Mr. Wendling's First Week Reflection

In the world of teaching, there is something special about your first year. It is challenging, exhausting, often frustrating, but it is also exhilarating. You're having to figure out the most basic of things (How do I pass out all those papers without the class falling apart?), but at the same time you are open to new possibilities in a way you never are again - until your next "first year". Over the years I've discovered that changing teaching assignments or changing schools means another first year.
 
And that brings me to this new "first year" of eLearning. So far, it has been challenging, exhausting, often frustrating, but it has also been exhilarating! I've been working to find the sweet spot between using established routines for the students' and my comfort and adjusting to this new reality. Every day brings us closer to it. I've been taking the best of what I did before and developing variations and additions that fit our new context. It often seems like my mind is going a hundred miles per hour much as it did in my other first years of teaching. I've discovered and rediscovered activities that will be a regular part of my lessons even after we return to regular school.
 
What has been different about this first year is that I am not doing it alone. The whole staff has been exploring, trying, evaluating, and revising all together. Emails get sent out several times a day with new things that worked, and ones that didn't. We in Middle School have been trying to make things similar enough for the students to have some common skills and expectations yet allowing each teacher enough freedom to share her or his discipline given his or her experience with technology. All of this is a work in process. I've also been working with my students to figure out how things are working for them and what I might be able to adjust. Step by step we are getting there together. 
 
One thing that has made this process easier is the strong foundation in technology we already had. We were already using Google Classroom and other Google applications in Middle School, so that became our foundation for work. Thanks to the school's invitation, I attended the TCEA (Texas Computer Educater's Association) conference just a few weeks ago. The ideas and inspirations from that experience have informed my process and helped make this transition easier. It's still a work in progress, but I can't think of a better place to be doing it than St. Theresa's.