Day 28-Monkey pox is the new pandemic

First day of class at my Catholic High School…

8/31/22. Wednesday

4:45-5:00-My alarm goes off and the dog starts licking my face so I get up and take her outside. I feel…horrible. It’s way too early. I warm my coffee, grab a bag of ice, and return upstairs, where I lie down again and ice my eyes.

5:15-5:45-I sit in the shower, continue icing my eyes, and drink my coffee. Lotion. Garden Society Member: I wear a gray sleeveless dress with a flared skirt and short, black heels.

5:45-6:45-Traffic is horrible so I immediately transition to the carpool lane. I’ve got my retired law enforcement ID in the glove compartment, but I’m not sure it will get me out of a ticket. This high school is located in Gardena, a city I’m not familiar with. This is a very depressed area, even though Elon Musk’s Space X is located a few blocks away from the high school.

6:45-8:15-I park in the main parking lot and chill for awhile. I eat overnight oats for breakfast and finish putting on my make-up, all while listening to Best of Both Worlds and Organize 365. There is a leaf blower blowing all kinds of debris around the parking lot and my allergies instantly kick in - it’s bad.

8:15-8:30-As I walk across the parking lot, the Dean of Students greets me. Staff is very friendly, my classroom is unlocked, and the computer is on and ready for me.

8:30-10:00-This is the oldest school I’ve ever taught at. The classroom is clean, but it’s like being transported in time to my own high school 40 years ago, to include acoustical tiles (probably filled with asbestos) and windows that you crank open. Horror of horrors!!! There is NO AIR CONDITIONING!!! Only two circulating fans, lazily spinning, and an industrial air purifier [Covid]. I start sweating immediately, it is so hot in this classroom.

The Assistant Principal stops by and we have a conversation about his son taking my class last semester. Apparently, his son liked my format, i.e., no Zoom and the students listen to the “Poli Sci Podcast.” The Assistant Principal is a mathematician and very kind; he shows me how to take Attendance via the computer. The computer guy (IT) also makes an appearance and introduces himself. Spoiler Alert: I never see the Assistant Principal again.

-The students arrive and the classroom is quickly packed with 27 Black kids. All of them are Honors’ Students and they seem nice. As stated numerous times in this blog, none of these kids have access to Canvas due to College No. 2’s typical delay with inputting high schoolers into the system. There’s no point in going over a Syllabus they can’t see, so I immediately transition to the Chapter 1 Lecture. It is so hot in here, I’m afraid I will faint. By the end of class, I know I will never teach at this school again. Note: the Office has full air conditioning via central air.

10:00-11:45-The first day of class is over. I walk to my car and drive home. Like this morning, return traffic is just as bad.

11:45-12:45-Home and I put away all of my bags and then get to work rewriting the Syllabus for my “Einstein” online high school students because that class was converted to Asynchronous via an executive decision from my Dean two days ago. The students still don’t know that the format has changed and we’re scheduled to meet at 3:00 today. Prior to 3:00, the entire Syllabus needs to be redone, to reflect this class as fully online, and ready to disseminate.

12:45-1:50-I start revising the Syllabus.

1:50-2:00-I check personal email; then

2:00-2:45-continue working on the Syllabus.

3:00-4:25-The class starts at 3:00, but these students still do NOT have access to Canvas, so I email the students the course content for this week via the email thread I’ve already established.

-I wait to receive confirmation from my students that they are in receipt of my material. Instead, I get almost no feedback at all from this crowd - did they even show up?

-While I’m sitting here, waiting to receive a response, I email IT and ask why my “Profile Picture”, at College No. 2, was turned into a grey blob? In other words, my photo was arbitrarily removed from the Canvas shell with no notification and no reason. If an Instructor is fully online, their photo should be present in the Canvas shell - it’s more professional and establishes a sense of connection, especially since the students are going at their own pace, online, with no human interaction from an Instructor.

There’s a rumor (still not confirmed) that Canvas is arbitrarily deleting profile pictures because Instructors have gone over their data storage limit. How odd. Instead of notifying said Adjunct with, “Hey, you’ve used too much content and you need to delete the extra”, Canvas arbitrarily pulls down our profile pictures and says nothing. As an experiment, I start deleting my files to make room for my data. Maybe my profile picture will be restored??? Nope - doesn’t work.

4:30-5:50-I log into College No. 1. and note that a few students have already taken the Specialty Class 1A - Chapter 3 Review Quiz, complete with LOW scores.

-I post an Announcement to College No. 1 and remind them that the Inquizitives are due.

-I pull the Chapter 4 pdf transcription from Rev. com [for Specialty Class 1A) and start editing as I listen to the AUDIO lecture.

5:50-8:00-I finish watching the new Wombs For Rent documentary (new assignment) that I added and prepare the last few questions on the Video Quiz.

8:00-9:00-I load the entire Video Quiz, manually, into the Canvas shell.

9:20-9:50-I check headlines; then

9:50-10:30-complete some employee paperwork.

10:30-11:00-Blog posts; followed by

11:00-11:30-Kitchen duty. I do the dishes and ready my coffee for tomorrow.

11:30-12:30-I do a 30-minute, Insanity Max workout; then

12:30-1:30-Nighttime routine. Bed.