Items

• 
  2021-03-23

  #JOTPYLesson from Iyen Vinson

  I have learned that some work meetings can definitely be done virtually instead of everyone being together in a room. I have also learned that in person school is much more beneficial than online learning.
• 
  2020-03-20

  COVID kicked me off of my campus

  Around mid-March, all of the students of my college received an email that on-ground instruction had been suspended and that we all had 48 hours to leave campus.
• 2021-04-04

  A New World: 2020

  In 2020, a lot has changed in our personal life as well as ways in which we conduct communication with each other. My biggest experience was having to do college level classes completely online the last few semesters which was a big learning curve. This reflects on how the pandemic impacted every age group and how it forced us all to adapt to new times. This was done by using technology which at this point still seems to be on the cutting edge of evolution. My laptop now more than ever has been an object that reminds me of this new world all of us are living in because it allows me to engage in the outside world on a 14" digital screen. I feel many would agree with this statement whether it was used for school or for work, in 2020 without a laptop you were doomed.
• 
  2020-06-16

  The Digital Divide Among Students During COVID-19: Who Has Access? Who Doesn't?

  The article goes into detail, drawing from multiple survey sources on the internet to discuss how geographical location and economic class has affected the way that some students have been able to adapt to online instruction. Sources like the Pew Research Center show information from parents about their children's access to technology and how it has affected their capacity to complete their schoolwork, and compares that information to different school districts' capabilities to provide reliable sources of internet/other technology during school shutdowns. The article concludes by questioning how public education is a right in the US, but due to access with technology, and even basic technological issues for those who already had access to sufficient technology, has questioned how America's students are struggling to gain what they should be ensured.
• 
  2021-03-28

  Motherhood during a pandemic

  I am researching the unintended consequences of the pandemic. One way to find some answers is to learn what real people are going through. It is easy to find people’s thoughts about the pandemic on social media, so I took to my mom groups and found people willing to let me share their thoughts anonymously. In the first screenshot, a mom talks about how she is trying to stay positive through the pandemic. From losing her job temporarily, to missing her work and family, to missing simple everyday things like shopping, this mom is feeling the brunt of lockdown in California. It is easy to pick out the negative consequences of the pandemic, but she looks for positivity anyway. The next mom is worried about how her child is going to come out on top due to homeschooling. She wants advice on how to keep her son motivated and not give up when things get hard. There is no way to tell exactly how this pandemic has affected our kids, only time will tell. But there have definitely been some unintended consequences. This example shows that while we are parents and we love our children, we have no idea what the teachers were doing to help our kids through each class before the pandemic. Perhaps one consequence of the pandemic will be a larger respect for teachers. I plan to further use social media for my research, along with academic studies, and oral interviews.
• 
  2021-03-21

  Your 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
• 
  2020-06-01

  How COVID-19 exposed challenges for technology in education

  The article addresses how challenges in access/use of technology by students and teachers have been highlighted due to the pandemic
• 
  2020-09-24

  Tech Struggles During COVID-19 Hurting Students’ Ability to Learn, Educators Say

  This article comes from the perspective of educators who struggled with teaching students remotely, and includes statistics referring to students who had technology/situational issues that affected their work.
• 
  2020-05-19

  COVID-19, Technology, and Implications for Educational Equity (Sociology of Education)

  This article addresses the divide between students who had easy access to technology/digital skills during the pandemic, and how it came into play in regards to grades
• 
  2021-03-21

  How does the pandemic affect children?

  This link provided showcases the severity of the pandemic's effect on children's mental health and it becoming the next "wave" in the pandemic
• 2021-03-21

  A Year Into COVID-19's Impact on California's Education

  A comprehensive timeline of all the major events that occurred related to California's education; K-12 to college-level. It starts on March 4, 2020 with the latest entry at March 11, 2021.
• 2020-08-21

  How Indonesia's Education System Is Faring

  "Since March 2020, students, parents, and teachers in Indonesia have been grappling with school closures affecting 62.5 million students from pre-primary to higher education." With such a socioeconomically diverse population, it's difficult to gauge just how accessible isolated learning would really be during the pandemic. The Ministry of Education and Culture had to move quickly to assure that there was some structure and guidelines set in place for educational institutions to follow. Unfortunately, as internet access isn't quite the common luxury many households have, the ministry sought partnership with television programming stations. This was to, at least, provide educational material to those who have access to televisions but not internet. The article goes on to provide four ways in which they hoped would assist in the growing education deficiency. 1) Develop more solutions to reach students without internet access; 2) Increase connectivity and train teachers to deliver more effective and interactive online learning; 3) Identify and support those falling behind with differentiated instruction; 4) Support disadvantaged students to return to school.
• 
  03/11/2021

  Oral History with "Chef" Tom Dickinson

  • “Chef” Tom Dickinson • Dana Lee Bell • 03/11/2021 • Fairfield, California • Dana Lee Bell Abstract: “Chef” Tom Dickinson is the Culinary Instructor for Fairfield High School in Northern California. A native of Oregon, Tom shares his journey in overcoming his personal challenges as a student with Autism who was often dismissed by his educators, to becoming a beloved teacher himself. He is currently organizing the development of a comprehensive culinary program that teaches students essential life and job skills. Tom reflects of the effects Covid-19 has had on his life, community, and students. He reflects on the challenges of online learning and shares the creative ways he has tried to connect with students using technology during the pandemic. 0:00:02.6 Dana Bell: This is Dana Bell, and today I'm speaking with Chef Tom Dickinson. Today is March 11th, 2021. This interview is taking place at Fairfield High School in Fairfield, California. Could you please tell me your name? 0:00:17.4 Tom Dickinson: Tom Dickinson. 0:00:18.8 DB: And do you consent to being recorded today? 0:00:21.5 TD: Absolutely. 0:00:22.8 DB: Thank you. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself? 0:00:25.6 TD: Yes, I'm originally from Oregon. I grew up in the town of Tillamook, it's known for the cheese factory, I went to high school there. I lived there from since I was five years old to the year 2000, I moved over to the Willamette Valley, my parents moved over there so I relocated and I worked over there. I went to the college over there and graduated with an Associate Applied Science in Culinary Arts from Linn Benton Community College, and moved to California in 2007, and I've been here ever since, and I worked ten years for Paradise Valley Estates, and I eventually went and got my teaching credential. I'd been volunteering here with the special ed kids here at Fairfield High, and Armijo High as well, Dr. Cushman liked what he saw. He asked me, "Can I hire you to be our Culinary instructor?" "Absolutely," and I went to get my credential. And I've been here ever since, and I love it. 0:01:29.1 DB: Awesome. Can you tell me a little bit about your hobbies and things that you like to do? 0:01:35.6 TD: I like to create content online. I've been getting to do a lot of videos, I have a YouTube channel. I like to collect knives, like kitchen knives, Japanese-style knives, I love to do that. I love to write. I love to go to movies, I haven't been able to do that since COVID, but avid movie lover, love to spend time with my wife and the usual stuff. 0:01:57.5 DB: Awesome. So that leads me to the next question. Can you tell me a little bit about your family? 0:02:04.8 TD: Yes, my dad is a retired mechanic. He lives in Lebanon, he and my mom do, and my dad actually has spent his retirement, he re-builds custom engines for Studebakers, he has a business, he does that. My mom helps him with that business, they live there. I have an older sister, she also lives in Lebanon, Oregon, she helps take care of my parents. And my parents actually adopted my three younger brothers and my younger sister. So I've lived with a lot of kids in our family. I have 10 nephews, I have one... Three nieces and one grand-niece, my nephew Tyler, who's also a chef, has a 14-month-old daughter and she is a precious little gem. 0:03:05.0 DB: Can you tell me a little bit about how COVID-19 has affected you and your family? 0:03:11.5 TD: It's caused us to have a very... Difference of opinion. My sister and I are very, very adamant about wear your mask, get vaccined. My father actually won't get the vaccine, he's kinda set his ways, I respect that, my mom will. The whole COVID situation has caused a lot of arguments, has caused some division, which it always does. Not all of us agree on the way the COVID has happened, and it's something that we just kinda sweep under the rug and we don't discuss the politics behind COVID-19. 0:04:01.6 DB: How has COVID-19 outbreak affected your community? It could be school, clubs, church, jobs, etcetera, can you speak about how COVID-19 has affected any of the communities you're involved in? 0:04:16.5 TD: I haven't been to an in-person church service in a year. I went to one, and that was when we were almost in the red tier, then we went back to purple, so I went to one in a year. Although we've been having it online. I have watched friends of mine in the hospitality industry lose their businesses, it's heartbreaking when I hear that people might... We're one, big happy family in the hospitality industry, when I hear about people that I know and businesses that I know of having to shut the door because of COVID-19, it just breaks my heart. It's sad. I have classmates from culinary school, who've had to shut down their businesses because of COVID-19... Of course, we're doing distance learning here at the school, we haven't been able to talk to students, we haven't had students here. 0:05:09.6 TD: We were supposed to do an event December, we couldn't do it because of COVID. I don't know when we're gonna be able to do another event because of COVID-19, because even though we're advancing in tiers, it's still lingering and there's still new variants and we don't know what's gonna happen. We could be in the red tier today and back in the purple here in two months, I don't know. But it's definitely affect everybody, it's affected my industry. A lot of times I feel like I'm teaching a dead professional, and I'm trying to just keep strong and keep doing it, so when the hospitality industry does get back on its feet, I'll be able to send people out there who can work for these businesses, who know what they're doing. 0:05:51.8 DB: Right. You already mentioned this, how people around you are responding to the pandemic... 0:05:57.0 TD: Yeah. 0:05:57.5 DB: Is there anything you wanted to add about that? You talked about your family and their response. 0:06:04.1 TD: I know people who still believe COVID-19 is a hoax. I've had COVID-19. When I got my vaccination, I had all the symptoms of COVID-19. The very next day. My uncle was in the hospital for 31 days because of COVID-19. Now a lot of people in my family don't like my uncle, they don't talk to him. I haven't seen him since I was 11 years old. I called him up because I heard that he was in the hospital, he almost died. Makes you think about stuff, but there's still people who don't wanna wear masks, there's still people, I know personally, who think it's a hoax, they're not gonna get their vaccine, they don't wanna wear masks, and it's like... I told them, "I'd rather stay six feet apart than be six feet under." 0:06:57.0 DB: So have you seen people around you change their opinions day-to-day and their activities or relationships in response to the pandemic? 0:07:09.1 TD: I have. My mom has definitely changed her response about it. My sister has been, I think been in quarantine twice because of COVID-19, she tested negative, thankfully, but she's had to be in quarantine because of it, and she has changed her opinion on it, and she takes it more seriously, and she... She even told my dad, she said, "I'm gonna go get the vaccine, does that bother you?" He's like, "Oh no, go ahead." So my mom is actually gonna go get vaccinated, which just... That's a thank you moment right there that she wants to be safe, so yeah... But I still know people who think it's a hoax, who think it's not supposed to happen. The biggest thing that people have thought about it, they told me that 'cause I'm a teacher, I'm lazy, that I don't wanna go to work. I just wanna sit around at home and teach in my jammies. I'm here every day, I'm in my kitchen every day. I'm working twice as... We're all working twice as hard as we were before trying to get this done, there's nothing lazy about it. Our first priority is to keep our kids safe, and if keeping them safe means not having them here, then that's it. 0:08:27.9 DB: Self-isolation, flattening the curve have been two key ideas that have emerged during the pandemic, so how have you and your family, friends, community responded to this request to self-isolate and flatten the curve? 0:08:43.4 TD: I self-isolate anyway, I enjoy my quiet time by myself, I wasn't affected that much, I enjoyed my peace and quiet. I work in a very... A profession where I'm surrounded by people and I'm at meetings every single day and I see everybody. Self-isolation is a treasure to me, even before the pandemic, so it didn't take a lot to adjust, but sometimes it does... Not being able to go on a date with my wife to the movies, that part sucks, staying at home and we're each on our phones watching Netflix, that part kinda sucks, but we like to go on dates, we like to go see movies when they come out, it's just one of our things we love to do, and we haven't been able to do it, but that's the only downfall. But that's it. 0:09:38.1 DB: So can you explain a little bit about what your job is? What do you do here? 0:09:41.9 TD: I am the culinary arts instructor, I'm the Executive Chef and the culinary arts instructor for the Fairfield High School and the Fairfield Student Adult School Culinary Arts programs. We have two programs here in our district. We have one for the adult school, we have one here for Fairfield High. Here at Fairfield High I teach Culinary I and Culinary II. For the Adult School I teach... I've taught Culinary I and Culinary II, Culinary Fundamentals and International Cuisine. And most of the time I teach here in the morning, and then I have students come in at night, and I have night classes here to just... Because we wanted to provide... The original principal of the adult school James Woods, we talked about workforce development and creating a workforce place, work training for people who need it, and that's mostly what we're doing. That's what we're doing with the high school kids because I'm a firm believer not everybody's gonna go to college, not everybody wants to, and that's fine. So that's what we're doing here. We're providing this skilled trade, just like auto shop is, just like sports medicine is, just like digital video production is. And we're very proud of that. 0:11:00.5 DB: So when a student leaves your classroom, they could potentially find a job in the culinary arts? 0:11:07.6 TD: Yes, they could. Every hour they spend in my class is job training. I have connections with people for wanting jobs, we have industry partners for the Culinary Arts Program. Our industry partners are Paradise Valley Estates here in town, Bernal Cutlery is our industry partner. Also one of our industry partners is Christian Culinary Academy, in Cannon Beach, Oregon. I'm actually gonna be sending a student up there for their conference, he's actually gonna be interviewing to actually apply to go to the school there. So it's really a great opportunity for them, and it's a small school, and they do a lot of really cool stuff, and Chef Ira has been a good friend of mine for about 11 years, he and his wife run the school, and just really, really... It's a really great place. Very small, with a very intense program, so anything that I can do to get these guys ready for a program like that, I definitely will do. 0:12:07.2 DB: What made you decide to do this for a living? 0:12:10.4 TD: To be a chef? 0:12:11.3 DB: Yeah, and to work as a teacher. 0:12:14.1 TD: Well, to be a chef... I've always liked to cook. I've been cooking since I was seven years old. And one of the thing that happened is, it was 2002, I went to my dad's college graduation, he was 59 years old, he was just getting another job so he could train and work until he could retire, and so his social security kicked in, he already had his retirement from him working 28-29 years with the City of Tillamook, and I was sitting out in the audience and I watched my dad walk across the podium with his cap and gown on, and he went and got his degree. And that school is a one-year certificate refrigeration, heating, ventilation, air conditioning. And... 0:13:10.1 TD: When we were at the graduation reception, he had all of his kids around, he said, "If I can do this at 59, what's stopping you guys? What's your excuse?" He challenged every single one of his kids to go to school, to go to college, graduate. I took him up on his challenge, and 2002, I started my first class at Lindback Community College. In 2002, I was sitting in the audience watching him walk across the stage to get his diploma, 2005, he was sitting in the audience watching me walk across the stage to get mine, which was great. And it was probably the roughest, most intense, hardest thing I've ever accomplished in my life. And then I worked in the industry after that. At one time I had a side hustle, doing some private catering. When I came down here, I just decided I'd seen what was going on and I'd seen how people who are disabled were being treated as far as life skills. It's like something needs to be done about that. 0:14:31.4 TD: So I actually emailed... I messaged the school district on their Facebook page, I wasn't employed, and they didn't know who I was. And I messaged them and I said [0:14:46.5] ____ "Hey, I'd love to volunteer and come into your school and work with your special ed kids and teach them how to cook, host cooking classes." I called Rodriguez, they said no. So then, "Okay, I won't hear anything." Then I got a call from Anna Vieira at Armijo High School, said, "So Tom, saw your message on Facebook. We'd love to have you as a guest." I said, "Really?" She's like, "Yeah, that'd be great." So I volunteered with the schools for about four years, and then finally what happened is, is eventually Fairfield High got a hold of me and they wanted me to come over here and work with them, and I volunteered, and I worked with the special ed kids and the principals would come in and they'd see what we were doing, they'd see all this stuff that we were cooking, and they got to know me pretty well, they got to know what I was doing, and I totally had their support. 0:15:47.2 TD: And then there came a time there was a situation where I was talking with Doctor Cushman, I told him how I would do something and then he said, "Can I hire you?" And I was like, "Yeah, absolutely." He said, "You'd leave your job in the private sector to come work with me as a... Work over here as a teacher?" Said, "Absolutely, let's do it. Let's get it done." Because I had seen firsthand how my profession was changing. I had seen how people were taking shortcuts, they were using ready-made stuff, stuff that was already done, trying to make it easier, they weren't taking that pride and that quality and preparing really good food. And I wanted to change that. I wanted to make a positive difference in my profession, and I wanted to train some kids and train them old school, like we... "Chef, I need beef broth. There's the bones, there's the vegetables, go make some. It's gonna take you about eight hours, but get it done." "We don't have any mayonnaise or ranch dressing chef." "There's the herbs, there's the vinegar, there's the hot sauce, there's the Mayo, there's the milk, go make some." 0:17:00.1 TD: One of the rules I have in our program is we don't buy mayonnaise, we don't buy salad addressing, we make it ourselves, that's the standard that we have, that's the old school techniques and fundamentals that I want these kids to know. It's not all about heating the microwave on high for five minutes. Chef Mike doesn't work here, he doesn't like his button pushed. Everyone knows what I mean. 0:17:23.0 DB: Can you tell me a little bit? Can you speak on why the disabled community is so important to you? 0:17:33.0 TD: Because I'm one of them. When I was 11 years old, I was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, high functioning autism. I have dealt with this, I've had meltdowns, I have dealt with this my entire life. I've been bullied by teachers because of it. I had a teacher who got so tired of having to deal with me, she took me down to the school health room, threw me inside there, which was the equivalent of a jail cell, and she shut the door and left me down there all day long because she didn't wanna deal with me. She thought it would teach me a lesson. I still have never forgotten that day to this day. And one of the things that I have always made sure, and I have a lot of kids who are functional academics and vocational academics in my class. And they ask me, "Chef, do you mind having all these kids in your class?" I say, "No, I do not." I said, "Nobody gets singled out in my class and nobody gets turned away." I have a zero-exclusion policy in the Culinary Arts Program. If anybody wants a shot, they can get one. They're not all gonna get the same work obviously, but they are all gonna get the same opportunity. 0:19:15.0 DB: What concerns do you have about the effects of COVID-19 on your employment and on the economy, broadly speaking? 0:19:26.7 TD: My biggest concern is the hospitality industry. That, all the Mom and Pop places are gonna die off, 'cause they don't have the resources to stay afloat. And my biggest fear about employment was, I'm one of those classes that's considered non-essential, along with a lot of the other elective teachers, and they could have very easily, because of COVID, say, "Well, we have to make budget cuts, 'cause things aren't happening, we're having to cut your program." that's the biggest fear I always have. 0:20:04.2 DB: Is it still a fear of yours, right now? 0:20:06.6 TD: They just spent two and a half million dollars to build me a new facility, I'm not really afraid about it anymore. 0:20:13.2 DB: I wanted to ask you about that. Can you tell me a little bit more about... So you take this program, you're starting it, you're building this program, and now there are big things happening for your program. Can you tell me a little bit about that? 0:20:29.6 DB: When I came in in 2017, the biggest thing [0:20:34.2] ____ is that we needed to rebuild this program. The teacher who was teaching culinary previously, she's still here, she teaches Home Economics now, she taught culinary like she teach Home-Ec class. She's never worked in the restaurant industry, so you know what, I don't hold that against her at all, she tried her best. She's never worked the line, she's never been in a situation, on the line, where you got 50 diners coming into your dining room, they're all sitting down at the same time, they're all ordering at the same time, and there's only two line cooks on the line. I have. I've been with it, I've conquered it, I know what to look for. It's been about rebuilding. A lot of the times, people look at the culinary class as their easy A, where people go to pad their GPAs because they just sit around, they don't have to do anything, they get to eat, and they're just gonna get an easy grade. 0:21:34.3 TD: I'm still trying to cancel the culture of that and changing it around. My guys know that my class is work now, that this is not a cooking class, this is a job training course. If you wanna learn how to cook at home, take Foods and Home Economics. You wanna learn that a cook on the professional level, 'cause that's my style, come to my class. Like today, I just talked to a teacher, she asked me, "How are you gonna get chilli, fajitas and fried bread all done at the same time in only one class period? I said, "Because that's what we do in a pro kitchen. We don't stop moving, and it's fun to try to see how many things can we get done at the same time. That's what we do." When I work with my kids, I do like two or three dishes at the same time, 'cause that's how you work on the line. My style of cooking is professional level, it is not learning to cook at home, actually when a kid tell me, "Well, this is how I do it at home." I hate hearing that. I tell them, "Good then do it at home. Here, you're gonna do it my way 'cause you do it the chef's way," and that's what we do. 0:22:43.7 DB: So next year, what are some things that they're talking about... There are things that you've been preparing for all year for next year, what are some... 0:22:51.7 TD: We are getting a two and a half million-dollar restaurant installed into our school. 0:22:55.7 DB: A restaurant in this school? 0:22:57.7 TD: Yes. 0:22:58.2 DB: Can teachers go and eat there? 0:23:00.7 TD: Teachers can go and eat there, it will be open to staff. The name of the restaurant was originally gonna be The Falcon's Nest Cafe, but because we have a six-burner flat top, because we have a humongous grill now, because we have a full-sized commercial pizza oven for our line, this restaurant is called The Falcon Grill. 0:23:20.0 DB: Okay. 0:23:21.3 TD: And it is a restaurant that's going to be open to staff at first, because of COVID, we're gonna have to go back and start from the beginning and train the kids up, get them ready to work the line, and the way it's gonna be structured is, the Culinary one students are gonna be doing more of the entry level stuff, they're gonna be the prep cooks, they're gonna be the baker assistants, they're gonna work in the dish room, they're gonna wait tables at the restaurant, they're gonna do a rotation on wait staff. Culinary two is gonna take the supervisor roles, they're gonna work the line, for all the wait staff that are Culinary one that in the dining room, we're gonna have a dining room manager who's a Culinary two student. For all the guys on the dish crew, washing dishes, we're gonna have a Culinary 2 student as a dish room foreman. 0:24:06.9 TD: We're gonna have a pantry chef, we're gonna have a saucier, we're gonna have a grill chef, we're gonna have somebody on pizza station, we're gonna a Culinary 2 student on butcher station, they're gonna do all the butchering, they're gonna cook all the food in the smoker, they're gonna take care of all that stuff. We're gonna have a pastry chef who is gonna do all the bread products for the restaurant, and this restaurant, all the sandwich buns, all the bread for the sandwiches, all the cakes, all the rolls, everything is gonna be done from scratch, in-house, because that is the standard we wanna hold to. 0:24:42.4 DB: So let me ask you this, why do kids need to learn to cook? Why is this important? 0:24:50.2 TD: Life skills. You can't live on Top Ramen the rest of your life, you can't live on ramen noodles, you can't live on processed food... It leads the diabetes, hypertension, obesity. The biggest problem, I deal with diabetes every day, I'm type two diabetic, I don't want kids deal with that. Chefs have terrible diets, we cook all this great food in a restaurant, we go home, we'll eat ramen noodles and a frozen pizza. Girls are like, "Oh yeah, I'm gonna marry a chef, they're gonna cook me great gourmet meals at home." and I just laugh. It's like, "No, they're not." They working 12 hours in a hot, airless kitchen and... But it's life skills. 0:25:32.5 TD: Even if they decide not to do this as a career, it's job skills that's showing up on time, working your job, looking at your best and making sure you have a clean uniform on, making sure you're putting your best product out, always. It's the one thing I've been doing during COVID, trying with the kids working online, I told them, "The restaurants here are putting out perfection, so people will come back, even though they're doing a take-out delivery and still wanna buy their food from this, they can survive." I told them, "You guys have to put your best product out, no matter what the situation." So some people think I'm a little harsh, some will think, "Oh, you're not accepting my work late?" No. You put your best product out you put it up on time, no matter what, always. So that's the thing. 0:26:21.4 DB: That makes sense. So I wanted to ask you, how have you adjusted your entire classroom during the pandemic, 'cause you're cooking, right? 0:26:32.0 TD: Mm-hmm. 0:26:32.6 DB: And you're trying to teach these kids to cook, but they're at home or on distance learning, so... How are you adjusting to that? 0:26:39.3 TD: I don't know how I did it, but... [laughter] I can thank Food Network for that, I really can, and I'm not a big fan of Food Network, I like a couple of their shows, but... 0:26:52.7 DB: Can you describe your set up for me? 0:26:54.9 TD: Well, I have... When Covid first hit, I got a couple of tripods, I had my district iPad, my laptop and my iPhone, and I used those to adjust them around my stove to show the kids what I was cooking, and I brought that same set up here, but I kind of expanded on it a little bit at a time. So I started out with a couple of cameras, then I bought another laptop, I got it on another tablet, I got it on sale, I got a couple of clamps on discount and Amazon, I kinda mounted them up, I mounted them up on the rails. Got a couple of these things where I could mount up some lights, and just all of a sudden it just kind of blew out of proportion, I ended up having two tablets, one iPad, my iPhone, and my laptop, and I had them all set up, and I learned, "Hey, as long as you have different devices, you can put all these devices on your same Google Meets chat at the same time." So that's what I do. 0:28:00.0 TD: I have a camera over the stove, I have a monitor facing me where I can see if the kids need to ask me a question, I turn the captions on on that monitor, I have my iPad facing me, so they're facing right down, I have a tablet close up to my cutting board, I call it my plating camera, where the kids can see me plate up the food, they can see me doing the precision knife cut, so they know how to do it. And one of the things I do, I give them cooking labs to do at home, and they have to send me a video showing me how they're doing stuff. One of the things I also do, is say, "Hey guys, I'll give you guys a list if you wanna cook along with me on cook days on camera, show everybody... 'cause I invite all the teachers to come and join class, I'll count it as your lab grade." 0:28:46.9 TD: So I've seen them cook on camera, they're watching me cook on camera, and sometimes it's fun and trying to keep it positive positive, but it feels like I'm doing a cooking show every week. So that's kind of the attitude I have, that's kind of the fun we have, but one thing I do is I also have cook day assignments, they're these big forms, they have to pay attention because I had a lot of assignments not getting turned in, so I have these assignment forms, they even have to list the knives I use. I call all the answers out saying they have to pay attention and type everything for what I'm doing. Someone's like, "Well can't we just send this as a video?" I said, "There is no video. Pay attention. See what I'm doing?" "Well, what if I get hungry?" "Wait." [laughter] 0:29:38.0 TD: So, I showed him the video and actually, we do the video, I do the whole cook day and we get everything done and they have to pay attention and they have to fill it out, and if I done early, we've done early, we go for questions and see what... Just see how they did, and then they turn in their assignment, I give them about a week to get it done, and some of them get it done, and some of them don't. 0:30:03.8 DB: Can you tell me what you cooked today? 0:30:06.1 TD: We cooked this week, the kids, we've been talking about regional American cuisine, and we're talking about the cuisine of Tex Mex cuisine and American Southwest cuisine, so very Mexican, Spanish, Indigenous influences in the food, so we did Texas-style chili, we did fajitas... We did a native frybread, and we just try to do that to like two or three dishes, and last week we did Pacific Northwest, we did Smoke Roasted Salmon, we did Tempura Sushi, and we just had [0:30:41.8] ____ that we did a Blackberry Gastrique with the salmon, just that [0:30:46.1] ____ vinegar reduction with blackberries and sugar and ginger and garlic and reduced it down and put it on top of the salmon, it was delicious. Really, really good. So we tried to do some dishes from each region, just so the kids know that these are the flavors that are indigenous to these regions of the country. 0:31:07.2 DB: What is your favorite part about distance learning? 0:31:11.4 TD: Getting to get on camera and do the cook days with the kids, I have fun. Some people don't like the fact that I have so much fun doing it, but I do. It's fun. I mean, this year I got a Teacher of the Year nomination for it. I didn't even know I got a Teacher of the Year nomination, I saw they were doing nominees, I was like, "Yeah, I won't get one." Then Mr. Mac was like, "Yeah, Chef, I like your Teacher of the Year nomination." I was like, "What?" Like yeah, so I looked on there, I was like, "Oh, okay, cool. Doing something right. Great. Good." That's been my favorite part, just getting to do the cook days, cooking every week. My favorite part is it's actually helped me sharpen my skills in the kitchen, which is awesome. 0:32:02.6 DB: So, can you tell me what your least favorite part is about distance learning? 0:32:13.9 TD: The lack of kids turning in work... Every teacher is dealing with that right now. I went on, I was doing grading last night, I have 79 kids in my program who are failing. 53% of my students aren't passing my program. 0:32:36.2 DB: What percentage of those students would you say... You can't even get a hold of, like have they been coming to class? 0:32:44.4 TD: I have kids who've never shown up all year. They have never showed up all year. It's kind of the culture of elective courses that people think that the courses in my class are optional, they're not. People need elective courses to graduate. The biggest thing... People come to my class, I think it's a skate course. And then they come to me, like, "Chef, how can I raise my grade?" 0:33:08.4 TD: And I was like, "You should have done the work. I can't help you. You made a choice." Now that choice has a consequence. If I make bad choices, my choices have consequences. I've made plenty of bad choices in my life, and I've suffered the consequences for it, and I've learned from it. I had one kid who got on me because I wouldn't fix his grades so he could play baseball, it's like, "You should have done the work, if you're that dedicated to baseball, you should have known, you need to do the work in order to play." I came out as kinda mean, but do the work. 0:33:49.2 DB: We're coming back to in-person learning after spring break, right. So how do you feel about that? 0:33:56.3 TD: I think it's great. I just hope they take it slow. I know that we're gonna be doing virtual in the morning, we're gonna be doing asynchronous with the kids coming back in the afternoon, they're coming to get help, I don't know what the guidelines are gonna be, for me having kids in the kitchen and cooking food because of the CDC. I heard they would, probably won't be able to come, but the kids will be able to come back into the classroom and get help with their assignments, which is great. I'm happy to do that. It would be great to see them back, but I just hope you take it slow, and we don't end up running before we walk. 0:34:33.4 DB: So has this experience transformed how you think about friends, family and community, and in what ways? 0:34:45.8 TD: It's... I think the most heartbreaking thing is the way people have looked at teachers, we've been kind of villainized, were the enemy. Back in March, they were so thankful for us to be here and to do what we did, and now because COVID got real and we're trying to be safe in our work environment, we're trying to keep the kids safe, and it's like... And especially one video I heard online that somebody said that 10% of teachers dying, so the kids can be back in school was an acceptable loss, and it just showed me how society is looking at what we do, not everybody in society, but a lot of people. It was heartbreaking, and a lot of teachers are quitting over it and they're going into new professions. Personally, in my own opinion, their opinions of what I do is a case of mind over matter, I don't mind 'cause their opinions don't matter. It's not gonna stop me from doing what I came here to do, and that is, do you change my profession and equip these guys who wanna go into this industry with the right fundamentals and skills, it's not gonna stop me from doing that. 0:36:20.3 DB: So I wanna ask you, can you imagine how your life will be in a year? 0:36:27.2 TD: No, I can't. I'm just trying to imagine how life is gonna be tomorrow. [chuckle] 0:36:36.9 DB: So what do you hope life will be like next year? 0:36:39.8 TD: I'm hoping that things will be better, we get some kids in here, that it's somewhat back to normal. I don't think it's gonna be all the way back to normal. I think there's still gonna be... Like I said the whole COVID thing is very fluid. They're trying to get people vaccinated, but every time you try to get somebody vaccinated there's a brand new case. Trying to get on top of it because we did get behind on it. I don't know, I don't know how life's gonna be in a year. I hope it's better. I know that I'm gonna be in a brand new building, playing in a brand new restaurant and getting to serve some great food to some great people who deserve it. 0:37:25.0 DB: So is there anything that we haven't talked about today that you feel like is important to share? 0:37:43.0 TD: Just that what we do isn't easy, it's been hard this year and harder than it's ever been before, it takes a lot of toll, it takes a lot of stress, it takes a toll on people's mental and physical health, but that just don't give up, do what you gotta do but make sure you take care of you so you can take care of everybody else that's it. 0:38:12.9 DB: Thank you so much I think this is gonna be a really important addition to the archives and so I just appreciate you sharing today. 0:38:22.7 TD: Cool.
• 
  2021-02-23

  Too Much Togetherness

  They say humor is the best medicine and they weren't wrong. A lot of couples are spending a whole lot of time together recently with quarantines and social distancing orders. It was really cute at first, working side by side on laptops and having our morning coffee together. That got old real quick though. This funny take on "How to Not Hate Your Partner During a Pandemic" advises couples how to get through issues like working from home and homeschooling kids.
• 
  2021-02-21

  Mini Oral History with Henry Nguyen, 2/21/2021

  I recorded a mini oral history with my friend about his experiences in the pandemic.
• 2021-02-18

  Early Retirement Reflection

  While I am grateful and privileged enough to have quarantined at home with my family, it was certainly frustrating. Once I had conquered my first taste of online learning all I had ahead of me was an uncertain and potentially endless summer. As someone who is a high-risk individual, I didn't feel comfortable going back to my summer job in retail immediately. Thankfully, both of my parents were able to continue to work and I was able to stay home. Being able to stay home for the summer and relax in my hammock most days was unsettlingly different than how others experienced this past summer. I regret not better using my free time to help those that lost jobs and housing and support, while I still had mine. Shockingly the gleam of my extended vacation wore off pretty quickly with my parents. When my parents finally got fed up with me drinking an afternoon coffee in my backyard every day they told me I had better find something productive to keep busy. After sending an unbelievable amount of e-mails and a couple of phone calls with some busy executives I landed an under-the-table research internship. The only issue? Not being able to research through their physical archives. Go figure. While my research wasn't extensive it did keep me fairly busy for my remaining time at home. My early retirement this past summer was a substantial setback in accordance with my previous plans, but it was thoroughly enjoyable.
• 2020-08-27

  Online Learning Zoom Failures

  Online Learning Zoom Failures One of the problems with online learning on Zoom is that eventually and sometimes often, there are going to be issues and failures. Both my kids recently missed an “assembly” because they their links did not work. They were not the only ones. About one third of the children missed the online assembly. One time many months ago at the beginning of online learning, my daughter’s fourth grade teacher lost access to the Zoom call. She was kicked out of the meeting and one of her student’s was made the host. To make matters worse, my daughter’s teacher had just muted all the kids, so they were unable to hear each other. The teacher called me because she had my cell phone number already. At the beginning of the year, her teacher gave out her personal cell number to the parents in case there were issues with Zoom etc. I had texted her a couple times already because my daughter’s link would not work, or her computer battery died so the teacher and I had already established a text/call connection. So, her teacher calls me and tells me she got kicked out of Zoom because her internet connection went bad. She wanted me to try to get the kids to leave the Zoom call or have the host end the meeting. Meanwhile, the teacher is frantically driving to school to set up a new Zoom meeting from her classroom where she knew she would have a good internet connection. So, I rush over to my daughter’s desk and sure enough there are twenty-five kids silently just sitting there on the screen. You can see they are all excited and laughing. The chat is going crazy with your typical fourth-grade antics. I try to send a message to tell the kids what is going on and to log off the meeting, but no one listens to me, because why would they? I am not their teacher. I keep trying. I am now targeting the kid who was made host to end the meeting and keep explaining what is going on. He is not responding and clearly does not want to get in trouble so keeps the meeting going. By this point I am now writing messages on a dry-erase board to get the kids to end the call. Some have peeled away and left, but still a good chunk of the class is there. I am about to give up when the librarian gets on—she had a link and ends the meeting. My daughter’s teacher was able to get to school and start a new meeting within several minutes and class went on as normal. For me, it was quite the experience. Something to laugh about later. My son’s kindergarten class had a similar situation. His teacher, too, got dropped from the Zoom call, because there was an internet outage at the school. The kindergarteners were by themselves in class and not on mute, so they were just giggling and talking with each other. Some parents, including myself, realized what was going on and some cool parent decided to lead the kids in a song and dance of hokey pokey. After a couple songs, the parents got an email that class was cancelled for the rest of the day. This was fine because there was only about forty-five minutes left in class. In this situation, we made lemonade out of lemons. This happened again more recently, but the teacher was able to get back into the Zoom call. The only problem was that neither the teacher nor the teaching assistant were the hosts so they could not control the meeting. One darling girl was made the host. She did not know what to do. She called her grandma over and the teacher and the teaching assistant desperately tried to explain to the grandma who apparently did not speak English very well and is not very computer literate to do what they wanted her to do. She tried but seemed so confused. Finally, the child logged off which then made my son the host. My son was thrilled to have so much power and wanted to mute and unmute his friends. I took charge immediately, knowing what they needed me to do, so it got settled, but wow was that another comical situation with the class. Something you would never dream of happening before the pandemic.
• 2020-08-22

  The Difficulties of a College Student During a Pandemic

  During the start of the school semester of spring 2020, talks of a very contagious illness stated to spread. Most students on campus believed COVID-19 to be a threat nut one month later, all colleges across the world shut down. While moving out, my friend's dad said we would be back that same semester. I believed him until infection rates increased across the United States. States started to shut down including the one I lived in. Restrictions, isolation, and guidelines were enforced to ensure public safety. Instead, thousands of people went into depression including me. Not being able to leave my house during the pandemic was difficult. Not only was I hundreds of miles away from my friends at school, but I couldn't see my friends at home too. My experience with online class didn't make interacting with people any easier. Most of my classes didn't require the camera to be on, while the other class didn't even meet online. This was very difficult for me because I was used to being around friends everyday. I started to become depressed as I spent 2 months without interacting with anyone but my family and my teacher. Fortunately, restrictions eased up as the spring semester came to a close. I was able to get a job at a donation center for the summer. I still wasn't allowed to see my friends which made for a disappointing summer but working helped the time go by. When it was time to go back to college, I was relieved. My college was fortunate enough to have students on campus for the fall 2020 semester. I was overly excited to see any friends after months. I counted down the days until we moved in. But I knew the semester would be different. When arriving on campus, I learned that several rules and regulations were implemented to "keep the community safe." Some of these included no visiting anyones dorm room, scheduling when to eat, certain doors were entrances while others were exits, no guests from off campus, must wear a green bracelet at all times, must get randomly tested, etc. I made sure to read the rules and regulations but unfortunately, my roommates didn't. The very first night on campus, my roommates decided to have friends over. I told my roommates that it wasn't allowed but it did not matter. The guests stayed until there was banging at the door. The Resident Assistant working that night wrote us up, and we had to meet with the Dean. While meeting with the Dean, I explained how it was not my fault and I was against having guests over, but I was charged with a $200 fine. Completely upset, I change all my classes to online classes and moved back home. I did not trust my roommates enough to stay. The last thing I wanted was several fines that weren't my fault. When I got home, I was really depressed. I was the only one home out of all my friends and I was back to remote learning. I couldn't see anyone while home and I felt betrayed by my roommates. I felt like my life was crumbling as another semester of my college experience was being wasted. This caused me to have a mental breakdown, and lose all motivation to do work. Four months passed by slowly and I escaped the semester with mediocre grades and a crippling mind. Fortunately, my parents noticed I was not in the best shape of mind. They had me see a therapist and find new activities to do during the pandemic. This got me back on my feet and my friends from home started returning from school. The gap between semesters when well and I was joyful again. However, it was time to decide if I wanted to return to campus for the 2021 Spring Semester. I was torn because some of my friends were staying home that semester and I still did not trust my roommates. I thought rationally and contacted them to see our their semester went. To my surprise, they received 4 fines and one of them had to quarantine. This gave me reassurance that I made the right choice on leaving campus during the fall semester. Currently I am taking the 2021 Spring Semester all remotely and I am happy. I am seeing friends and have synchronous classes. I am confident that I will keep seeing my friends at home and keep a good mindset throughout the semester. I wish for everyone to stay strong during the pandemic and seek help if you're depressed.
• 
  2021-02-17

  The Life of a College Student during the Pandemic

  I am submitting my experience during the pandemic because it is important to share with others who may be feeling the same way that I am. We all are learning first hand how to succeed during this pandemic and it is important we share with each other what our experiences are so we can grow together
• 2020-05-12

  Online

  I didn't want to do online school in the beginning of quarantine. I have anyways wanted to try something like online school and be able to stay home and I got to do that this quarantine. My daily routine is that I do online school, I eat lunch and then for the rest of the day we get to exercise our animals (horse, goats, pigs) until it gets dark. That is one of the up sides of this is that we can be at home with our animals.
• 
  2021-01-31

  Trying New Things With Teaching

  I currently teach sixth grade Social Studies and due to the pandemic, I have been in and out of face to face teaching for about a year. The pandemic has caused me to try new things educational software-wise in my virtual classes. Before the pandemic, I would have considered myself a pretty tech-savvy teacher but now I have fully integrated many new educational programs into my toolbox. I am now using new programs like News ELA and Flocabulary to increase student engagement in my virtual classes. NewsELA lets me choose articles about current events or subjects we are currently learning about. The students then can discuss these topics in class together which has caused many of them to come out of their shells. Flocabulary brings various Social Studies topics alive by turning them into animated rap videos which my students love. I even see myself sometimes bopping along to the songs. Overall, these two programs have increased my student's engagement and interaction with one another in class.
• 
  2021-01-31

  Change in Teaching

  As a teacher for thirteen years of Social Studies this pandemic has greatly impacted me when it comes to my job as an educator. As teachers, we do lesson plans, grade assignments, implement IEPS/504s, hold parent/ teacher conferences, motivate students, listen to students, increase student growth, and so much more. However, due to COVID-19, the role of the educator has changed even more from not just educating the student, we have to now clean the desks and surfaces when we are in person or even virtual when reporting to the building. I have to wear face masks when in common areas, teaching online all day even if we are face to face because there are still students at-home learning. This shift from being able to sit next to a student and walk around the room to now being away from them all together has caused a shift for the students and for me as the teacher. It has made me very sad due to the fact that I am a teacher who enjoys helping my students and sitting next to them and interacting with them.
• 
  2021-01-29

  Virtual School in the Pandemic

  This drawing shows my mostly normal morning during the pandemic.
• 
  2021-01-27

  COVID -19 Pandemic Collage

  This is a collage about the pandemic.
• 2021-01-28

  Remote Learning

  During covid, we started remote learning. Each day i wake up, get on my computer, and join class. Remote learning was fun at first but doing the same routine everyday gets repetitive and boring. There are still some perks to doing school remotely though. It is nice to have the freedom of being able to do something fun between classes like playing games or hanging out with family. I also get to sleep in a little later which is crucial. There are also some obsticles with remote learning too. For example, some kids are going back to may school and we are using cameras over head and it is hard to hear and see things. It is also hard to focus when you are at home so the education is probably not as good. Overall, I would like to go back to school but as soon as i go back, I am sure i will want to be online again so i will make the most out of this time.
• 2021-01-28

  remote learning

  Learning virtual was ok. There were good things about it and bad things. a good thing was I didn’t need to drive to school which gave me an extra 25min. also after school a didn’t need to drive home so I could just run out and surf with the kids in my naborhood. A problem withit though it after stairing at the screen all day my head always felt bad. A normal day of online school was I wake up at 7:00 unlike when I used to wake up at 6:00. I didn’t need to pack up my stuff for online school I could get ready faster. Then I would have a bowl of cearea. And then take a shower and hop on zome on zoom I sometimes had a little more food while in class. After class I didn’t usally have home work which was good because I didn’t need to be on the computer any longer. I am glad we are back at school
• 2021-01-26

  COVID

  Luckily i have not been affected as much from COVID such as deaths. The only really bad thing that has happened to me was my uncle getting Corona and that was it. He only had mild symptoms for a couple of days and that was it. Now he's immune from COVID for a couple more months and then he has to start distancing again. Living through this pandemic really sucked though. I couldn't see any friends, I couldn't really go outside and everyone was panicking about the toilet paper and started buying toilet paper in bulk. It caused anxiety in many people and doing school online was just about the longest worst thing I've ever had to go through. Other than online school and staying inside, it was fine. I mean I got to play video games, sleep, and I did some workouts at home to figure out my record for Olympic type weights. Covid really affected my life and more so bad than good though.
• 2021-01-25

  Covid-19 Statistics and Final Thoughts

  Well, Covid-19 has effected us ALL and as a country too. In the U.S, 25.2 million people have tested positive for Covid-19. Also, unfortunately 420 thousand Americans have died. In the world, many people have tested positive for Covid-19 and also have died form this foreign virus. The exact number of the cases and deaths in the world from Covid-19 is extremely high and very discouraging. My History teacher actually tested positive for Covid-19 not too long ago, and at first, I was shocked. My school told me that I had to stay home and quarantine for 14 days. I was scared that someone so close to me contracted Covid-19. I was scared for my family, my friends, and myself. I am very glad the my history teacher and his family have fully recovered. Covid-19 has made 2020 and 2021 very rough. I has been very difficult learning online and having no social life. I am saddened by how many cases and deaths have appeared over 2020 and 2021. Living through this pandemic and learning online was very frustrating and annoying. I just pray for all those families who lost their loved ones. Overall, 2020 and 2021 has been a roller coaster ride for me. I just wish the best for everyone else.
• 
  2020-01-22

  The Love Story of Laptop and Me

  Starting from May of 2019, I have been living with my laptop, and I am literal. The screen usages reported by window went up from 4 hours a day to 16 hours. Not only that, chrome crashes at least two times each week because of my gazillion taps. But, beyond the eye strains and frequent crashes, I have to thank COVID-19 for forcing me to use a feature I paid for but have never used on my laptop. The webcam. I still remember the bustling first-day in my bedroom installing zoom while texting my teacher on Instagram to tell her that I was having “technical issues,” looking for the link, and turning on the webcam for the first time. When I saw my face pop up on the rectangular window on the top right corner, something clicked inside me; like a switch, I just knew we were going to do this for the rest of my high school career. Prom will be on zoom, winter concert will be on youtube live, and my distance races will be conducted on my treadmill, all from the comfort of my house. This is my life in the age of CORONA.
• 2021-01-22

  Quarantine

  Three words that describe my 2020 would be boring, tiring, and sad. I chose these words because class is unbelievably boring online and tiring because I am more prone to sleep in now that school is at home. This quarantine year was sad since I missed out school sports and any social interaction whatsoever. My holidays were a lot more sleeping and binging shows than usual since I was not able to make any plans to go out since covid. Three things that I would include in a quarantine survival kit a mask, water, and food. These are all the basic necessities to survive. My hobbies during quarantine were binging anime and playing games.
• 2021-01-21

  Covid Symptoms

  Some symptoms you can get from COVID-19 include fever cough sore throat and others. I have only been in contact with one person with COVID-19. My history teacher caught the virus so me and the rest of the students in my class.Had to quarantine for a week. As I am writing this I am still in quarantine. I got tested yesterday so I will find out the results in about two days.
• 2021-01-20

  Mo had to go

  My bible teacher's family tested positive for Covid. He had to go home for 2 weeks. So even though we are at school we have to be zoom. A bunch of my friends had to go home because their history teacher tested positive for Covid.
• 
  2021-01-22

  Slipping and Slipping

  School used to be a place where I would find comfort; a place to escape. Ever since the pandemic started, school has been the root of all of my problems. My mental state has hit an all-time low and I often wonder when I will become the cheery and spirited person again. Learning materials used to come easily to me but now I find it so difficult to retain a small amount of information. Now that I am a junior, I've realized that I only got to experience a year and a half of it. I am afraid that by the time the pandemic gets better I'd leave high school with nothing. As a child, I always envisioned my life to pan out to be like those in shows. That is quite a stretch, isn't it? A selfish part of me wants to be able to go live life like past generations have but that doesn't mean I will go out and risk the safety of others as well myself. The world right now is scary... Fate has a mind of its own and as people of this Earth, we will never know what it will throw at us. With that being said I find that the load of work that teachers hand to us derives my motivation. I knew for a fact that this school year would be hard but I never realized how much of a toll it would take on me. Even though this was enough to discourage me, I tried - believe me - to find something that will spark my drive again. I tried to challenge myself and reward myself to fuel my passion for school but it's proving to be impossible as of lately. Will this ever get better? It's been like hell.
• 
  2021-01-21

  The Massacre of Pens

  In my opinion, quarantine was a difficult event to adjust to. Having to start school online and stay home with no other human interact was very difficult for me. However, I distracted myself by starting to bullet journal of all the shows and movies that I was able to watch, being that we stayed at home 24/7. I felt like these pens captured the pandemic in a light where one can either chose to loath in themselves or learn something new. These pens are all the pens I have used over this quarantine and that have run out of ink due to how much I was using it; I also used it for schoolwork(there was a lot of that too). In the end, I somewhat thank quarantine, because it taught me that in life you could chose two paths and its solely up to you when such a huge obstacle appears in your life.
• 2021-01-21

  COVID: A Time of Many Rules

  This is probably the aspect of COVID that has impacted me the most. No one in my family got COVID, and everyone I know that got it recovered very quickly. The first rule that impacted me was the shutting down of schools. I started online school, and it was a blessing and a curse. I loved some aspects of online school, but I still kind of missed in-person school. The second rule that impacted me was the social distancing. Every time I did have social interaction, I needed to stay 6 feet apart from everyone. I would also need to wear a mask every time I was around people. This made going to stores like Vons and Gelsons much more inconvienient. My least favorite rule was the mandatory lock-down. All of my favorite stores and restaurants closed. I wouldn't be able to go anywhere expect for a few places (grocery stores like Vons and Gelsons). Throughout the last year, the new rules and procedures of COVID have impacted me far greater than the virus itself, and hopefully it will stay that way.
• 
  2021-01-21

  Just Here.

  My computer is important to me because it's the one thing getting me through school and quarantine. Without this computer, I wouldn't be able to go to school, I wouldn't be able to see or talk to my friends on Discord and I wouldn't be able to do any of the hobbies I enjoy. This computer gives me the opportunity to see and talk to my friends during a time where doing so could cost me. This computer allows me to finish assignments and join zoom classes but also gives me a chance to get away from school and play video games when I need to. So until the pandemic reaches an end, I'll just be here, at my computer.
• 
  2021-01-21

  13,000 School Districts, 13,000 Approaches to Teaching During Covid

  As a teacher, I miss our old normal. I miss my students. I miss the connections. The numbers where I live are pretty high and we have not been inside a classroom since March of last year. The kids are not doing well. No amount of scaffolding would be enough right now. My English Language learners are struggling and most have just stopped coming. Parents are frustrated (understandably), and it is evident in their desperate e-mails to me. I am failing them all but I keep pushing and adapting for them. I am so homesick for these kids. Seeing how other schools are dealing with Covid-19 definitely makes me sad. Apart of me wants to go back so badly that I would risk getting sick. The other part of me knows that I have children of my own and asthma. I need to be here for my own family.
• 2021-01-20

  Rules and Procedures

  We have had and still have many rules and procedures during the corona virus pandemic. I have very much disliked some and appreciated others. One procedure that I have appreciated being online was having a very easy structure and schedule and one that I have not liked was having too much freedom during classes. Sometimes in class I would be lazy and not paying attention while in person you can't be relaxed on your comfortable chair with a blanket. One rule that I have appreciated was full time class, some schools do not have a full school day with merely one or two hours of classes. One rule that I have disliked is being in class the full 80 minutes and I lose attention span within that time frame. These are the rules and procedures I have experienced during the corona virus pandemic.
• 2021-01-20

  COVID and Kindergarten

  For years, I had been counting down the days, week, and months to late-August, 2020. This was supposed to be when my daughter, who turned five in April, 2020, would finally start Kindergarten. But most importantly from my perspective, this was the glorious moment when my kid was old enough to go school for free! What kept me sane through all those years of paying the exorbitant cost of babysitters, nannies, day cares, and preschools was the promise that one day my wife and I wouldn't have pay what could easily amount to a house payment for the privilege of having jobs, working on a graduate degree, and having children all at the same time. As you can probably guess, COVID-19 made achieving my dream significantly more difficult. In July, my family and I moved from California to Arizona so I could start a PhD program here. A positive side-effect of this move, I assumed, would be that the local public school would offer in-person instruction to those who wanted it. After all, Arizona is a more conservative state than California. When our local school bailed on their plans for in-person instruction beginning in August, I decided that we would move heaven and earth to find a school that was willing to stand firm against public pressure and fear-mongering to do what, in my view, is in the best interest of students -- offer in-person instruction for those that want it. After countless emails and phone calls, I finally found a good school -- Leading Edge Academy in Gilbert -- where my daughter could attend in-person and we wouldn't be charged tuition. My daughter has been attending in-person at Leading Edge ever since. She's learned a lot, has socialized with other children, and hasn't contracted COVID-19. While COVID-19 is certainly a serious and scary disease, my view is that those who are opposed to an in-person learning option during the pandemic should be honest about what they are actually advocating: sacrificing the education and well-being of children (not to mention the well-being and finances of parents) to make things a bit safer for a very small percentage of the population for whom the virus poses a significant health risk -- most of whom are elderly and have the option of remaining safe at home. Also, many of these people have already received a COVID-19 vaccine or will be receiving one soon. I know this view is shared by countless other parents who have gone to great lengths to enroll their children in in-person learning. I feel terrible for many parents who have wanted an in-person learning option for their children, but have had to tolerate Zoom learning because they are not in the same privileged position my family is in.
• 
  2021-01-11

  Pandemic Prompts

  Over the winter break, ASU launched an Innovation Quarter. For that quarter I created a series of pandemic prompts for students to respond to. Erin Craft also created half the prompts. The idea was to create specific, personal contributions for the archive. I used some of the prompts in the first week of the internship in HST 580 Archives and HST 494 the Undergraduate Research Experience
• 2020-09-14

  Remote Learning

  I had stared virtual learning with a good mindset... I would get to be home all day, have no homework, and do whatever I wanted to. I very quickly realized that was not the case, I was occupied with siblings and pets all day, had at least double the work, and spent most of my day on a device. Honestly online school has been horrible. I resorted to social media as my only distraction, I would scroll through TikTok for hours; I related to a lot of creators which brought me some hope that I wasn't the only one with the feeling of drifting away from society, but the second I put my phone down it all came fooding back. Eventually this new lifestyle was normalized and I was numb. If I had to name this chapter of my childhood, it would be loop. Every single day was the exact same pointless routine, I was wasting my life almost. I have learned a lot learning remotely, and am in a way grateful, but also disappointed, yet still very confused about my final take on things. I changed a lot, but I think for the better. Lost and made friendships. Cried and laughed both a great amount of times. Felt nothing. Felt everything.
• 
  2021-01-17

  Entering 2021

  2020 was rough. I don’t want 2021 to be a repeat. This is my hope for 2021. This is what I hope to accomplish this year to keep myself motivated.
• 
  2021-01-16

  Enjoying home life

  This is a brief entry describing some of my favorite personal things to come about from the pandemic. There were many difficulties faced, but still, experiences to enjoy and appreciate.
• 2021-01-15

  Learning virtually

  I woke up on a warm California spring day at 7:30 a.m. to my mother bantering on about something. I got up and walked to my dresser half asleep, ready to collapse. I put on a blue nylon t-shirt with some black shorts and walked into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Then I slowly walked downstairs pretty anxious and excited to start online. My Dad was already downstairs cooking my up some scrambled eggs and toast to start the new day. As usually my sister was complaining about something, I just tuned her out. My dog the lazy thing he is climbed onto the couch and my mom somehow found something to yell at me about. It might of been about getting on early, but I am not quit sure. any way after breakfast I walked into the living room to get on zoom. It was pretty boring trying to sit through math we were talking about pre-algebra, but I managed to get through it. My dad was super load laughing over the phone, I could hear him perfectly through 2 doors and in another room. My mom was on meetings all day and my sister was in the same boat as me. All the while my dog was sleeeping on the couch next to me without a care in the world. My next 2 periods flew by I don't know why because I had English as one of those. And my last period was rocketry which was fun in the fact that I got to build things, but it would of been a lot more fun in person. Overall the day went by pretty fast ending at approximately 2:45 p.m. After school was finished I slipped by with no homework for the day but I would much rather be in person. The rest of the day was fairly normal I turned on the Television to watch my favorite shows until my sister came down and started bossing me around that I need to get off the T.V and do something productive, shesh she is like a mini mom. Anyway I decided to go for a walk with the dog, and just my luck before I could slip out the door she saw me and made me wait 10 whole minutes to slip on a pair of shoes. When she finally got downstairs she snagged the leash from me and we were on our way. My sister is incapable of controlling a small 40 pound dog so you can only imagine how this walk went. I tried to take control of the leash, but she snatched it back and threw a fit, classic. My dog has a habit of peeing on 14 things in a trip so it delayed it even more. When we finally turned the corner to go up our hill it felt like we've been walking forever. We walked in the door took off the dog's collar and sat on the couch. mom walked in the room and asked us how it went, we said it was pretty good. And after that it was pretty much the end of the day we ate dinner sat in front of thee T.V. and then went to bed.
• 2021-01-12

  The beginning

  When i first heard of covid, i didn't think much of it. I heard it was something in china and i didn't expect it to spread anywhere. Then i heard that it came to America and our school started discussing going online if it got bad. My school finally decided to go online and we started school from home and i have been doing it for almost a year now.
• 2020-03-13

  The Beginning

  My mom said that we were going to keep me home from school for a couple of days and I remember thinking...what is happening? I stayed home from Wednesday-Friday and on that Friday, my mom drove me to school in our Black honda to go pick up my books and clean out my locker because we were going to have an "extended spring break" which really turned into 8 months+ of online school. I thought that this was all super crazy! I was in shock that we had to stay home and learn from a computer. My opinions have changed a bit from back then. I started off thinking that this all would fly by and we would be back in school in a couple of weeks and maybe a month, but now I am not even sure if the world will ever be the same. Will we always have to wear masks? Maybe, but no one knows because the virus keeps getting bigger and bigger. I just couldn't believe that all of this was happening, at first, I thought it would be fun, but as time went by it just got kinda boring.
• 2021-01-11

  The orgin of Covid 19

  I first heard about the coronavirus around February. I heard of it mainly from my mom and friends. In the beginning, I was told it started from someone eating a bat in Wuhan China. Then it spread super fast. I was never too afraid of Covid and I never imagined that my school would get shut down from it. We were still going to school until around March 16th when my school got shut down. We did online school for the rest of the year and we also went into quarantine in March. My family still wasn't too afraid of the virus but for the most part, we quarantined and kept our distance from friends. we are still not too afraid of the virus and my family and my opinions have changed too much.
• 2020-01-11

  Origin of COVID-19

  I came back from Christmas break and I heard rumors of a virus in China. At first I did not believe it, but after I asked my dad, and he said that it was an actual thing. I was not afraid of it and I still am not, but there are many people who are terrified of it. After about a month, people started saying it was in California. This was confirmed when we went to online school. I did not enjoy it. It was the first year that I needed to work on my computer to do assignments, and having to do everything on my computer was a challenge, but I was able to figure it out and learned a lot more about computer usage.
• 2021-01-07

  Covid-19

  My first memory of Covid-19 was in late December of 2019. I was sitting on my couch watching TV when I heard my dad in the other room talking to my mom about how the new "coronavirus" desiese was getting worse in China. I was shocked at first about what he was talking about, so I went into the next room to ask him what was going on. He explained to me how there was an epidemic going on in China, and how some people have died. It all seemed very new and since it was all the way in China I wasn't very concerned with it other than thinking that it must be scary for residents of China. Fast forward a few weeks when we get back to school, lots of kids in the hallways were making jokes about the disease that was spreading, and were saying things like, "Don't forget to use hand sanitizer cuz of corona." Up until mid march the jokes kept on running, and the epidemic in China became more and more of a big deal. Until the night before march 14, 2020 everything was still a joke, and the rumor of us doing online school from home was still a running joke. But on the night of march 13 we all got an email telling us that we'd be doing virtual school from home for the next two weeks. The following Monday we started online school, and we all thought it would just be for two weeks. I was up in my room all day, and we only got short breaks in between classes. The first week everyone seemed to enjoy it was we had to use zoom calls for our class periods. The second week of school everyone including myself started not liking the idea of virtual school as much. Even though we got to sleep in later, people were sick of sitting at a desk almost all day long. Soon enough they extended our time we would be doing school from home because of a pandemic for longer. The coronavirus had spread to the U.S. and most people rarely left the house except to go to the grocery store because everything was closed. Whenever my mom or dad would go to the store they would wear a mask and gloves to make sure they didn't catch any germs. Lots of other people did the same. By this time almost the entire country was in lockdown. It had grown into a full-blown pandemic; other countries like Italy we also bombarded with the panic of Covid-19. Everything was a complete disaster just by mid-april. I had no idea when we would be going back to school, or when things would return to normal. I still don't as a matter of fact. by this time I thought we'd go back in may, but we didn't. In the first couple weeks of may, just a few days before my 13th birthday, everyone at this point hated online school, it was dreaded by children across the country. This gradually got worse and worse, teenagers' mental heath was tanking by a landslide. Quarantine was now taking over my life completely. Most days I would sit in my room the entire day even on weekends since we couldn't go anywhere. Throughout June was probably the worst moth for my metal heath, and I think many others would agree. Saying we were bored would be an understatement; I wasn't depressed much like a quite a few of my other friends ,as far as I'm concerned, but it felt like all of our happiness and livelihood had been taken from us since what we started lockdown. Soon after, in July things started to open up again, the cases for covid-19 were getting lower(which was good), and people basically assumed quarantine was over. The nest month since things were opening up previously we all thought we would go back to school, but a few days before school was supposed to start we were informed that we wouldn't be going back, and we had to continue with online school. I was extremely disappointed, and I thought hopefully we'd go back by at least October. The following months through Christmas break we stayed in online school, and almost nothing happened. I spent my days the exact same as the day before I would sit in my room do school and then look on my phone or listen to music(mostly One Direction, The Beatles, and 80's music). My life became dark, boring, and quiet. By this time everyone was so fed up with quarantine, since we had been in lockdown for the past 9 months. Even Christmas felt different this year; usually I'm super excited and this year I almost didn't even care about the holiday's and I can't explain why. I'm currently writing this on January 7, 2021 at 9:05 pm. We've luckily gone back to school yesterday for the first time in ten months. There are plenty of safety precautions to make sure none of us get sick like: wearing a mask, social distancing( staying 6 feet away from people), and there are even certain ways to we have to walk around hallways and the campus to keep us in order. I can already feel a change in myself since we went back yesterday. It already feels like things are getting better now that we don't have to do virtual school with zoom calls for classes. I'm also really glad I get to see my friends, and hopefully make some new ones. If there's anything I've learned from being a part of the current pandemic it's that you can't give up or give in to other things going on with the world or even within your own life. No matter how tuff things you have to remember who you are and what you want to be. If anyone in the distant future is reading this I want them to know that, and how lucky they are to be apart of something as wonderful as life can be. I found myself more often than never longing for the past hoping for answers, only to find out the past is inside all of us, and even when the hardships of reality kick in you have to remember how amazing it is to get to experience something as rare and beautiful as life is. So don't take things for granted and appreciate every moment because you'll never know when something as mind-boggling as a world-wide pandemic will happen to you. Long story short never give up on your hopes and fantasies; it might just be the thing you'll need the most.
• 2020-12-21

  An 8th grader's Christmas in Covid

  My Christmas this year did not feel right. Every year, I look forward to Christmas break from school and every year there is some sort of party or celebration for it. This year I had online school so the entire time I was just sitting at home, by my desk. The week of Christmas, it didn't feel like Christmas. We normally don't go anywhere for Christmas but it still felt different. We still held the same traditions as every year but the initial excitement was gone. School really does impact Christmas.