Day 1 - LA County moves into Yellow Tier

Finals today…

5/3/21. Monday

9:00-10:00 – Shower. Lotion. Covid-19 uniform. Light make-up. Re-pack all of my supplies. Load my car.

10:00-11:30 – B. returns with Starbucks and a chocolate do-nut for me. We eat our breakfast outside, at the patio table, and talk politics.

11:30-1:00 – B. and I watch an interview with Christy Smith discussing the launch of her campaign against Mike Garcia [CA 25th District] for the 2022 midterms and a 60 Minutes segment about Curtis Flowers, the man who was tried six times in Mississippi.

1:00-1:30 – Class starts in a little over an hour so I leave.

1:30-2:15 – I have left over mahi-mahi and rice and read a Money Diary.

2:15 – 2:30 – I open the Discussion Board and post the Final for Core Class No. 1.

2:30-5:30 – The students have 90 minutes to take the Final between the hours of 2:30-5:30.

- While they take it, I open Class #1 at College No. 2 and take attendance based on whether or not students missed assignments from last week’s module.  Then, I send personal emails to those students who didn’t complete the assignments, informing the students that they failed to complete the assignments and were marked absent.

-I check email at College No. 2; nothing of consequence. One of my highschoolers emails me and asks if the semester is over. No. Try June.

-The last day to drop at College No. 2 is May 14.  I send a personal email – I address each student by name – to all students who have a D/F in the class and encourage them to drop. This will help my stats at the end of the semester.  Adjuncts are frequently reviewed for the number of D/F students they are churning out at the end of the semester.  If a D/F student withdraws before the semester ends, there are no D/F students at the end of the semester. It’s a strategy that makes our stats look better.

-Continue checking email at College No. 2.  What a cluster-f—k!  Ok, so I’m being evaluated and surveys went out to the students to complete regarding me and the class.  The students completed the surveys. So far so good. Unfortunately, the surveys included questions from the Before Times, in violation of the evaluation clause in my revised adjunct contract. Many of the questions from last year’s survey don’t pertain to this year’s Distance Education.

IT posted the corrected survey and asked the students to complete the new survey as well, so now there are two sets of surveys on Canvas and the students are confused.  IT then decides to destroy the first set of surveys, to include all of the students’ responses, and the corrected survey was emailed and posted to Canvas, yet again, with a new extension date for completion. Of course, the students don’t want to take the time to complete another survey. OMG.

-I send an email blast to those students who have not yet logged in to take the Final and remind them that there is still time to complete it.  I tell them to report to the Final immediately!

-Some of the students from Core Class No. 1 wrote parting comments on the Discussion Board so I respond, then send an email blast letting them know in case they want to see my responses.

-I open Class #2 at College No. 2. Same thing. I take attendance based on whether or not students missed assignments from last week’s module.  Then, I send personal emails to those students who didn’t complete the assignments, informing the students that they failed to complete the assignments and were marked absent.

- Still in Class #2, I send a personal email – I address each student by name – to all D/F students and encourage them to drop.

-The Final is over.  I take attendance for Core Class No. 1.

5:30-6:00 – Specialty Class 1A starts in 30 minutes.  I check the Discussion Board and class content, then post the Final early. The students have 90 minutes to take the Final between the hours of 6:00 and 9:00.

6:00-9:00 – I go through the folder in my filing cabinet for College No. 2 and purge documents/papers that are no longer needed. I also purge a few stacks of “team building” assignments, Midterms, and Finals that I will probably never distribute in a classroom again, post-Covid.  I can’t imagine telling my students to “get into groups” now.

-I continue purging essays from the last school year.  They were scanned and returned to the students – I don’t need them.

7:00-8:00 – I take the dog for a walk and listen to Crime Junkie.

-A student finished the Final early, then emails me, informing me that she should not have received 0s on two assignments that were due thirteen weeks ago because she completed the quizzes and did, in fact, sign in on the Discussion Board.

I send the student a copy of our email thread wherein she asks me this very question thirteen weeks ago. Her: “Why did I get 0s on my assignments when I took the quizzes and got a 7 and 8 on each one?”  Me: “Because you didn’t sign in on the Discussion Board. This is a synchronous class and you have to attend every Monday, from 6:00-9:00.”  Her: “You’re right.  I didn’t sign in.  Sorry about that.”  Me: “That’s okay.  Make sure you sign in every Monday from this point forward.” I never hear from the student again.

The student lied.  Grade = D. 

Next time, turn in your essay assignment (we had two due this semester and she didn’t even bother to submit the first assignment, nor did she post a required comment on the Discussion Board, which was a mandatory part of the essay assignment, i.e., participation).  Partial credit on the assignment you blew off would have pulled you up to a C. You gambled with your semester grade when you failed to submit your paper. You lost.

-A few students email me asking if they can turn in extra credit.  Sure.  You can revise the extra credit essay assignment you submitted by ensuring you incorporate my extensive comments for a few extra points.  I never hear from the students again.  They never bother to resubmit the assignment.

-Another student emails me saying that she should not have received a 0 on one of her quizzes because she emailed me before class that she was having technical difficulties and couldn’t sign in on the Discussion Board. She says she would have earned a B in the class, had I counted the quiz.  I check her grade.  The student has a 75% in the class.  I email her that it is doubtful a 9-point quiz would have raised her grade 5 percentage points, but, okay, I’m fair…please resend the email wherein you told me before class that you were having technical difficulties and could not sign in on the Discussion Board. I never hear from the student again.

I later research the issue. The student lied. It appears that the student did not sign in on the Discussion Board at 2:30, but took the quiz at 5:00.  At the end of class, I gave the student a 0 and then emailed her, as is my practice, that she would be marked absent because she did not sign in on the Discussion Board and her score on the video quiz was 0.  This is a synchronous class and you must attend every Monday, between the hours of 2:30-5:30.

At 6:00 p.m., 30 minutes after class ENDED, the student said she had technical difficulties and couldn’t sign in on the Discussion Board. Yet you were still able to take the quiz?  No. If you can’t log on at the beginning of class [2:30], then email me at the beginning of class and tell me you can’t log on.  Don’t email me AFTER class, AFTER you’ve just been notified that you received a 0 on a quiz. Semester grade = C.

-I take a paper attendance.

-Class ends.  I hang around for questions/comments for the next 30 minutes.

9:30-10:00 – I place an order for a few items from Walmart: dog food, a whisk, and a plunger.  I’m only allowed to buy one bag of dog food so place an order for the remaining 5 bags through Amazon. Damn. I hate using Amazon as a general rule because they treat their employees horribly and thwart all efforts to unionize.

-Write a check for my dog’s licensing fees.

10:00-11:00 – I go through a bin of cables in my garage, take a picture of each one, and send the pictures to B. to see if anyone wants them.  B. texts that he’ll take the cables.

11:00-11:30 – Two of my highschoolers from two different high schools are struggling.  They currently have Fs and the semester ends in four weeks.  I emailed both of them previously, suggested they drop the class, and told them the last day to withdraw was 5/14/21; they never responded.  I’m concerned what an F will do to their transcripts so I email the high school liaisons and provide a progress report.

11:30-12:30 – Kitchen duty and I pack my lunch bag for tomorrow.  I make overnight oats and prepare my coffee for tomorrow.

12:30-1:00 – I pick out my clothes for tomorrow and read a Money Diary.

1:00-2:00 – I do an Insanity – Cardio Power and Resistance workout.

2:00-2:30 – Recover.  I drink champagne and work on a blog post.

2:30-3:15 – Nighttime routine. Bed. I set my alarm for 6:30