Items

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  2020-11-04

  The Reality Of Teaching During COVID

  No teacher was prepared for a transition to distance learning during a global pandemic. Nevertheless, teachers all over the world had to alter courses at the end of last school year, and the beginning of this school year. With very little time, adjustments were made to introduce distance learning. This allowed for teachers to keep teaching and students to keep learning. Although a plan for distance learning was created, no one knew what they were walking into. This has left teachers, parents, and students to pick up the pieces and learn as they go. In frustration many blame teachers for any disorganization or problems that have occurred throughout distance learning, but in all realness, they too are left to take this new style of learning day by day.
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  2020-06-25

  Seniors Embrace the Arts During Quarantine

  These images are so visually striking and uplifting. A lot of diversity is represented in the group as well. The seniors used their creativity and their imagination to take part in the challenge. These photos were taken at the Amenida Seniors Community in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. Perhaps other museums can follow suit and issue “museum challenges” to ease the stress of Covid-19.
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  2020-09-23

  The Challenges of Caring for Children and Working at Home

  I have been working from home and caring for both of my kids with my spouse since March. It is challenging and chaotic, but also it brings a lot of joys in watching kids develop. Teaching at the university level has also brought its challenges and joys, but I hope that by making my own struggles visible, it makes me more relatable to students.
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  2020-06-13

  Do face masks make it more difficult to communicate?

  As someone who is Hard of Hearing, I worry about returning to work in the fall. I never realized how much I rely on lip and expression reading before now. With masks and zoom meetings I struggle to understand conversations that normally would be simple. I have hearing aids but unfortunately they do not help much when context clues are deprived. Soft spoken, mumblers, low voices are all drowned out into the background. I search peoples eyes for clues, are they laughing? Are they concerned? In my Deaf and HoH support group the threads are now saturated with frustrated people just venting. Something as simple as a trip to the grocery store now requires a pad and pencil while pointing to the ears repeating, "I cant hear you. Let me write it down. I am Hard of Hearing/Deaf. Sorry. Sorry." While people behind you get irritated. I have thought about getting a neon shirt to wear at the store with the words, "I am Hard of Hearing, I can't hear you!" In zoom meetings I can see peoples faces. It provides context I miss so much. But I have low-frequency hearing loss so the voices of men are blurry at best. Arizona State University has a fantastic disability resource center and they have started providing me with a captioner who attends classes with me and transcribes for me live. I don't always need her but it has been nice not having to message classmates through a class to ask what was missed. This is a new world for many deaf/Deaf/HoH who are my age. We have always had ways to work around our disability. Now masks and technology are depriving us of coping skills we relied on.
• 
  2020-04-17

  Humans of Covid-19 AU: Molly

  “Online schooling is definitely not ideal. I’d rather be at school with my friends. But considering it’s the only option, it’s going ok so far. The biggest challenge for me is trying to keep on top of the work, because there’s so much being thrown at us and no teacher there to guide us. I miss school a lot, especially my friends, sport and socialising with people. I find that social media is not the same as actually seeing your friends. I prefer being one-on-one with someone so we can actually talk properly. I’m a lot calmer than I was at the end of last term. Everything around me is organised and clean, so I feel a lot less stressed and chaotic. But now I'm ready for my life to go back to normal.” Instagram post on Molly, a high school student, and her experience during the pandemic, which was created by a psychology student living in Melbourne who was interested to hear about how COVID-19 was impacting on different peoples’ lives.
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  2020-06-17

  Covid-19 in Bhutan

  This is story about Bhutan being impacted by Covid-19.
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  2020-04-08

  Indigenous Peoples of the Philippines: Particular Challenges In Facing COVID-19

  “Indigenous Peoples are no strangers to disease and disaster. Through generations, Indigenous Peoples have established responses and coping mechanisms – grounded in traditional knowledge, customs and practices – to different circumstances affecting their communities. These are all founded on one fundamental principle: to ensure that the community survives. A common response across Indigenous communities is that of closing-off the community to all – this means no one can enter the community until deemed safe. Such community closures are done for different reasons. In the Cordillera, Philippines such practice is regularly observed during the agricultural cycle. Before or after the fields are ready for planting and harvesting, the community declares ubaya/tengaw which basically means everyone stays at home, no hard labor is to be done by anyone. This is a time for the community and the earth to rest and typically lasts a day or two.” #IndigenousStories
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  2020-04-29

  Notes During Class 9 (A discussion Anne Frank)

  This image is apart of a series of screenshots taken during lessons via Microsoft Teams.Teaching my third graders from afar has become a challenge and a blessing at the same time. None of us knew of Mr. Microsoft Teams until we were forced to meet him. The way he impacts our lives is sometimes frustrating and other times satisfying. Unlike classroom noise, the chat that goes on during lessons are now mixed in with the lesson and available for all to participate- including the teacher! It's silent and said with caution and other times daring. (I've blurred the faces and redacted the names to protect the students' privacy.)
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  2020-04-29

  Notes During Class 8 (talking about Anne Frank)

  This image is apart of a series of screenshots taken during lessons via Microsoft Teams.Teaching my third graders from afar has become a challenge and a blessing at the same time. None of us knew of Mr. Microsoft Teams until we were forced to meet him. The way he impacts our lives is sometimes frustrating and other times satisfying. Unlike classroom noise, the chat that goes on during lessons are now mixed in with the lesson and available for all to participate- including the teacher! It's silent and said with caution and other times daring. (I've blurred the faces and redacted the names to protect the students' privacy.)
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  2020-04-29

  Submitting Work

  This image is apart of a series of screenshots taken during lessons via Microsoft Teams.Teaching my third graders from afar has become a challenge and a blessing at the same time. None of us knew of Mr. Microsoft Teams until we were forced to meet him. The way he impacts our lives is sometimes frustrating and other times satisfying. (I've redacted the name to protect the student's privacy.)
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  2020-04-29

  Notes During Class 2

  This image is apart of a series of screenshots taken during lessons via Microsoft Teams.Teaching my third graders from afar has become a challenge and a blessing at the same time. None of us knew of Mr. Microsoft Teams until we were forced to meet him. The way he impacts our lives is sometimes frustrating and other times satisfying. Unlike classroom noise, the chat that goes on during lessons are now mixed in with the lesson and available for all to participate- including the teacher! It's silent and said with caution and other times daring. (I've blurred the faces and redacted the names to protect the students' privacy.)
• 2020-04-28

  Teaching Without a License

  With schools being closed down I have had to take up the job of teaching my younger brother. It all started with praying for a miracle that he would complete his school work. The miracle did not come quick enough for my mom and I had to step in and be the mediator. I felt like I was a counselor trying to persuade the both of them to talk out their feelings. Well, he is in his preadolescent years, so that ended in a failure. Finally, I presented my family with the miracle my mom had been asking for. The miracle was in a form of being rewarded with not taking his PlayStation away. Worried he would fail his P.E. class, my parents bought a trampoline. He used it for a few days... Next, was math. After some very low grades on math quizzes it was time to put my teaching classes into action. First, I had to convince him to start organizing his problems. That took a week and another low math score to convince him. Next, I had to persuade him to start writing his formulas with every problem. How was he going to score higher without knowing his formulas? He seems to have learned more, but this is much more difficult than expected. I am not looking forward to the final month of the school year. #REL101
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  2020-03-17

  The high demand for lawyers amid the coronavirus pandemic

  How coronavirus affects lawyers
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  2020-03-20

  Suffolk theatre department finds solutions to remote learning challenges

  The Suffolk Journal, Suffolk University's student run newspaper, reports on Suffolk's academic decisions during the pandemic.
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  2020-03-23

  Quarantine Push Up Challenge

  Early into stay at home, Quarantine Challenges began circulating social media, with the push up challenge being especially popular. Users were encouraged to "do 10 and tag 10," meaning post yourself doing 10 push ups and tag 10 more people to continue the challenge.
• 2020-03-28

  Challenge of the Mundane

  Description of walking trails being more crowded during the COVID-19 pandemic.