First Day of eLearning

Well, today was full but it went well. I got to school about 7:45 to get everything set for our first 'Morning Meeting.' It was super strange to be the only one at school. There are usually at least two or three other teachers there by the time I arrive. Today... I was the only one around for hours.

My students all logged in at the appropriate time. They handled the conference call well. We took turns talking, typed messages to each other in the side chat bar, and got to see bits of everyone's houses. A few kids showed us their dogs. Some were meeting in their beds or in their bedrooms, others went to work with their parents/were in the home office, others sat at the kitchen table. I sat at my desk with my teacher bookshelf behind me. At some point I might do my meetings from home, but for now, I wanted to keep something 'normal.'

It was sweet, we ended our devotion with prayer and a bunch of them gave me prayer requests. It was a way for us to talk about what's going on in our lives when we can't be together. After devotions, we did religion, then read aloud. Some kids ate breakfast while we met, some ate snack. Some were in their pajamas, some were in their normal clothes. After read aloud, I met with one group of spelling that I hadn't gotten to yesterday.

Then I was bombarded with questions. How do I do this? Why can't I see that? Where do I go for this? What time do we need to check in again? Are we having math today? (We weren't... Mr. E was totally exhausted from the stress of getting our school ready for eLearning, so he took the day off. The 7-8th graders might start tomorrow.). Pastor stopped by to ask a question about how he can do confirmation class virtually. Mrs. L stopped by to check in and see how our first meeting went. A few kids called me through the computer to say their memory work, or to ask a question.

Eventually I got all their questions answered! Things calmed down for a while. Then Mrs. L and I went over to church to explore ways to live stream church. The elders are meeting tonight to decide whether we'll have services or not. Our projector screen programmer stopped by church while we were there and then went home to play around with things. She messaged me later to say she has some solid ideas of how to have virtual church.

Someone had sent Pastor a skit/article of society questioning God during our troubled time, which Pastor wanted to act out/film/put on our church Facebook page. I filmed, Mrs. L was society, Pastor was the voice of God off screen. It turned out great! You can watch it by clicking here.

I got home around 4:00, and then Mr. E called me a few times to get his class stuff figured out for tomorrow. One of my friends who works in the area swung by on her way home from work and we went for a short walk. Lots of people called me to talk about church plans! So it's been a busy night. Now I'm hoping to settle in with a book before bedtime.