don’t shoot the messenger.

If you have a child going back virtually or in person, please, please be kind to the teachers – especially if they’re older. And for this I mean over thirty! In some cases they will be as lost as you are but I’m guessing they’re trying as hard as they can to be pleasant and patient with both you and your student.

And if you don’t have children going back but you have friends that are teachers, be there for them if they want to call and cry on your shoulder – and send wine, they’re going to need it.

12 comments:

  1. Hi PK, I feel so much for teachers, they are doing a Stirling job under the most difficult circumstances. Online learning is something new both teachers and kids have had to come to grips with. It's especially hard for those having to combine both classroom and online teaching.

    Hugs
    Roz

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    1. It's a nightmare I can't imagine. Everyone need to be helpful to everyone when they can.

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  2. I tried unsuccessfully to help my neighbour with her new phone. She had to give up the very old flip-top one since technology was too advanced to work on it. She couldn't get past typing the password, no matter how often she tried. She didn't understand why the letters on the keyboard were all mixed up, even though she had been a clerk-typist for many years. So I feel for the teachers having to learn new technology, as well as Mollie for having to teach them.

    Hugs,
    Hermione

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    1. It's rough. Dad used to tell me that the numbers on the phone kept moving around.

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  3. Someone has dropped the ball as far as I am concerned.
    I completely understood everyone - teachers and administators - scrambling back in March ( hell I spent hours virtually helping the lil one's teacher set up her virtual learning)
    BUT why the Boards didn't plan ahead and over the last 4 months do some training or set up easy to access virtual classrooms is beyond me!!!
    My heart goes out to all the teachers facing the new school year !

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could well be. Mollie was lucky, she was chosen to teach summer school on line and got to get a little practice.

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  4. Anonymous10:19 AM

    I think the teachers are doing a great job. I know for the older teachers this is very hard. Right now though, I am concerned for this grandma who will most likely have the grandkids here and helping them with virtual learning so their parents can work. I guess I will have to depend on the kids to tell me what they are doing and what I need to do. We're all in this together and we will all come out of this together

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    1. Mollie is meeting with each family to give instructions individually. Maybe if your grandkids school is doing something like that you could go too. I do wish you luck.

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  5. I was happy to retire and enjoy my grands...but that happiness is at least tripled now. I know everyone is trying...and going to keep on trying to do their best...but talk about a nearly impossible situation...

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    1. I'd be nearly frantic if I were trying to do all this now. We finished our careers at a good time.

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  6. Gawds I can't imagine what the teachers are going thru. Someone mentioned that I should get back to piano class by conducting them online and I was adamant about not doing it. I just don't understand how it can be done effectively. But I have that luxury. a lot of the school teachers don't have a choice.

    As it is a few days ago I had a mini panic attack while thinking that I may have to give up teaching piano altogether if they don't work out how to resume face to face exams and such. it's a scary thought that even though i consider myself to have enough tech knowledge, even *i* am balking at the idea of having to shift to a virtual studio for the forseeable future!

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    Replies
    1. It's murder on every teacher but more so the older ones. I think this 'mess' is going to let us go back to sorta normal eventually. I'm hoping 2022 will see that.

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