Items

• 
  2020-09

  The Sound of Learning - Teaching During the Pandemic

  On March 12th, 2020, all of the teachers and support staff in the high school where I work in Stafford, Virginia (A suburb of Washington DC) were called down to the auditorium and told by the head principal that our school would be shut down for the next two weeks as a result of Covid-19. Long story short, I did not return into that building until January of 2021. Even though I did not enter the building, between September and December of 2020, I toiled away teaching virtually via Google Meet from my basement. Teaching online was difficult - due to privacy concerns, students were not required to turn their cameras on - and none did. For the first time, I was teaching to a class of thirty without seeing anyone other than myself. Many students did not want to ask questions by unmuting their microphones, so instead they would type out questions, make comments, tell jokes, etc through the chat feature. Each time a student would send a message, my computer would make a small beeping noise. I learned to love this noise as it was the only reminder I had that there was someone listening to me. As a teacher, forming relationships is so central to the profession. At first, it seemed impossible to be a meaningful teacher when I had no clue what my students even looked like. But every time I heard that beep, I was delighted to know that someone was on the other side of that screen. Without the fear of immediate judgement of their peers, many of my students provided commentary on the lesson and made teaching fun. When teaching in person, I hate when a student tries to talk over me, so only dealing with a tiny beep was much more manageable and it was nice to see these kids communicate with one another while separated by the pandemic. Many articles that I have read have been incredibly critical of online learning, and some with good cause. I did not reach every student. Some fell back asleep, logged in then walked away, played video games, and even one of my students admitted to me that he was taking his dog on a walk during class. But hearing that beep reminded me that there are students out there that can make connections even when it seems impossible.
• 
  2021-06-23

  Blank screens

  Turn on video All eyes on me, exposing Me, I turn it off… -discouraged student
• 2021-01-15

  Virtual learning

  Virtual learning for me was a big struggle for me. I would get headaches every day from looking at the screen. One thing that was good about online school is I can just role out of bed in turn on my computer and go to school on Zoom. A lot of people would cheat so they saw a huge upgrade into they're grade. I would always get yelled at for eating and wearing a hat during class. I would have to do my bed so in the background of my camera on zoom it didn't seam like I was having a terrible time though online school. So I would take all the stuff on my floor and put it under my desk so the camera would not see it. People really never got the hang of having to un mute and how to share your screen on zoom for a while. I did not have fun in online school at all but a lot of my friends liked it so they could cheat.
• 2021-01-15

  Virtual learning

  Virtual learning for me was a big struggle for me. I would get headaches every day from looking at the screen. One thing that was good about online school is I can just role out of bed in turn on my computer and go to school on Zoom. A lot of people would cheat so they saw a huge upgrade into they're grade. I would always get yelled at for eating and wearing a hat during class. I would have to do my bed so in the background of my camera on zoom it didn't seam like I was having a terrible time though online school. So I would take all the stuff on my floor and put it under my desk so the camera would not see it. People really never got the hang of having to un mute and how to share your screen on zoom for a while. I did not have fun in online school at all but a lot of my friends liked it so they could cheat.
• 
  2020-04-26T13:34:00

  Fake Images

  This Article shows how Mainstream news sources (for example CNN or FOX) can show its viewers misleading photos. During this Pandemic it is very important to get the full story of everything that goes on across the country involving Covid-19. This causes these images do more harm than good, when educating viewers on Covid-19. I feel it is important to stop the spread fake news, especially when a deadly virus is involved.
• 
  2020-03-13

  March 13, 2020

  A walk on Friday the 13th. I shot out a roll of photographs on a loaded camera I found around the house. I'd never used the camera before and was unfamiliar with the 2 1/4 inch square negative format. I was able to bike into Manhattan and have this single roll of film processed and scanned at a lab, but now that it's closed I have rolls piling up. My aim is to shoot a single 12 exposure roll during each day of shelter in place.
• 
  2020-03

  Zoom conference

  Since many schools took to zoom and other platforms to have virtual classes, many would see their fellow students pets on camera