Items

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  2021-07-10

  Quarantine Journal Assignment at Andover Summer

  While students in the 2021 on-campus summer program at Phillips Academy Andover quarantined on campus for one week, I asked those enrolled in my "Medicine and Society" course to keep a journal in which they reflected on how their daily experiences were shaped by the program's COVID protocols. Those protocols included universal masking (indoors and outdoors), social distancing, grab-and-go food service, regular PCR testing, and more. For their JOTPY stories, some students chose to upload their entire journals, while others summarized their reflections over the week. On the day we uploaded our stories, the quarantine period came to end, and the students could enjoy a bit more social freedoms on and off campus.
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  2021-07-10

  Going the Social Distance

  Over the course of about a week and a half I share my thoughts and feelings about the restrictions and rules we had while being placed on a modified quarantine. I discuss how it was to survive in the heat of summer, play volleyball, go to classes, and many other things while being masked up all the time. I tell readers about the testing I had to do so that everyone should know that I was negative for covid even. My story shows the different stages I've gone through throughout this modified quarantine. The stages being homesick to becoming comfortable embracing this experience of a lifetime. It is important to me because I'm using my real feelings and letting the readers know how I truly felt during the experience.
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  2020-07-06

  Summer School Classroom

  I went back to teaching in person today. I have about 7-14 kids per class, their exits into the hallway were staggered by classroom, they were all spaced safely apart, and meals weren’t offered in the school but were bagged up and sent home. We can do this with 50 kids but trying to imagine what this would mean in the fall when we hope to welcome back nearly 850 students into our building is frightening. I hated teaching with a mask on because the kids couldn’t read my face and it changed the tone of the room. I truly teared up as I pulled into the parking lot this morning and saw kids walking to school - I’ve missed them SO MUCH!!! I don’t know what the answers are in terms of reopening schools. What I do know is that teachers don’t want to be teaching from their living rooms but if it means keeping the students we love so much and the colleagues we adore safe....then we’ll do it. We’ll move mountains to keep up with our kiddos. We didn’t get into this profession for the fame and fortune, we got into this because we truly love what we do. I wasn't placed in my normal classroom today. Instead I was put in the art room which had chairs for 15 students but no desks. There were many hand sanitizer stations around the schools and are halls are all 'one way only.' The students wear masks while riding the bus but immediately take them off upon arrival and they are washed and given back at the end of the school day. I've used more hand sanitizer in the last 24 hours than I have in a long time. It also has me rethinking class copies of work.
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  2020-06-29

  Summer School is a Go

  As of June 22, 2020, the Boise, Idaho metro was rolled back to stage 3 of reopening. After new cases of COVID-19 soared, the governor decided to close bars, night clubs, and various restaurants. While some school districts have already decided to go online for the summer, my school district decided to return to in-person classes for summer school in June. While we have been rolled back to stage 3, our summer school session is still a go. Today, June 29, 2020, teachers received an email from our principal outlining the procedures for returning to school. As of now, students will not be served meals while at school and will instead take lunch and breakfast for the next morning home with them at the end of each school day. Additionally, teachers are required to wear facemasks while interacting with students. I think this session of summer school is acting as a trial run for the district to understand better what the upcoming school year may bring.
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  2020-06-12

  Summer School in Idaho

  On Friday, June 12th, the summer school team at my school met to discuss our plans for summer school in July. A few weeks ago, we received word from the district that summer school would be happening *in person* in July. As a team, we met via Microsoft Teams (to respect stage 3 of Idaho's reopening) and set up a curriculum for the summer. Our meeting was so focused on student numbers, curriculum, and overall joy that we get to see our students in person again. At the end of the meeting, one of the teachers asked, "do we have to take any extra precautions? Are we teaching with masks on?" There was a moment of silence as we all realized that he hadn't added Clorox wipes or hand sanitizer to our shopping lists, as many teachers donated our classroom supplies to our local homeless shelters when schools close.
• 2020-06-05

  Non-classic Student in the Time of COVID-19

  He was struck suddenly by the massage, a life changing massage which indeed deconstructs his unwanted college life but also his entire plan of how to waste it. The massage is, with years process, the approval of major change request, which he actually had expected a deny because of his junior status. Since it happened, he suddenly lost his plan about next school year and the summer vacation between. As an international student, he was planing a summer school which becomes unnecessary now, and he is not sure how to do exactly. The thing is almost all of his friends returned home either by airplane or automobile and he really has nothing to do in such pandemic. "I guess I should go home." he tells himself repeatedly and finally buys an airline ticket without clue if it would be canceled which is frequent in pandemic. Now all he can do is waiting, waiting for the eradication of last COVID-19 virus, waiting for the lovely first class next year, waiting for the familiar room home next month, waiting for the ticket confirmation next week, waiting for the confidence in final next time, waiting for the salute of professor next lecture, waiting for the oil boiling next meal, and waiting for the sunshine next morning. He is doubting if life must be passive, and suddenly wind strikes curtain; he choose to shut the window, and the street lamps outside are still on.
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  2020-04-07

  Hopkins CTY Summer School Closure

  Hopkins CTY has a summer school program that has been confirmed for partial closure. The first session at all sites has been suspended and both sessions will be closed in Hong Kong. As of April 7, 2020, there is a possibility that the second session will continue.