I miss the old days……

I miss the old days…..

It has officially been one year since COVID became the news of the world. What a year it has been.

During that time, I have been to the United States for brief visits (once a year ago for 3 days, and then for 3 weeks during the summer). I have moved from Turkey to Latvia. New vocabulary has emerged – social distancing, Covidiot, mask mandate, Zoom bombing, virtual learning…..these are all part of everyday conversation and interactions.

In Turkey, the school was virtual from March 24 through the end of the year. Once moving to Latvia, the school year started as face to face. However, we have been virtual (grades 7-12) since October 16. We will be virtual until at least April. Rumors suggest even longer.

When I arrived in Latvia (earlier than planned originally), I had a 2 week quarantine. At least I was in my apartment for that times, and took advantage of it to completely unpack and get settled. There have been curfews, lockdowns, limited openings for shops, restaurants available for takeaway only. I miss the old days…… I want to be able to go into a shop and browse. At one time here in Latvia. for 6 weeks, grocery stores could only sell food items; other items were restricted. Shops were once open Monday through Friday. Now, only grocery and pharmacy are open. This has been ongoing since December 16; currently, this is scheduled to end April 6. I bet it gets extended again.

Travel is limited. Right now, in Latvia, I can travel within the country, and enjoy the fresh air. Museums are closed. Don’t even think about flying – you need a negative test before boarding flight; then you have the quarantine period upon arrival in the destination country. Repeat for the return to Latvia. Travel to Latvia for tourism only is not allowed right now. There is a rumor that those with temporary residence permits, like me, if they leave, will not be allowed to re-enter Latvia.

Vaccination is happening, but very slowly here in Latvia. If I could get to the USA, I could be vaccinated, and then return to Latvia. Of course, that means flights and quarantines and negative tests. Just not in the cards right now.

During this time online teaching, I have become adept at using Zoom to conduct classes, learned several new online programs (Kami, Jamboard, Padlet, just to name a few). I have taught virtually from my desk at school and from my desk at home. Devising new ways to assess students and keep them engaged is becoming challenging. Conversations at the start of class include commenting on virtual backgrounds, asking about plans and the weather, and having student predict the return to face to face instruction. It is not the same as the conversations that used to occur in a classroom.

I miss the old days……..

The final week of school

This week is the last week of school. It has been an extremely long year. ISL has been virtual for grades 7-12 since October 16, 2020. That means that students and teachers were 100% online for most of the year. Needless to say, as the year progressed, there were fewer students with their cameras on and more black boxes that I was talking with.

Yesterday and today were class days. So, since it was the last day of classes in each of my classes, we played a fun Kahoot. Just to let the kids have some fun. Normally, the last class of the year I have students complete the 100 word word search (with no list of words). Grades are finished and submitted. Basically, I am just passing the time with the kids.

Tomorrow is the last “outdoor lesson” My students will be at school for a couple of hours. I am predicting that only about 4 will show up. Although they do get their yearbooks tomorrow. Maybe that will motivate them to come. They also have to finish turning in materials (not for my class). Even though my students will be there for a couple of hours, I’ll be there all day. I’ll be doing my end of year stuff.

Thursday the entire grade level can finally be together in one outdoor session. So I will have the opportunity to see my students one last time. It will be interesting to see who comes. I have a feeling that many will not. Of course, they do get to sign yearbooks and participate in some field day like activities. Then Friday is a virtual half day. I think I can make it!

With all the craziness of the year, I am glad that I oved to Latvia, even if was in the middle of a global pandemic. Things are starting to improve in Latvia. Travel is resuming. I am actually going to the USA for a longer time this summer. For the first time in 2 years, I’ll get to see my brother and my sister. My suitcase is going to have more gifts than anything else when I go!

Outdoor lessons

Wow. We have teaching virtually since October 16, 2020. Latvia, therefore, has the longest time teaching virtually of any country in the European Union. Six months, and we are still virtual.

Well, we are mostly virtual. Beginning this week, students are allowed to return to campus for a 2 hour block once a week for outdoor lessons. In groups with a maximum of 10. So I won’t be teaching math. My smallest class is 16. Instead, we will have students grouped by advisory sections, and they will be able to interact with one another. We are going to focus on doing some fun activities and letting students get reacquainted with coming on campus.

There are a number of restrictions that students and teachers will have to adhere to:

• Students will be totally outdoors.
• They will remain with their group.
• All students and teachers will wear masks.
• There will be distancing of 2m between students and teachers.
• Groups can only interact with another group if they are in the same class section.
• No transportation provided by the school
• No food/drinks provided. Students need to bring their own.

Since Grade 8 is split among the different times available, my advisory will not be able to interact with other students. Just me and my 8 students (if they all show up). I am going to encourage my students to bring a book, to share experiences during the last 6 months, maybe write a journal of the times in lockdown. Once we see numbers, we can then determine more specific plans.

This is going to be strange….

December

It is December 1. Virtual teaching has been ongoing since the end of October. Needless to say, it is exhausting.

Last week, we had 2 days of parent teacher conferences. Virtual conferences. In 10 minute slots. Being a math teacher, I was booked solid through the 2 days. While conferences are generally exhausting anyway, this year it was even more so, because it was online. Staring at a computer all day is just exhausting.

Today I went to school, because I could. Secondary teachers were finally told they cold teach 100% from home. I needed a change of scenery, and since I only had 1 class, decided to go in. My carpool driver teaches grades 4-12, and grade 6 and under are in person, so she was going in. I took advantage of it and went. I managed to get some work done before my class.

During the next 3 weeks, before winter break, I plan to go to school once a week. This way, I can check for any packages that might arrive ( I am expecting 2 so far) and get out of my apartment.

Virtual Teaching

Today marks the beginning of the second week of virtual teaching. Of course, only grades 7-12 are virtual. Grades Pre K through 6 are still in person at school.

With no aecondary students, other than grade 6, the school is very silent. I occasionally hear the elementary students up the hall from my room. I am basically in my room all day, teaching, planning, grading, and so on.

Unlike last year in Turkey, here at ISL, students follow a regular schedule each day. With 80 minute classes, the expectation is that students are in a ZOOM call for about the first 20 minutes, and then a short regroup at teh end of the lesson. I have done my best to adhere to this. Also, I am using PearDeck, with interactive slides, to keep students engaged in the lesson. I can give real time feedback to individuals.

Each grade level has had a quiz. Grade 7 took theirs as a Google Form. Not my favorite method, but it worked. For grade 8, I decided to use Quizzizz. Again, its not too bad, and students are able to work at their own pace. I get a nice spreadsheet with results for each method. I have to decide which one I like better. I would prefer to give an assessment in person, but it didn’t work out that way.

We definitely have all next week (through November 13) as virtual, as of right now. All of this can change, depending on the COVID 19 numbers. These numbers have been steadily increasing, in triple digits for the last 3 weeks. I have a feeling that virtual teaching will go even longer…..

Things are normal (sort of)

I have been in Latvia since mid July. School began in August with students face to face. I am so thankful for this! After the last quarter of the year in turkey was virtual, it is wonderful to be in front of a classroom with students!

There are a few restrictions at school. Students are in grade level bands and grade band bubbles. Should the need arise, a grade band or grade bubble can become virtual. Right now, there are temperature checks upon entering the school, hand sanitizer EVERYWHERE, and no mixing of grade bands.

I teach all the grade 7 students and all the grade 8 students. There are 2 classes of each grade level, with about 17 students in each class. The schedule is an A/B day rotating block schedule, with an 8 days cycle. I enjoy seeing the students at different times of the day. My A days I only have 1 class, while I teach 3 out of 4 blocks on B days. Of course, on B days, my free block is filled with meetings.

It is nice to be in a school with many different nationalities. I have many students who are affiliated with the different embassies. A number of my students are Russian speakers. Within the classes, I can see the different groups hanging out together.

In September, we did an “Adventure trip.” Each grade level in the secondary school went on an overnight trip to a different part of Latvia. Since I have a grade 8 advisory, I went on that trip. We went to the coast and had a 30km bike ride on the beach. Once we reached the end of the bike ride, we went a short distance to our camping resort, where we spent the night along the coast in cabins. Of the 34 students in grade 8, about 25 came. Students got to interact with each other, and teachers got to hang out with students outside of the classroom. I got to know my students a little better, and just enjoyed the overall trip. Although I did not swim in the Baltic, many students did. I did put my feet in…… It was like the Arctic Ocean in Alaska…..COLD!

I have settled in in Riga. The days are definitely getting shorter. When I arrived, sunrise was at 5am…..now it is 7am. Sunset is no longer at 9pm, but at about 6pm. I think it will be hard come November, when the darkness is even more. I am able to walk around the center of Riga with no worries. I also have a monthly bus pass, so i can travel on the bus to school, or to other areas of the city on weekends. The bus system is efficient. Many people in Latvia speak English.

Although I wont be able to travel outside of Latvia for breaks in October or December, I look forward to exploring Latvia. The country is beautiful.

The start of a new adventure

I am sitting in the airport in Frankfurt, Germany, waiting to board my flight.  I am heading to Riga, Latvia, to start my new adventure.  I will be teaching math to grades 7 and 8 at the International School of Latvia.

Travelling in this time of Covid-19 is strange.  I started in Raleigh.  Check in at the airport included showing my letter from tehr Embassy of Latvia, which grants me permission to enter the country.  Americans are banned from entering Europe just now, because of the high numbers of Covid cases in the USA.  In Washington, DC, my first connection, I had to again show the letter and have my documents checked.  Same in Frankfurt on arrival.

It is strange to see so many shops in a major international hub closed.  Everyone is required to wear a face mask in the airport, and there are announcements about that every 30 minutes.  Even on flights, unless you are eating, you have to wear a mask.  Again, the announcements are endless.  Hand sanitizer is everywhere.  Boarding a flight, you are handed an antibacterial wipe to use at your seat.  Flight attendants are wearing face masks and gloves.

The airports themselves are not full.  Raleigh was nearly deserted.  On my flight, which has a capacity of over 100 people, there were 41.  The international leg to Germany was also not full.  I have no idea about the trip to Riga, but I imagine it will be more of the same.

Latvia does not, at this time, have a requirement for face masks.  However, I know I will be wearing one when I venture out.  Of course, I have a 14 day self-isolation on arrival.  I should be in my apartment, so that will give time to unpack.  I will need to figure out groceries and such.  Riga seems to be a delivery culture, from what I have been told.

After the 2 weeks, it will be time for new teacher orientation and such.  I know I have to go and get a medical exam, as well as get my residence permit processed.  I am not sure of the actual beginning of school.  Will it be virtual?  Will it be face to face?  A mixture?  ISL seems to have contingency plans for each scenario already set up.  The question is what will actually happen in 6 weeks.

The new adventure is starting soon.

The end of the strangest year ever

2019-2020 was a normal year to start off with.  Students in grades 7 and 8, planning with other teachers, working towards goals for the year, exams, field trips, clubs.  Everything was fine until March….

At spring break, teachers were tasked with being prepared with a week’s worth of online lessons.  After all, Covid-19 was a real threat, and there was a possibility that school would be online after the break.

Upon return from break, sure enough, we were online.  Distance learning is not as easy as it sounds.  You cant teach a regular lesson while keeping 20 students engaged online.  Students were online all day.  Teachers were getting really stressed out, trying to deliver new content in a meaningful way.  Trying to keep a normal routine in abnormal circumstances was hard.

Students under 18 were placed on total lockdown in Turkey. The elderly over age 65 were also on lockdown.  Turkey’s borders were closed.  Luckily, I made it back into Turkey just before the borders closed to international flights.  And we were teaching online.

Eventually, we came to have a routine.  In the math department, we taught live sessions twice a week to all students in a grade level, and then had online office hours the other 2 days.  Fridays were days with no classes and reserved for meetings.  We kept up with the news and awaited decisions to be made by the Turkish Ministry of Education about possible reopening.  Each month, the opening was delayed, until finally in mid-May, the Ministry announced that schools would remain closed for the rest of the year.

Then it was announced that all students would be promoted automatically to the next grade.  There would be no second semester grades.  At this point, attendance and work completion dropped off dramatically.  Still, we kept on teaching new concepts as best we could online.  I have decided that it is difficult to teach effectively online.

I missed my students.  Even the ones that drove me totally crazy.  “Seeing” them on a video chat/lesson was not the same.  It was much harder to see exactly how they were doing the work, because it was not face to face.

Then there were the weekend lockdowns.  Starting in mid-April, every weekend until the beginning of June was a total lockdown for everyone.  Don’t go out of your residence.  You can’t go to the market.  You can’t do anything.  There were several long weekends (4 day weekends) during this period.

In the meantime, back in November I accepted a new job in Latvia.  Getting paperwork completed and sent to Riga was a challenge.  It all had to be done electronically, and then bring the originals when I move to Latvia.  Getting notarizations and apostilles had to be done.  Things had to be sent in order to facilitate the paperwork for a residence permit.

Because of the unusual circumstances, I did not tell my students until the last week of school.  I still had to make it to the last day of school and could not bring myself to tell them.  Finally, after I told my classes online, I sent them all an email telling them goodbye.  I could not tell them goodbye in person.  This was hard.  I received some emails from students thanking me and telling me they would miss me.  I had parents praising me for the job I did in difficult circumstances.

Now it is time to move on.  Tomorrow evening, I head to the airport, leaving Turkey for the last time as a resident.  If I come back, it will be as a tourist to visit those places i could not visit this year.

Without the support of my friends here on campus and those that i worked with in the department, I don’t think I would have survived this crazy time.  It was difficult to stay positive when you were kept isolated from everyone.

Thanks to Amber, David, Eve and David, Sarah, Sharon, Kerrie, Adam, Grace, and Cheryl  You guys kept me from being totally insane in a crazy time.

Another year finished!

2018-2019 has come to close.

This has been a challenging year in many ways.  It is always hard to come to a new school, where things are done differently.  While the move from Vietnam was a welcome change, there were many challenges at BLIS.

From behavior to students with 14 different classes to the craziness of the schedule, I somehow survived.  Of course, good friends helped with that.

There were Tuesday nights with ordering dinner and watching TV.  Day trips to Amasra, Beypazari, Konya, and Eskesehir.  Pancake breakfasts.  All of these helped to make the year better.

So long, BLIS.  See you in August!

So long, Jenn!

The 2018-2019 year is officially over!  I have finished my first year in Turkey!

In all of my years of teaching, this is the first time that I have cried on the last day.  It is because I had to say goodbye to my good friend Jenn, whom I have worked with in 2 different schools in 2 countries.  For the past 3 years, we have been able to vent to one another, share travels and adventures, and experience 2 very different cultures.

Jenn, I will miss you!

I had to put the picture of Cataturk, well, just because….

Without you Jenn, I do not think I could have made it through this year.  It was a very trying year, in many ways, and you were always there to listen to me vent, to offer advice, and to be a friend.  For that I say THANK YOU!

There were our Tuesday evenings, with ordering dinner, Manifest, and the Big Bang Theory.  Pancake breakfasts.  Trips to Kent Park and to Bilkent.  Ulus and exploring Ankara.  And lets not forget the crazy bus ride to Alanya, when we blew a tire, and then had that 6 hour trip turn into a 12 hour trip!

Jenn, I wish you the best in the future as you return back to the US!