musings

Musings During Covid 19

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Homemade sourdough bread
Homemade Sourdough Bread

I call these musings because, well, I don’t know what else to term them. I find myself wondering what to write about since I don’t necessarily feel I have anything worth saying. Although if it’s not interesting I guess you can stop here!

One of the things I have found myself doing is more hands-on work at home. I often find myself puttering in my garden, baking bread, and just spending time outdoors.

I don’t really know why I’m so driven to encourage myself to use my hands to create, but I assume it’s because I need to have myself in touch with real things. Not virtual education, but real, tangible things.

Going back to work almost a month earlier than I did last year, has put a different spin on what my work life looks like. I find myself so engaged with my work that the whole day will go by, and I don’t even know that it’s passed! I’m not sure if this is because there’s so much work to do, or if this is because I am enjoying my work so much. I am very blessed to be able to have a job that I love!

Being in the workforce for nearly 50 years has really taken different turns in my life. I often wonder if my life would be the same if I hadn’t been in education nearly the entire time. Well, I may not have always been doing the exact same teaching job that I’m doing now, but I’ve certainly been teaching something all of my life.

Where do you find your passion? Does your job make you feel excited to get up every day? Not that mine has always made me feel excited to get up, but it certainly makes me excited to work every day. Not a lot of people can say that. What a blessing!

I hope that you have found your passion in life. I hope that your work is fulfilling, exciting, and worth getting up for every day. While the drudgery of jobs can turn into something we dread, I feel as if finding the excitement and passion is something you must do. When we can find the excitement and the passion it’s not work at all. It becomes something that we are, something that we become, and something that fulfills us.

Finishing An Unprecedented Year

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A year ago, who would have thought that teleworking would be a thing in education? The options that have presented themselves in these last few months have both propelled education forward and at the same time exposed the weaknesses in our previous systems.

My Thoughts

Holding a job as a Digital Learning Coordinator has put me, along with my colleagues, in a pivotal role in our District. Our work has been completely validated as we provide staff training, build new courses and deliver just-in-time instruction to a district with over 10k+ teachers.

What has fascinated me the most, is the willingness of even the most reluctant learner to avail themselves of tools and training that previously they had resisted or didn’t even know existed. The thirst for knowledge that seasoned teachers like myself, all the way to those teachers just beginning, have sought out in order to make learning more active for their students has been nothing short of amazing.

While I have definitely worked more hours a day in the last 3 months than I had previously, it has been so incredibly rewarding. The look on a teacher’s face in a video call when he/she “gets it” is so rewarding. The relationships built with my immediate colleagues over endless hours of collaboration and designing of materials has fueled my thirst for more knowledge. The amount of things that I’ve learned from both my team as well as the teachers and staff I have the privilege of working with has been nothing short of overwhelming.

I hope my colleagues know how much I appreciate them. If you’re reading this and I haven’t told you specifically, please know that I am very grateful for your collective knowledge, your collaboration and your grace throughout this time. If you are one of the thousands of staff members that I’ve interacted with this past school year, please know that I am very grateful for you as well. Your patience and understanding while we navigated these waters has been appreciated.

So, on this last day of the 2019-20 school year I reflect on the newness, the adaptation, and the amazing growth that we all have experienced this year. My #OneWord for this year was #GRACE. Little did I know how much I would need that this year. Stay well. ~BBV