The same week the kids' school went to full-time in-person classes, my school is also started to open up. The principal announced that the school would have students come back at quarter-capacity (meaning about 6 students per class) and we'd have to do hybrid teaching starting April 12th. I have to say, I have mixed feelings about this. The teaching is going to be challenging - catering to six students in the class and fifteen who are still zooming in on the computer will be weird, and probably very annoying. On the other hand, lots of students are doing terribly academically and with their mental health, so it will be very good for many of them to get to leave their houses and get a little extra support and social time.
To prepare for this transition, teacher's were asked to come and teach from the building to get used to that and start figuring out our tech requirements for hybrid teaching. So on March 15th, I went back to school, almost exactly a year after we shut down on 3/13/20. It was good to be back in the building and have those little hallway interactions with other teachers. But an empty school building is fundamentally a sad place, and it seems none of us are looking forward to hybrid teaching with masks on and keeping the kids six feet apart all the time. We just want things to return to normal, not this "worst of both worlds" scenario coming up in a couple of weeks.
But on the bright side, spring is finally here and on 3/26/21 I got my second Covid-19 vaccination shot, so two more weeks and I don't have to worry so much!
