70th birthday postponed

Well shortly after my post yesterday, people shared what ED said on Workers' Day - we are in level 2 of lock down (whatever that means?!) and schools will remain closed until further notice (not really that helpful). Apparently private schools are also being warned not to charge school fees until school resumes. That will mean teachers don't get paid. I get that there is still risk, but a little more clarity and forward thinking would help.

My grade 6 student phoned me yesterday evening and I told her we would be making a plan for some sort of school to continue. I got the feeling that touching base with something familiar was reassuring for her. Never thought my voice as a teacher would be so strongly needed. I think if my class can meet together on Zoom it will help them all. It must have been tough not seeing their friends for play dates all holidays. As a school we're supposed to be deciding on Monday the way forward.

Tomorrow would have been the day family and friends met up with us in Oxford at Folly Bridge to go on a picnic boat trip along the river to celebrate my mum's 70th birthday. Sad not to be seeing everyone and that we can't mark my mum's 70th for now. Next weekend, for my mum's actual day we would have been in an Airb'n'b in Cornwall. My sister had gone to a lot of trouble booking everything and organising it and she is pretty bleak that it has all fallen through. A close family friend has suggested we do a small lunch for my mum next Sunday in the garden.

Did a Zumba cardio class with my sister this morning. It was quite full on. My hamstring that was previously injured a while ago started to twinge so my sister did a full stretch with me afterwards. Have been round and round the garden with my Jasper and Elsie bears photographing plants and the dogs. Looking forward to Skyping my best friend Nina tomorrow.

Quandary of quando, quando, quando

I woke up this morning to a Whatsapp from the parent of one of my grade 6's asking if I can set her some work and requesting me to have a phone call with her daughter as apparently she really misses me. I am trying to prepare for school next week so having to set additional work beforehand is a bit of a burden. I guess I should be flattered that her daughter misses me so much. I don't think some of my other students would ever want to speak to me because they miss my voice.

My aunt said that South African schools are to remain closed until at least June. Really not sure what ED's thinking and decision will be. Must say I am a little nervous to launch back to full time teaching when the number of infections here is still going up. A friend who has just had major surgery here said her specialist said there are way more cases of Corona in Zim than are being reported and people really do need to be careful. At the same time though I don't know what government and rural schools with no internet are going to do. Our one option is to produce work packs for our students that the parents pick up at the beginning of the week and then return to pick up more work at the end of the week. This is quite a different kettle of fish to being fully online and the two require quite different means of preparation. I am basically just organising my worksheets and having some work that I can either email/post online or print out. There's not much more I can do. Doing lessons via Zoom is another thing and then using all the other software I have been looking at. Many of my students are not good at keeping on top of home work so I worry as to whether work will actually get done and I don't think we'll get through as much work as we would ordinarily with normal school hours.

I have eight out of ten of my students supposed to be writing high school entrance exams this term too. I might have to scan all the past papers we have as I only have 2018's papers in digital format. I also have to figure out how my students are going to submit their work and how I go about grading it. I think next week is going to be a lot of work and I am going to work harder than I have in a long time. It's not only grasping a new system but having to remember to think about so many things at once.

To teach online or not to? That is the question

Am still on rocky ground today as are most teachers, with not knowing whether we are expected to launch back to the classroom next week or embark onto the world of online classrooms. It makes quite a big difference in how one designs one's lesson and I have a lot to learn still about how to use available software if we are online. I have some basic lessons planned but how I set the work from there is hanging a bit. Besides Padlet, there are also tools such as Kahoot, Quizlet, Seesaw, CommonLit to name but a few. If nothing else, this is a crash course on how to update teaching methods but one wonders how my students who struggle are going to cope with all of this. Basically none of us are any wiser until we hear what ED has to say presumably on Sunday, with school supposed to resume on Tuesday.

I had an unexpected chat with my Chinese seven year old on WeChat. He was busy making dinner as part of his home work from online school in China. He made an impressive Chinese omelette to go with noodles and they had purple bread rolls made out of sweet potato flour. His mum says they are struggling to try and allow him to get enough sleep each night as the homework and work set for home school while they are still in lock down is very onerous. She said they are supposed to go back to proper school in China on the 11 May but they all have an app on their phone which records their temperature and wellness and if they are unwell they will be quarantined.

This evening I've got a Skype board meeting for the dance project Xen Arts. We will be looking at how to proceed with it with the current lock down in the UK.

International Pilates and a sense of loss

Getting into this whole lock down routine, possibly close to when it might end. We wait and see what dear old ED says on Sunday and in particular for me, what his plan for schools is. I've been tasked with looking into different online software options. Possibly Google Classroom but you have to buy a domain and use G Serve software which you have to pay for. Zol was promoting Minecraft (yes the game) educational tools but they are pre-set games for learning and don't give you the flexibility to create your own lessons. More of a teaching tool. I know my class would probably enjoy learning by gaming. We stumbled on Padlet today, and since it is free for the first 30 days looks like quite a good option. I just haven't figured out how to further edit a lesson plan I created. This is all if we are forced to do online learning only. Some say ED may say Grade 7's and form fours and upper sixes might be allowed into schools and everyone else at home. We just don't know, which is mightily frustrating and doesn't let you plan too far ahead. I guess it's a learning exercise.

I will miss being able to spend so much time in the garden with my dogs. I went on a nature scavenger hunt today and collected a bird's egg shell, pin oak leaves, Terminalia seed pods, a feather and then a fern. Got out my oil pastels and played with white charcoal pencil. Was nice to do a bit of creativity. This evening I did my sister's Pilates Zoom class. There was me in Zimbabwe, my cousin Jaimie in Cape Town, a friend of Beth's, Amy in Ireland and then one of Beth's clients, Stephen, in Swindon and Andrew, Beth's husband which was fun. Tomorrow night it's Zumba. Have been doing classes with Beth since the beginning of lock down as well as routines my personal trainer sent me for cardio and strength.

It has been a very sad week though, as we were told on Monday that my dear friend Heather's mum, Celia Toovey passed away after a very valiant fight with cancer. I have been Whatsapp calling Heather every week but could tell from what she said in our last chat that her mum was really struggling. It still is surreal and there is a big hole in the world where Mrs Toovey and her big, kind, generous heart should be. We got to know the Tooveys through ballroom dancing in grade 7 and Heather and I became firm friends. We had many a slumber party, picnic and Christmas together. Celia was forever cheerful, considerate and a home maker. She made the most delicious treats and a good glazed ham and we often had a good giggle. Her favourite thing was an evening of board games, with Trivial Pursuit being the game of choice. I think she and I trumped the others a couple of times. When they left Zim to join Heather in England I helped them with packing up and I then visited she and Mr Toovey in Nottingham a number of times with Heather, the last time being two Christmases ago. She is already deeply missed and I pray she is now at peace with no more suffering. My thoughts and prayers are with Heather, her dad and Celia's sisters.

Grief

Life lulled you into thinking of them always there,
in your mind they always are just upstairs.
Suffering came though and took its toll,
pain and discomfort was a two edged sword.
But still in my mind I see you as you were
and I will cling to that whilst all is astir
with grief and a sense of loss.
We did not want you to suffer thus.
Instead we believe you are now set free,
death holds no pain and is but gain.
We will miss your chuckles and kind kind heart,
another angel has from us departed.

Tomorrow I would have been in Germany

Even the best laid plans can capsize.
Thoughts of Germany are on my mind.
Reconnecting with friends and seeing European spring,
but the Corona virus has lead to other things.
Week four of lock down and uncertainty,
no one is sure what next week will bring.
Whether we start school or if it is online,
where the virus may hit and where is the frontline.

Lock Down

Suddenly everything shuts down and you are confined
There is stillness and your inner self comes to life.
Time is suddenly available to do what you normally can't
Walks in the garden, read, paint, all those things you neglect.
Step away from social media and the doom and gloom
and look around you and see life that is in bloom.
Quiet time to soul search and become more whole
To get to the root and renew with nothing to distract you.