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2020-06-23SRVUSD Budget and Reopening Protest Photographs
These are unpublished photographs I took while reporting for my school's newspaper, The Californian. These photographs show the people who attended the protest, including a mixture of students and parents. There are also a variety of signs showing various motivations for protesting. This entry is connected to the "San Ramon community protests SRVUSD spending and issues with remote learning" submission. -
2020-06-29
What should the school year of 2020-2021 mean for Cal High’s students?
This is a set of three articles from The Californian, the student newspaper of California High School, each one arguing in favor of a different stance regarding the reopening of San Ramon Valley Unified School District schools. In the articles one can see the concerns that motivated high school students (well, three students in one high school) to form opinions about various forms of learning during the pandemic. One article argues for fulltime in-person learning, one article argues for completely remote learning, and the third argues for hybrid learning, a mix of the two. An illustration also accompanies the set of articles. -
2020-06-27
San Ramon community protests SRVUSD spending and issues with remote learning
This is a news article I wrote about a protest for my school newspaper. The protest was convened to support the ability for students in the San Ramon Valley Unified School District to be able to return to school for the 2020-21 school year, and to oppose raises for district management and certain purchases made by the district. The protest occurred on June 23, 2020, at the SRVUSD offices in Danville, California. -
2021-05-10Mothers Day 2021
I was expecting a take-home craft this year from my Kindergartener especially with covid restrictions mostly still in place. Instead, her teacher and school went above and beyond. We all wore masks and each class took turns in the cafeteria in order to limit the number of people. We were surprised by placemats (spaced six feet apart) with snacks and a water bottle. My daughter was able to show me work and pictures from her Kindergarten year, while I ate my snacks she gave me the sweetest "massage" then read me a book. The kids then got up on stage and sang us a song as best they could. I'm not the sort to cry but I did. I'm not sure if it was because my daughter is just so cute or if it was the realization of how strong she's been this year. Virtual learning was tough, wearing a mask to school was tough, being six during a global pandemic was tough but my daughter showed me that she's tougher. I hope one day she will realize just how much I admire her. -
2021-04-13The Last Day of School (but in March)
The Last Day Of School (but in March) By Taylor S. Remember how public toilets were gross not unsafe? Remember when we were packed on planes, flying to places with more people? Remember when playdates weren’t virtual? Remember when the only masks we saw were in doctor movies? And when we went to REAL LIFE SCHOOL!! Lunch in the Cafeteria and rushing to get the best handball. Learning in person and then setting off to do a mountain of homework. Hanging out with your friends, real P.E, real assemblies. The experience of school. I miss it so much. Just sitting at a real desk with a teacher in front of you. I haven’t been to school in 7 months. An extra long summer break? No, A world wide pandemic. But that Thursday in March, The last day of real school, I remember like yesterday. The rain feeds the starving grass, it pounds on dusty roofs, and my mom’s car gets a much needed wash. Me, well I’m sleeping unaware of what’s to come. “Taylor Wake up,” My mom whispers, she slaps on the lights and throws a laundry basket in the middle of my room. “Ugg,” I groaned, “5 more minutes please!!” “You have school” My mom says. I unwillingly role out of my bed and onto my floor, but it's not really a floor. It's a mountain of junk, with books, clothes and who-knows-what else. I stand up and zombie walk over to my window. I peek out and see rain. “OOOHHH!!!!” I yell. (I’m amused that it's raining, but I’m yelling for the main reason to see if my sister is up.) I hear footsteps down the hallway. Sydney walks up, “What is it?” Sydney asks. “Just rain.” “Then why did you wake me up!” “Cause I wanted to.” “That's mean.” “Your mean.” “Can I borrow your rain jacket?” Sydney begs. “No I’m wearing it.” She sticks her tongue out at me and leaves. I lazily slap on some clothes, and hide my rain jacket in my tornado closet and stumble to the kitchen. My mom was sitting at the couch worryful glancing at the news. Her old computer was on her lap as she packed the amazon cart with toilet paper and clorox wipes. “Governor Newsom just banned gatherings over 50 people.” My mom says glancing at her phone. “But P.E is more than 50 people.” I say. “So we don’t have school.” I start to get my hopes up. “Too late to cancel now.” My mom utters. “Just enjoy school, Ok Taylor.” “I would rather be sleeping.” I mumble. After 1 lazy bowl of cereal it's about 8:05 and time to go to school. “We are going to walk.” My mom mumbles, “We need to get outside more.” I am about to argue but getting wet doesn't sound too bad. After blocks of wetness we are at school. “Race you to the front office.” Sydney yells. “Ok….” I start. “Hey Scarlett!” Sydney cheers and runs off with her. I make my way through the confusion of kids, parents, backpacks, and umbrellas. I wipe my feet in the sea of people in the entrance. I skid down the hallway out the door to Ms. Grafton’s classroom. Beyond that is normal classroom stuff. Math lesson ?, storyworks packet, indoor recess. All I wanted was to be in my bed. I opened up my book and started whispering to my friend during my snack indoor recess. I had no clue that 7 months later I’m a 5th grade Zoom student….... “Ok everyone, put away that math book and time to watch a movie!” Ms. Grafton cheered. Excitement flooded the room, we were finally doing something fun! Not long division. After Ms. Grafton heated up the popcorn that had been sitting in the corner of the classroom for weeks. “Everyone line up.” Ms. Grafton instructed. So after that everybody raced to get to the front of the line. No social distancing, no masks, imagine that! While watching the movie I imagined being home in my own bed. I just want school to end. I want it to close and be at home. But Taylor you heard the news, and that Covid-19 is dangerous. In the future if you're at home you’ll be looking back on this day, saying “I wished Taylor enjoyed that,” Just enjoy School. Just eat popcorn and enjoy. So I did enjoy myself and appreciated school. After 3 servings of popcorn, and the evil guy in Kung-Fu-Panda 2 destroying a fortress, Ms. Grafton abruptly stops the film. “This most likely won’t happen, but we may not go back to school. Gather up you Math Book, Writers Notebook, also…….” Ms. Grafton started. Of course I didn't listen. I shoved all the contents of my desk into my hands, and carried them out to my backpack. It took me 2 trips. (And in the end I forgot my favorite galaxy water bottle!) As the clock ticked closer to 3. The classroom started to look emptier. The desks were stripped of all contents and shoved into backpacks. “Ms. Grafton..” A girl in my class begained. “What?” Ms. Grafton responded. “You know how you said that we probably will come to school tomorrow, but we are taking a lot of our stuff out of our desks. Won’t it be hard to put it all back?” “It’s better to be safe than sorry.” “BING!!” the 3:00 bell had rung. I walked out the door to the front office, where my mom would be to pick me up. I looked back at the classroom, unsure if or when we would come back to it. I walked along the hallway with one of my good friends. We joked like normal, but would this be the last time? I walked out the commotion of the front office to my mom and sister. As we walked to my mom’s grocery filled car, I looked back at Franklin. When would I come back? I already missed school, the classroom, the cafeteria, the yard. That was the last time I got picked up in 7 months. At first we were sure to be back by the end of Spring Break. Nope. Cases too high. What about the start of next year? Nope. Now we are hoping for an after winter break reopening. But who knows? I think back to all the times throughout 4th grade, that I just wanted to be home, sleeping. Turns out that wish came true. Now all I want is to be back in the classroom. (And I still don’t have that water bottle back!) -
2021-05-25Digitally Trapped
I am a victim of online pedophilia. My experience discusses how that has effected the switch to online shool. -
2021-05-23BLUR - Life During COVID
This story details the way life felt during COVID, just a blur, a mix of days where they all felt the same, except for maybe one or two. It explains how COVID changed school for me, what my habits became, and the sort of things I had to deal with. This is important to me because it's the only time I've ever explained what the last year has made me feel, and it's very raw. It's not some grand essay, just exactly how I've felt, and the issues COVID has caused me. -
2020-03-13My Experience with Online School and Quarantine
Hi! My name is Wendy! Right after a normal weekend in March, I never expected that we would switch to online learning. I was shocked to see the email in the picture on March 13th, saying that we would no longer go back to normal school. This screenshot is very important to me since it made me realize that Covid-19 was a bigger issue than I thought. There was talk of a new illness (Covid-19), but I honestly didn’t feel like it would turn into a whole pandemic. I was kind of thankful since I had a dentist appointment on Monday that would’ve made me be absent from class, but all the cons of Covid-19 outweighed the benefits. The first few weeks were awful- it was hard to adapt to the constant isolation, and being with my family all day was tiring. Also, school wasn’t as engaging or fun anymore. We weren’t able to connect with our teachers or talk to our friends in class. Furthermore, seeing the news and how thousands of people were dying was very frightening. But it's been more than a year of online school, and I found out that what helped me cope was the small things like texting my friends on Discord, hanging out (with masks and 6 feet apart obviously), and exploring things that I couldn’t do before quarantine like drawing or playing the piano. Of course, there were days where I was fed up with being inside or when I felt depressed, but making the most out of this situation gave me the drive to keep social distancing. So remember to keep wearing masks, keeping 6 feet apart, and get vaccinated! This lack of social interaction and not being able to go to school or public places normally is unfortunate but we must stay away from each other to stay together. When it gets hard, find ways to connect with others through safe means like social media and use all that free time to improve and discover things about yourself. -
2020-03-09Future Historians
Dear Historians of the Future, In 2020, there was a pandemic that occurred known as COVID-19 that made drastic changes in terms of restaurants, traveling internationally, school and work. One of my biggest pieces of advice is to ensure the president you have is not a narcissist or a leader who does not take responsibility for the bad things that happen. According to the article “Donald Trump owns the Coronavirus,” published on March 9, 2020, by a senior economist Dean Baker, this document explains how COVID impacted the community and what experiences people faced. Reading this article will allow you to understand the ability to have directorship in guiding the country to a better path then shifting it to the left. For instance, the reading states “It is very likely that we will face a recession as people cancel travel plans and are reluctant to go out to restaurants, sporting events and other public places.” Because of Trump, Americans and the people that live in it had to cancel many of their plans as a result of Trump not taking accurate information into consideration. He was mainly focused on putting blame towards China or the democrats, rather than looking for solutions with CDC. During the pandemic, many people believed Donald Trump was responsible for the Coronavirus outbreak in the U.S. in the article, Baker concludes: “In short, the fact that we are likely facing a serious pandemic, unlike any we have seen in more than a century, is 100 percent Trump’s fault. Because of his vanity and ineptitude, people will die, and many more will get sick.” This article demonstrates how Trump did not care to take action when the pandemic initially began. Because of this, one can say when it comes to having a narcissist president like Trump, leadership plays a role in situations like this for the world. In conclusion, I chose this source to explain my experience of the pandemic and what challenges people faced. In other words, this article will help you understand how the pandemic had an impact on many people's lives. If president Trump initially took action when he first started receiving news about the COVID, people would still be employed and parents would not have to stay home with their children. The negative aspect of this is some families struggled financially as a result of the pandemic and staying unemployed. -
2020-03-11CUNY's Response
Where to even start? 2020, the year where everything and everyone changed forever. 2020 did not just consist of the Covid Virus it consisted of many other threads that harmed everyone’s mental health including students. It was hard for all students during this time but in my perspective College students. This documents faithfully explain 2020 and I will be here to give you future historians a more in depth look at how it really was during these times. The document I chose not only explains how we went from going in person to virtual but also how it made me feel as a visual learner and as a college student of course. CUNY mentioned we were going to have a “Instructional recess from March 12-18th”, this day I will never forget because I did not know that March 11th was going to be the last day of my two-years of college. When I received this email on Twitter that CUNY had stated this I was overwhelmed and shocked. The thought of everything being virtual just didn’t seem right to me, although I did have all the access from computers to internet access, it just did not sit right. As a visual learner this was tough for me, this was a moment of you get classwork and you basically have to teach it to yourself, not seeing my professors in person and through a screen was very hard to get used to, the internet sometimes would not work and it would cut off and I would miss most of the important things said during the lesson, it was honestly very difficult, this was not just tough on students, as well as professors having the same issues. This era was honestly tough, but technology really saved a whole year worth of schoolwork. To the historians reading this in a couple of years from now, I, as a person who lived through these times want you to understand the rough time we went through, from masks to face shields to many deaths and virtually going to school. These were moments in time that no one anticipated. It shaped the future into what it had become, masks may become the new norm, working from home may be allowed for certain jobs and companies, schools just might let people continue to be fully virtual and things may be extremely dependent on technology from now on. To conclude this 2020 document, though it was a rough year where millions of people died worldwide, I can only be thankful that me and the ones I love are safe and okay. We now know how to take proper precautions in case anything like this happens again, though I don’t wish for a repeat of 2020. The year of 2020 is one for the books and one that will go down in history. -
2020-03-13My Experience with Online School and Quarantine
Hi! My name is Wendy! Right after a normal weekend in March, I never expected that we would switch to online learning. I was shocked to see the email in the picture on March 13th, saying that we would no longer go back to normal school. This screenshot is very important to me since it made me realize that Covid-19 was a bigger issue than I thought. There was talk of a new illness (Covid-19), but I honestly didn’t feel like it would turn into a whole pandemic. I was kind of thankful since I had a dentist appointment on Monday that would’ve made me be absent from class, but all the cons of Covid-19 outweighed the benefits. The first few weeks were awful- it was hard to adapt to the constant isolation, and being with my family all day was tiring. Also, school wasn’t as engaging or fun anymore. We weren’t able to connect with our teachers or talk to our friends in class. Furthermore, seeing the news and how thousands of people were dying was very frightening. But it's been more than a year of online school, and I found out that what helped me cope was the small things like texting my friends on Discord, hanging out (with masks and 6 feet apart obviously), and exploring things that I couldn’t do before quarantine like drawing or playing the piano. Of course, there were days where I was fed up with being inside or when I felt depressed, but making the most out of this situation gave me the drive to keep social distancing. So remember to keep wearing masks, keeping 6 feet apart, and get vaccinated! This lack of social interaction and not being able to go to school or public places normally is unfortunate but we must stay away from each other to stay together. When it gets hard, find ways to connect with others through safe means like social media and use all that free time to improve and discover things about yourself. -
2021-05-02Charlotte Botenhagen Oral History 2021/05/02
This was an interview from Jennifer Botenhagen who is a preschool teacher living in a tiny mountain town. This interview details her experience adapting to teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. -
2020-03-13Illinois Closes ALL Schools
It was the day the governor of IL announced school closures due to COVID-19 -
2021-05-04Dreams
This was an assignment in Paula Flynn's 5th grade class at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Monica, CA. I hope to see my friends again I hope to go to school in person I hope to travel around the world I hope to see relatives Why can’t it always be like this? Hope hope hope -
2021-04-30High school proms go on, but with COVID-19 restrictions
Prom has been cancelled across the United States. While this is the case for most places, select locations are finding ways to make prom possible. For a school district in Pennsylvania, this meant having prom on the football field. This allowed them to enforce social distancing while still allowing the students to play games and have fun. -
2020-03-11
My Life During The Pandemic
It's important to me because it's going to be about my life and the way I carried myself during this pandemic. Because it made it very difficult for me to really go out, and made it extremely hard for me to go from being in person at school to being virtual classes. Which also made it hard for me to get used to it, I suffered a lot during the pandemic. I went through so much stress and had many many breakdowns thinking I couldn't do it the first semester during this scary situation, everyone was basically dying from this virus. I say that the lockdown did really affect me mentally and physically. -
2021-03-10Nursing schools response to Covid
Covid-19 and the pandemic has had a significant impact on the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers that were nearing retirment had a good reason to retire early, and many others that felt the job became too dangerous or mentally taxing left the medical field forever due to Covid-19. The numbers of nurses have suffered as a result, and that means that during the worst healthcare crisis in recent history, the nurses that were working had even more burden placed on them by staffing problems. This article explains the ways in which nursing schools have responded to try and get more people into the field. -
2020-04-30Offline and left out: Not all Arizona students can connect for remote learning
This article focuses specifically on Arizona's efforts to provide students with internet/technology access in order to achieve online learning. It goes into detail about how several Phoenix schools dealt with the pandemic and online learning in the spring semester of 2020 as well as discusses how some students dealt with internet access issues in creative ways, either due to lack of internet or hotspot issues. Some examples are utilizing hotspots or through just going to public areas despite quarantine conditions to complete schoolwork. -
2021-04-18What made California’s vaccine rollout so difficult?
The Golden state only recently received news that “50% of all eligible Californians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine." It’s progress and it’s most certainly hope. What gives people even more hope is how they expanded vaccination eligibility to 16 and over as of April 15. Schools are already reopening, but this is good news for those who are still hesitant to return — and for good reason. What made California’s vaccine rollout so difficult? One of the most obvious answers is the size of the state. Its population was recorded to be over 39 million in 2020. Even with an increase in vaccines, with roughly 2.4 million doses in the first week of April alone, it was not enough to accommodate even the 50-64 age group — a population of roughly 7.2 million. Santa Clara County Executive Officer, Jeff Smith, was also quoted to have cited the state's governor for perpetuating the pandemic — that his pandemic approach was “disorganized and petulant.” Although affordable healthcare services is a nationwide pandemic in and of itself, California also deals with fragmented healthcare responsibilities. Distribution is “split up among 58 county governments.” Issues in communication, planning and transportation of vaccines are all major factors impacted by the overwhelming lack of unified leadership. https://twitter.com/CAgovernor/status/1383132361148100609 https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/04/01/as-california-expands-covid-19-vaccine-eligibility-to-all-californians-50-governor-newsom-receives-vaccine-in-los-angeles/ -
2021-03-27Fox News Perspective
Living in a divided nation I felt it necessary to follow various news outlets. I've realized that many times the truth usually lies somewhere in the middle. Actually, I think the truth usually lies somewhere closer to the left side but that's beside the point. I found this post by Fox News to be interesting because it talks about how conservative TV Host Laura Ingram thinks history will be written. I rarely agree with anything Fox News posts but in this case, I agree that history will record the many villains that have been exposed during the pandemic. I agree that many special interests bodies will be listed but I don't think it will include teachers. I don't think it's farfetched to say that the conservative's push to return back to school has more to do with money and less to do with children. It's funny how she says it's time to "follow the science" where were these conservatives when science said masks help stop the spread of COVID? -
2020-10-05Teaching over technology: educational priorities during COVID-19
This article focuses more on the teaching side of the shift to online schooling. The reading mostly discusses different challenges that teachers face in regards to accesses with technology or ways that they can work with disadvantaged students during the pandemic. The second half of the reading focuses mostly on the support and recognition that teachers deserve due to the circumstances provided by COVID-19. -
2020-06-04How COVID-19 Is Shaping Tech Use. What That Means When Schools Reopen
This article discusses mostly how teachers are changing their beliefs/enhancing abilities due to the switch onto the online function. The article discusses a number of relevant topics such as teacher's capabilities to utilize educational technology, ability to troubleshoot technology problems, and technological environments for both students and teachers. There is also discussion on their views on the online teaching format, as well as their responses regarding economic and technological disparities for certain groups of students. -
2021-03-29School Districts in California Setbacks while Reopening
This explains which and how many school districts in California have reopened. Many have remained closed for a year or more. As the article's title suggests, "A majority of school districts are now open. But not everyone wants to return," they share why they're seeing a slow intake of students. They also reported that the Long Beach school district had their teachers vaccinated earlier, therefore was able to open their schools earlier than the rest of the state. -
2021-04-01Transgender Day of Visibility
Today on #TransDayOfVisibility, we are in solidarity with all trans and nonbinary folks, whether they choose to be visible or not. Visibility does not equal protection and safety, and it does not guarantee basic rights. Currently there are at least 44 anti-trans bills being introduced by lawmakers in the US, a record number that primarily targets children and prohibits them from accessing medical care and limits their ability to participate in school sports. With visibility comes the need to be even louder. No one is free until we are all free, and with the disproportional rate our Black, Brown, and Indigenous trans siblings experience violence, both physically and judicially, we must commit to ending the systems that allow the systemic barriers and hatred to endure. For more resources, actionable steps and donations, follow: @raquel_willis @chasestrangio @glits_inc @mpjinstitute @transjusticefp @intransitive.ar @tko_alabama @mattxiv @jmaseiii #transdayofvisibility #tdov2021 -
2021-04-03Proposed Ban on Hijab in France
Amplifying @muslim because we all need to address this. We support our French sisters in all of their efforts to fight against this Islamophobic law. This is a human rights violation and will only continue putting young hijabi girls and women at higher risk for gender-based discrimination and violence. To all the organizers or grassroots campaigners working on this in France, let us know in the comment, we are here with you - the colonial powers and hate-filled people it has indoctrinated cannot win this. ・・・ BREAKING 🚨 France proposes on bill to ban hijab for girls under the age of 18. The proposal now has to go through the National Assembly. source - @publicsenat #muslim #muslimnews #francescas -
2021-04-02
Why is this so hard?
Every week, write an entry in JOTPY. Seems like the easiest assignment ever. I thought so, too. But, I have really struggled. I have found myself behind in entries and I probably need to write 2-3 times a week for the rest of the semester to stay on track. I've always had trouble journaling and writing in diaries ever since I was a kid. I've always viewed those things as really personal thoughts and I like to keep mine in my head. I viewed writing my innermost thoughts and viewpoints would give others an advantage over me, a way to see my weaknesses. A super intimate view of myself through my own lens. I've read thousands of pages, researched for hours, written a dozen response papers, drafted a 25-page paper, and still, this write in JOTPY every week has been the hardest assignment all semester. Maybe it's because it forces me to think about COVID and how it has affected me, my family, and the rest of society. COVID has taken over my life for the past year and this assignment forces me to confront that fact and my feelings about it head-on. It forces me to publicly share these thoughts. At first, I wondered if it was even beneficial to assign students to write for a project like this. It's supposed to be shared experiences but how authentic are the entries really going to be when people are not writing on their own, but writing because their grade is dependent upon it? I cannot speak for other students, but I feel that this entry I am writing now is very authentic. Although I am scrambling and having to submit a few times a week, I am grateful for this assignment. It really helped me grow as a student and a person. I still have a ways to go, but I am becoming more comfortable with sharing my personal thoughts and opinions in writing. -
2020-04-3053% of Americans Say the Internet Has Been Essential During the COVID-19 Outbreak
This Pew Research article discusses how different socioeconomic status and political preference influences how Americans believe schools should provide technology for their students. More importantly, the article goes into detail about how parents with lower incomes are more likely to struggle to provide some sort of adequate situation for their children, especially when the majority of Americans view technology and the internet as an essential tool during the pandemic. Besides student access to technology, economic class is also having an impact on how some individuals can afford their own internet connections and phone plans, thereby limiting their access. -
2021-03-23Where Are All the Kids?
Our school has never looked better - festive flags waving, campus clean and painted, welcoming balloon arches. We were ready to re-open. But then, no one came. The message we teachers had been whispering amongst ourselves for weeks, that kids and their families do not want to come back yet, had come to fruition. Out of my 172 students, only 31 will step foot on campus, the rest will continue to logon from home. That number, 31, is expected to continue to drop as more students revert to only Distance Learning. Knowing how few students were on campus, I was surprised to see our school social media posted first day pictures. I know it was supposed to be celebratory, but I couldn’t stop laughing at the insanity of a balloon arch welcoming no one. How could our social media exclaim that we were “so happy to see students roam the halls again” and then post pictures of a completely empty school? It looks like Chernobyl. At some point, I decided to take the images, a video of an empty classroom my friend took, and my attendance roster with almost all kids marked as “Distance Learning” and put them together in a video to try and capture the mixed emotions. I alternatively feel like crying and laughing when I watch it. I really think it captures the reopening, albeit in a slightly subversive way. Of course, I really hope my admin never sees it, because I’m guessing they will not see the tongue and cheek, ironic humor in this. -
2021-03-26
One day
I hope one day, When someone asks me how I’m doing, I’ll say that I’m good, And truly mean it. I hope one day, That I have no feeling of missing, And have all the people, Together with no concern. I hope one day, I can breathe in the world, And not have to worry about masking myself. I hope one day, I’ll go to the hospital, And see the doctors laughing. I hope one day, I’ll truly forgive. Forgive myself, And forgive others, Of always wanting, Wanting something more. Shall we not hope on that day, To work at home, For being tired Of running to school? Shall we not hope, To run away, Or mask ourselves In disguise? Shall we not hope, That we did something more, While in, This everlasting void of unhappiness? Shall we not hope, That we had been better, That we had resisted, And pushed on? So, I hope on that day, We will not regret, We will forgive, We will understand. We will hope. -
2021-03-26
Letter to the World
Dear post-covid world, I dream for people to take science more seriously. I dream for school to realize the pain it gives some people. I dream that the “rulers” of the school have learned that they aren’t better than others. I dream that the teaching of racism dies. I dream that women get equal pay. I dream that people can learn to love mother nature. I dream that people will smile more. I dream that adults would stop acting like babies. I dream that we can trust one another again. I dream that I can go back to the childhood I used to know. The childhood that didn’t care about a thing in the world. The childhood that didn’t have to see and learn the cruelty of the real world. I dream that at least one person reads my letter. I dream that all of this will come true. I know it won’t. But a kid can only dream. Sincerely, One voice -
2021-03-26
I want...
I want... To be able to see my friends and without masks. To be able to see my cousin who's one of my best friends. To be able to go to school To be able to play volleyball inside To be able to have fun without worried about my health To be able to see my grandparents and my newborn cousin I haven't been able to meet To be able to have fun and live my life as a kid, the world every kid deserves -
2021-01-26Journal of American Medical Association Data and Policy for School Opening
The article references numerous case studies and research which suggest that transmission between students should not be a determining factor in postponing in-person instruction. External factors (i.e. local communities) are analysis in the article to offer another perspective about the dangers of students in the classroom. The article does provide recommendations to mitigate the spread of the virus between students, teachers, and staff. -
2021-02-12"Open for In-Person Learning" State of Arizona Executive Order 2021-04
On February 12, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued guidance on COVID-19 as it relates to the "re-opening" of schools for in-person instruction. From the office of Governor Doug Ducey, Executive Order 2021-04 provides instruction for the Arizona Department of Education to follow in each district in the state of Arizona. -
2021-03-02The 128th Day, aka Day One
For the first time in 374 days, I taught from my classroom today. It is the 128th day of school, we have only one quarter left. As nervous as we are about our community and the COVID risk level, I feel very positive and relieved to be back. COVID numbers have dropped considerably, and though I haven’t always seen eye to eye with my district in the way this entire pandemic has been handled, at the end of the day, I really feel like the right decisions were made Compared to neighboring districts, I feel our safety standards exceed the norm. It is strange still - the largest in person class I will have is seven students and the smallest is zero! Many families in our community have opted to continue distance learning through the rest of the school year, which I understand. We made the same choice for our two kids! Still, it was nice for the first time in over a year to wake up and have somewhere to go. Even though on one hand it seems ridiculous to Zoom an entire class of kids with two kids in the classroom who are sitting far away from me with headphones on and are logged into also the same Zoom meeting, I did feel re-energized to just be back in my classroom. I don’t think I have a greater prayer right now than for the vaccines to continue to work and for the adolescent and pediatric trials to successfully run their course. Wouldn’t it be incredible to have the kids vaccinated by fall? I know it will not be a reality for all students, but I think that piece of the puzzle will be a big part in mitigating the spread. In the meantime, I’ll continue to follow the pleas of the SOS sign that is taped all over the school. Indeed, let’s save our school year and the next one, too! -
2021-03-21Your Priority is to Open Schools Faster Rather Than Safer?
So @andrewyang, let us get this straight... your priority is to open schools faster rather than safer? You would have preferred for @uftny to open schools in the largest school district in America BEFORE it was safe to do so (which it arguably still isn’t)? Got it. 👍🏽 What are your thoughts on @andrewyang as a candidate? Do candidates’ views on education/ teaching unions influence your vote? Share below! 👇🏽 Source; @nyc_covid_mutualaid -
2021-03-18
With Hope
Today is Thursday, March 18, 2021. Saturday, March 13, was the first anniversary of the Friday the 13th that essentially broke the world, and that was our last day of normal. Or at least that’s how we all remember it now. On Monday, March 15, 2021, the students at my high school returned in “full swing” for the fourth quarter of the school year. I mean by full swing that we have no A and B days, and we are not all virtual. We still have an asynchronous day on Wednesday, but we all know that will soon go away. Many kids are staying virtual, and I don’t know how long that will be an option. So, we have had three days of students back on campus, and I think I would be much more concerned if I myself were not vaccinated, but I am fully vaccinated, and my husband completed his two-week waiting period a couple of days ago, so my house is “safe.” (Though I don’t totally feel that way yet) I don’t work on Wednesday right now, so we celebrated being fully vaccinated by going to an outdoor brunch, which was totally socially distanced, and I appreciated it a lot. I digress, though… school feels like school again. Sure, we limit the number of students who come into the library at lunch, but they are here, the halls bustle, and kids' noise in the hallway trails through our open library doors between periods again. Unfortunately, we are jumping back into things right in time for state testing, so we got this week of “bliss” before things become chaos of finding computers to test, getting students to make sure their computers are updated, and the general panic of finding space and making schedules that comes with any year of state testing. I want things to continue to trend in a direction where I don’t have to rescind all this hope a couple of months from now. -
2021-03-15For Tempe Public Schools, in-person learning resumes
Maya, age 6 returned to in-person learning for the first time since October. Yesterday she got a haircut to get ready for her first day. Today, I asked her how her day was and she said it was good, but sometimes she felt sleepy because she forgot how long a school day is. -
2020-06-11
Taking Charge
COVID has definitely impacted all of our lives. Despite all the damage it has caused, the virus had some positive consequences. Some of us developed closer relationships with our families. Many of us found new hobbies and developed new passions. For myself, I found a passion for healthcare. Hearing stories and watching news reports on the chaos occurring in our hospitals, made me feel impotent. So, after 3 semesters away from school, I decided to come back and focus on finishing my bachelors so i can enroll in a nursing program. -
2020-05-07Screen Grab English 7800 Spring 2020
This screenshot shows three students and their instructor in a moment of silliness on Zoom, where we attempted and mostly succeeded at engaging in rigorous academic work while keeping one another sane and grounded. -
2020-03-24
Covid-19 affected my life on eating habit, sleeping habits, and emotional wellness
When the pandemic started, it affected my life. Before the pandemic, I attend class on campus from Monday through Friday. I will have to wake up super early around 7 am or 8 am to get ready for class. After class ends, I will rush to my part-time job and begin working. This is what I do every day and I feel like this is what life is supposed to be like. After the pandemic started, I needed to stay home and attend an online course. When attending online courses, it gives me the anxiety of worrying whether I will pass the course or not. It is my first time attending the course online and I’m scared that I might not catch up with my education. I lost my part-time jobs and my parents stopped working due to the pandemic. I started to worry about the family income and planning to get a job. However, it is hard to find jobs during the pandemic and it is too risky for going outside. I started home every day and felt bored to the point I felt emotional numbness. My eating habits and sleeping habits change. I sleep almost the whole day at home and it causes some aches in my head. I often feel like I am lacking energy and easily tire. I also lack the motivation to do anything and think that the world is boring. I sometimes skip breakfast and lunch when I wake up at 4 pm when I sleep too much. These eating habits and sleeping habits are bad for my body. I decided to change a little to fix my health and I will start from sleeping and eating first. I feel like I need to find a goal or something to do in life to keep my motivation. -
2021-02-17Vaccination Blues
My homeland, Orange County, has not been a place to be very proud of during COVID-19. Between anti-maskers, inept leadership, lack of transparency, and inequity in access to both COVID-19 testing and vaccines, this year has been a roller coaster in our little coastal chunk of CA. The vaccine roll out has been a massive headache. For the past month on Instagram, I see post after post of people younger than I who are getting their vaccinations because they live in another part of the state or country, while locally it's only health care workers I know that have been able to be vaccinated. Although other parts of CA (and the country) have begun to vaccinate teachers and food workers, Orange County is stubbornly (as I was told in a meeting today) waiting until 50% of the over 65 population is vaccinated before they open it up to the next tier. Though this causes me endless anxiety - will I be able to get a vaccine before my high school of 2500 opens for in person instruction - the one relief of the week was that my 65 year old mother was FINALLY able to get a vaccination appointment. The Othena system is a joke - she tried numerous times and couldn't get an appointment for the supposed super pods. Kaiser is still only vaccinating 75+! The Nextdoor app clued us in that a local hospital (where my mom has her insurance) was starting to vaccinate. Despite logging on in the very beginning of February, the earliest appointment she could get is for March 3. She took it, but I wanted to keep searching, because I worry that if the next Tier opens, she may have trouble getting a second shot if she waits until March 3. Nextdoor again clued me in to Rite-Aid, where a friend of my mom's outside OC got her vaccine. Best part - you go directly through Rite Aid, so no Othena! Success! My mom made her appointment on Saturday for tomorrow. We were jubilant! I told both my best friends about the Rite Aid trick, and within three days, they had their elderly family members signed up. Today, an hour after my best friend texted me that her dad got his Rite Aid vaccine, my mom sent me her cancellation message. Apparently the current winter storms have delayed the arrival of vaccines. My mom got lucky again, because it turns out that our school district is vaccinating employees 65+. Though retired, because she is a part time employee, my mom received an invitation today. Once she got the Rite Aid cancellation, she made her an appointment with the school district. Tomorrow is the first day the school district is vaccinating, so we have no idea what to expect, and are a little nervous because her insurance is not one of the carriers of the school district. Fingers crossed that she can still get it! Though I am genuinely happy for everyone getting vaccinated, it is frustrating that it is so much work here to try and get one. Using the Othena site hasn't worked for anyone I know - everyone I know has been vaccinated through their work or somewhere like Rite Aid. Honestly, if I see another post of someone with their vaccination card with a "do your part!" message I am going to throw my phone at the wall. I do want to do my part, if only Orange County would get their act together and manage this whole roll out better. Come on Orange County, you can do better. -
2021-02-17
Living Like An Immunocompromised Person
I have been living in fear of getting others sick rather than what will happen if I were to be the one to get sick. My brother is immunocompromised, so I have spent most of 2020 in my house. I have not been scared of coming back positive because I have had cousins who have been sick but have had no real issues. The reason I have lived a full year with fear and anxiety is the idea of giving the disease to my Diabetic brother. Part of the reason I came back to campus when the semester started was to get away from my brother and the fear that I could be the one to kill him. Coronavirus has made this past year one full of fear, but the main character of my fear, meaning my brother, has talked me into feeling comfortable enough to return to college. I knew people who had impaired immune systems had to watch what they did even before Covid-19 came into the picture. These days, immunocompromised individuals can barely leave their houses so I have followed the actions of my brother. If he has felt comfortable enough to return to teaching for middle schoolers and working at a camp with young children who were just learning to wear masks during the summer then I can go live on campus. I actually have a close friend in my dorm family unit who keeps me in check. My brother and my friend do a great job but sometimes, I think I stay home and away from people more than some individuals I know with compromised immune systems or pre-existing conditions that put them at risk of dying from the disease. That thought will not dissuade me from continuing with my partially-quarantined lifestyle. I am confused and hurt by those who have not even tried to protect others or change anything in their daily life. With the numbers that are currently being released in the United States and at my college, I will keep living in a way that will not increase my anxiety or the chance of my fears coming true. If my college continues to see rising positive cases, I hope we get put into a full campus lockdown or I have a little warning of being sent home so I can be tested and have a place to quarantine away from my brother. Everyone has Covid-fatigue but I will push through and stay as safe as I can. This year has taught me that when this pandemic is over, I need to live my life protecting immunocompromised people even if I do not know them. If I get a cold, I will wear a mask. I never want to be the one to blame for someone else falling sick or dying. -
2021-02-16
My Covid-19 Experience
The emergence of Covid-19 definitely took me by surprise. I remember discussing in one of my classes on the Brooklyn College campus of how potentially serious the virus was in early March of 2020. The majority of the class agreed that the virus was probably not going to get out of hand and it was just being over-covered in the media. Then a couple weeks later, we were stunned of how quick the situation surrounding the virus in the U.S. became which lead to Brooklyn College shutting down the campus and going virtual online. It was an overwhelming and challenging experience adjusting to having five classes from in person to online. What made it more challenging was contracting the virus myself in April where I experienced extreme fatigue, chills and a fever a couple nights, and lost of taste and smell. Through it all, I kept my faith in Jesus and trusted Him to heal me from the sickness and get through the semester. Thankfully, I passed all of my classes at the end of the semester and recovered fully within a couple weeks. My entire family was infected with the virus including my parents but they overcame it as well. Lastly, seeing all of the death totals on the news and staggering scenes such as freezer trucks taking bodies from hospitals to be buried or cremated were both alarming and saddening. What gave me hope was the general high survival rate despite the high number of reported infections and my faith in Christ who warned us in through the Bible (Mathew 24:3-8) that perilous times would come in the last days, including pestilences. As the pandemic continues to evolve, I continue to pray for those who lost loved ones, our country and the world that we would all become stronger, wiser, and closer to Jesus after this unfortunate experience. -
2020-05Weekly Planner
Attached is a picture of my planner from May of last year. I have always tried to keep a journal of some sort but over the past few years entries in my actual journal have become more sporadic, and I sometimes feel bad that I'm not documenting my life better. But I have found that I keep my memories and experiences in different ways. I keep post-its and planners and notes from past classes, all of which contain some view into a different time of my life. This page in my planner was probably drawn during class, or while waiting for another class to start. The goldfish stickers were there before I wrote the words around them, I'm pretty sure. Looking back now I could say maybe the goldfish and the misconception about their memory is a comment on the way isolation and lack of enrichment affects memory, but really I just had them nearby and thought they were cool. At this point the monotony of quarantine and online school and being out of work made a planner feel kind of superfluous and each page was less like an organized look at my week and more like a dumping ground for my thoughts. The speech bubbles near the fish read: "(I love you guys)" "What?" "I said let's count down so we can all sign off together!" Since moving back to my parent's house in March I haven't seen any of my friends in person. It's been nearly a year of movie nights over discord, all of us counting down and trying to press play at the same time despite the latency. There's a certain intimacy of talking to someone late into the night from my bedroom, surrounded by artifacts of my high school life. I'm afraid for myself and afraid for my friends but we don't talk about the big scary thing looming over all of us. It's been nearly a year and the space in between now and February feels both infinite and microscopic. I am still, but time goes on. I remember that I wrote "One day I will be disappointed (spelled incorrectly) I did not document history better" later in the week. Memory is fragile and I want to preserve it the best I can but lately I'm too tired to take down the details of each day. Maybe this vague collection of my thoughts will be valuable to future me, but I won't know until then so I'll hold onto it anyway. -
2021-02-03Masks mandatory inside middle and high schools in B.C.
Masks are now mandatory inside middle and high schools in British Columbia, Canada. Elementary students are currently not required to. Schools are also asking for more money in order to help with improving safety for returning staff. While much of the population is currently wearing masks, the government has been relatively laissez-faire compared to the United States on compliance. -
2020-03-13
The Covid 19 College Experience : Procrastinators version
My experience with Covid has been positive health wise. Mentally I feel the need to interact with my peers because that is what I enjoy doing in my free time other than sleeping. I thought I would be building memorable college relationships, talking to lifelong friends but it seems impossible and that saddens me. This pandemic has showed my how financially irresponsible I am! I have spent so much money on nonsense and now that I realized that, I see all the life altering things I could have done with it, but let's not focus on the negative. It isn't to late for change so all those things can still be achieved. -
2020-11-02Cold in the Classroom
If you have ever been in a middle school classroom, feeling cold is probably not the first thing that you think of. One might think of rowdy kids, perhaps non-inviting smells, stuffy air, but not necessarily the feeling of cold. After going home on March 13, 2020, I was forced to work remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still crazy to think how quickly everything changed from normal life to the furthest thing from it—just two days before the end of in-person schooling, I was still planning on going on the eighth grade Washington, DC trip! Anyway, going into the 2020-21 school year, because teachers were allowed to return to their classrooms (even though school would remain in distance for the foreseeable future), I decided that I would go into my classroom and work from there. I figured that it would help create a sense of normalcy in my own life while offering a familiar background to my students. After a few d ays of w orking from school without any students, I noticed how cold it was in my classroom. On a normal school day, I would turn on the air conditioning fairly early in the morning, being that the room would become warm and stuffy shortly after the students arrived. Even with it warm outside, I was noticing myself running the heater well into the afternoon. Without the heater, my classroom would quickly become unbearably cold! With brick walls and only a thin layer of carpet over a concrete floor, it is clear why it was so cold. I was just one person in a room that would normally have around 30—my body heat alone wasn't going to heat up the room! It is amazing to think that a silly little thing like the temperature of my classroom kind of got me down. No matter what I did to try and simulate normal life, it was just impossible for life to be normal, and that nagging cold was there to remind me of that fact. Just writing this down, I can feel the cold on my arms and legs, and I have a n urge to go and get a blanket, put on a sweatshirt, or turn on the heater. Come to think about it, I can also feel the pain in my lower back from sitting in front of a computer all day! In addition to the sense of touch/feeling being noticeably different, I have to say, the absence of, shall we say, interesting smells has also been out of the ordinary for my middle school classroom. I really cannot complain all too much when it comes to my experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic; I am lucky enough to still be employed, I can work at home if I wanted to, and no one all too close to me has had the disease. A great many people around the globe have had their lives shattered in the past year, so I really should be counting my blessings. With that said, I feel as if the coldness of my classroom somewhat symbolizes the isolation that I (and many others) are feeling during this trying time. The simple fact that there are not 30+ individuals in the room is causing the cold and, again, it is a nagging reminder that the world is simply not the same as it was a year ago, no matter how much we wish it were. -
2020-11-02Cold in the Classroom
If you have ever been in a middle school classroom, feeling cold is probably not the first thing that you think of. One might think of rowdy kids, perhaps non-inviting smells, stuffy air, but not necessarily the feeling of cold. After going home on March 13, 2020, I was forced to work remotely for the remainder of the 2019-20 school year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It is still crazy to think how quickly everything changed from normal life to the furthest thing from it—just two days before the end of in-person schooling, I was still planning on going on the eighth grade Washington, DC trip! Anyway, going into the 2020-21 school year, because teachers were allowed to return to their classrooms (even though school would remain in distance for the foreseeable future), I decided that I would go into my classroom and work from there. I figured that it would help create a sense of normalcy in my own life while offering a familiar background to my students. After a few days of working from school without any students, I noticed how cold it was in my classroom. On a normal school day, I would turn on the air conditioning fairly early in the morning, being that the room would become warm and stuffy shortly after the students arrived. Even with it warm outside, I was noticing myself running the heater well into the afternoon. Without the heater, my classroom would quickly become unbearably cold! With brick walls and only a thin layer of carpet over a concrete floor, it is clear why it was so cold. I was just one person in a room that would normally have around 30—my body heat alone wasn't going to heat up the room! It is amazing to think that a silly little thing like the temperature of my classroom kind of got me down. No matter what I did to try and simulate normal life, it was just impossible for life to be normal, and that nagging cold was there to remind me of that fact. Just writing this down, I can feel the cold on my arms and legs, and I have an urge to go and get a blanket, put on a sweatshirt, or turn on the heater. Come to think about it, I can also feel the pain in my lower back from sitting in front of a computer all day! In addition to the sense of touch/feeling being noticeably different, I have to say, the absence of, shall we say, interesting smells has also been out of the ordinary for my middle school classroom. I really cannot complain all too much when it comes to my experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic; I am lucky enough to still be employed, I can work at home if I wanted to, and no one all too close to me has had the disease. A great many people around the globe have had their lives shattered in the past year, so I really should be counting my blessings. With that said, I feel as if the coldness of my classroom somewhat symbolizes the isolation that I (and many others) are feeling during this trying time. The simple fact that there are not 30+ individuals in the room is causing the cold and, again, it is a nagging reminder that the world is simply not the same as it was a year ago, no matter how much we wish it were. -
2021-01-14Halfway, hamburgers, and drive-throughs
I work in the library at a high school. It has been a surreal experience during the pandemic. While on spring break last year we learned that we were not coming back for two weeks, which became the remaining 9 weeks of the year in short order. At the end of the school year, we had to collect, and in some cases return, the items that students had from campus or had left on campus when we departed for spring break expecting to return on March 16, 2020. For a few weeks, we held drop-off zones for band instruments, sports uniforms, textbooks, and even cameras in the school parking lot. We distributed laptops to students who needed them for virtual learning. We asked seniors to drive through the student parking lot to pick up caps, gowns, and other graduation regalia, eventually diplomas, senior shirts, and if a favorite teacher was working that particular shift, to say final goodbyes. Drive-through graduations took place all across the state and the country in May, hoping that the rising senior class would have a different experience in 2021. We somehow are no closer to the end of the pandemic, and there is little chance that my school will return to in-person learning before spring break, and that is how it should be. I cannot say what graduation will or won’t look like at this point. Cases in Arizona are exploding, and in the days surrounding my posting of this story, we lead the entire world in positive cases. In some ways, it doesn’t feel like we have even reached the halfway point. But actually… I have. Because yesterday I was vaccinated with the first dose of the COVD-19 vaccine. My library team and I stalked the website all weekend, waiting for when 1B groups could sign up. I found an open time on Wednesday, January 13, 10 months after March 13, 2020, the day we now say the world fell apart. On top of working, I am a Ph.D. student in history at ASU. So after the first class meeting of my Wednesday class, I drove from Ahwatukee to Chandler-Gilbert Community College and participated in my own parking lot drive-through pandemic procedure. Almost like I was ordering a hamburger in a drive-through. Or maybe I am the hamburger in this analogy? We filed in lines, then split into multiple lanes, guided by a combination of medical staff and National Guard. The first nurse I spoke to, who asked to see my appointment number and my ID, asked me if I had any medication allergies. I responded that I get raised hives from Amoxicillin and Bactrim. She tied a strip of yellow caution tape around my driver's side mirror and told me that I would have to stay 30 minutes after my injection, rather than 15, to make sure I didn’t have an adverse reaction and then proceed to lane 5. No one was paying attention to my car, and I was far from the only one with this yellow strip, but for the few hundred feet that I drove toward where Lane 5 split into an A and B, I felt marked, and then I got to thinking about what other things warranted the Caution tape. I think that it harkened back to my biggest fear about COVID, that if I became infected, I would be seen as irresponsible, a pariah. It’s a privileged outlook, to be sure, but I had done my best to be safe for almost a year, hence why I was in line for the vaccine on the third day that it was open to 1B individuals. The next medical staff told me to lower all four windows in my car. You might think for airflow, but a coworker told me it was so that the EMTs could get in your vehicle if you were having a nasty reaction. The doctor for the 5A line asked me again about my allergies and decided to remove the tape that he did not see any fear for an adverse reaction. I pulled up under the tents, put my car in park, and the nurse opened the door. She confirmed with me that it was my first dose and rubbed a single-use alcohol prep pad on my arm. She asked if I was ready while she did that thing that doctors do, the thing where they squeeze a bit of your arm where they are going to stick you. “Yep,” I said back, chipper, unafraid of needles, vaccines, shots, or anything like that. “Okay,” she said, less than a second later, “you’re all done.” I didn’t even feel the needle before she was putting a bandage on my arm and putting my t-shirt sleeve back down. We exchanged “thank you” and “have a great day,” and I pulled up to the end of the line where an EMT gave me a packet of information on the vaccine and a card that had no patient name yet but was stamped with today’s date, indicating that I had completed my first of two vaccines. That I was halfway done. I really have to wait 30 days after the second dose to truly be “done,” but “third-way” done doesn’t quite have the same ring to it. I pulled off to the side on the meandering path back through the campus parking lot and took a photo with my half-completed card. Because by social media rules, if you don’t take a selfie with your card, were you really vaccinated? Thinking back to my coworkers’ puppies that had gotten their vaccinations to make them safe around other dogs over the summer, I sent the photo to our group chat, “halfway to street legal!” -
2020-09-22
2020-09-22 covid summer
This journal entry was written as a part of the American Studies class at California High School in San Ramon, California. Over the summer i guess i did change quite a bit. The main thing that changed was really my hobbies or rather, my newfound disinterest in my old set of hobbies. I always took my hobby far too seriously and it turns out that when i didn’t have any pressure to keep pursuing it, i kind of dislike it a bit. I had a bit of an existential crisis over it but it’s been nice to take a break.. I’ve also gotten used to school a lot better. I’m a lot more responsible nowadays and i have no missing work so that’s nice. It’s partly because of all the time i don’t use up on my hobby but it’s mostly that i just find find it fun to organize my computer. Now that i think about it i really don’t want school to start. I won’t have the choice to stay home because then i’d lose touch with my friends but I’ll really miss not being mentally drained from talking to strangers. There’s also the fact that i don’t want my room to be filled up with papers that i’ll just stare at become overwhelmed by. There’s just so many reasons that i don't want to go back to in-person.