I hope everyone had a great weekend and that all of your hard work over the past couple of weeks pays off beginning today as we kick off on this new adventure. I've been really impressed by the glimpses I've had of what you've been putting together as you've reached out with questions.
Over the past few weeks of working from home and being separated from everyone I've noticed a strange feeling arise. Somehow this whole experience has made me feel closer to many of you even though I haven't left my house. In sitting and thinking about it, I think it might be because we are now all welcoming each other into our homes. If you've been in my office hours, booked a time slot, or watched any of my videos I've posted, you've had a nice little tour of my home. You've been in my dining room, living room, garage, on my deck, even in my bedroom. You've seen my kids in the background, and maybe said "Hi" to my wife. In one session, my wife even popped her head in to explain a feature of Zoom to a teacher because I guess she didn't think I was doing a good enough job. :)
I mention this because as we start working with our students, even though they're not in your classroom, you have an opportunity coming up to develop a really close personal relationship with your students. As you begin holding office hours and talking with your students, don't be upset when life is happening behind you. Every time I've seen a kid or a pet show up on camera in the past month, everyone's face brightened a bit with a big smile. We're all humans; we all sometimes have socks on the floor or dirty dishes on the counter. We have a great opportunity for our students to see us as humans. For many of them, they need that human connection more than anything right now. Especially as we start things off this week, don't worry about the content as much as the connection.
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