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| Quarantine Life, Week 2 |
Three weeks ago, life was hectic. Any teacher can say that the end of school year is one of the busiest, if not, stressful times of the year. Finals, events, performance tasks, grading—the home stretch is a knockout blow. To put it flippantly, it’s tiring. I’ve known that in my brain for a while but as soon as March arrives, I can feel it a lot more in my nerves. But even then, I was more than ready to wrap up the rest of 2019-2020 school year and go full steam into school year 2020-2021. I have my end of year plan intact. Then, the unexpected happened. Fast-forward to here and now, and I’m kind of smirking at myself in retrospect. I could never have anticipated the world would shift its gear and everybody’s plans would be shelved. Life has been in a slow lane since.
I miss teaching inside an actual classroom. The initial switch to virtual instructions somehow created a flurry of chaos among my students, their parents and myself. When a notification pops up on my screen, my heart raises at the thought of answering what feels like a gazillion emails from a student who can't figure out how to open the assignment. I am at my wits end when some of them missed due dates, arguing that they’re having technical difficulties or having a trouble with WiFi when they literally just uploaded a Tiktok video seconds ago. As if turning in their assignments just isn’t going to be a priority. It’s an uphill struggle, if you ask me. It goes without saying that classrooms are far from obsolete. I'm learning a whole lot from this so, I can't really complain.
And while there’s no denying the severity of the crisis that’s upon us, for an avowed, lifelong introvert like me, this period of quarantine somehow yields some positive consequences. The current demand of staying home and reducing social interaction is nothing short of spectacular, as though it’s some kind of manna to me. I'm also reading again. The Sisterhood by Bobbie Houston was given to me as a Christmas gift from my sister. Just few pages into it and I’ve learned handful of insights that completely redefined my own while being instantaneously stirred up to be a force for good within my own community. Quarantine life gave me an opportunity to tick few boxes off my to-do list and I’m learning a great deal about time management. Most days though, I look out my window and tell myself that something good may yet come out of this time. One can't be overly hopeful, you know.
