Remote Teaching

Like many teachers around the world, I am currently involved in remote teaching. Professionally, this has been an exciting challenge to engage with new or unfamiliar forms of technology and consider ways of sustaining student learning and engagement in a time when they are also feeling emotionally isolated and anxious. Balancing my students' academic learning with their mental wellbeing is at the forefront of my mind, and if that means I have to compromise traditional "coverage" of content, I think it's worth it in the long-run.

As a mother of three children between the ages of 2 and 11, though, it kind of feels like I am "remote parenting" more than I am remote teaching. Anyone who claims that working from home is the easy life has clearly never had to engage in a virtual meeting whilst shooing their own children out of the bedroom where they have hidden for some peace and quiet! Jimmy Fallon can probably empathise. It's difficult, when I am technically home, to have to ignore them or say "Not now, Mummy has to work." On the plus side, my commute is much easier -- and I'm not paying extortionate travel costs every week!

I've often had colleagues say to me over the years, "I don't know how you do it all." I've always found that comment slightly offensive and subtly sexist. I'm pretty sure no one has said the same thing to my male colleagues who have children. And the truth is this: I don't do it all. I never have. I'm lucky to have a husband who takes on the majority of the childcare, adapting his work schedule to accommodate this. I have also relied on the support of my children's school and my childminder. Now more than ever, I appreciate their commitment, which I know first-hand often comes with many personal compromises.

It's still early days yet, and the Easter holiday is soon approaching, but right now the days are just dragging on, one day blending into the next. We'll eventually settle into a new routine, but for now structure has gone out the window and my own children have had to become "self-directed learners". I would feel guilty, but when Cupcake came downstairs yesterday in medieval dressing up clothes and proclaimed that she was going to slay the jabberwocky, it was clear to me that she has absorbed some History and English. She then engaged in her first virtual piano lesson, dressed as Joan of Arc, before making a radio out of a rock. She may be refusing to do the maths and science work her teacher has sent, but who says she isn't learning?

A Chance to Reset?

The world is a scary place right now, especially if you read the endless 25-hour news and social media coverage. I admit, it's been really difficult for me to switch off and even more difficult to dial back my own anxieties.

But I have always been an optimist at heart. Despite living in the UK for almost 15 years now, married to a cynical Brit (even he would admit this), I have never truly embraced the "stiff upper lip", nor do I fully understand the "keep calm and carry on" mentality.

So as scary as the current situation is, I have to think that this is also a golden opportunity for humanity: a chance to reset the planet by living more consciously and considering the consequences of our lifestyle choices. This is a chance to be kinder to each other and to the earth. I'm not trying to sound sanctimonious, but the reality is that the consumer-driven, eco un-friendly way many of us live is just not sustainable, and we cannot continue to pretend that our individual choices only affect us.

We are socially distancing. Many people are not, and I find that very upsetting. I am doing this for my family, but I am also doing it for yours. We will resume our normal lives again, but for now we need to press "pause" and think about the world as a whole, not just ourselves.

Love in the Time of Corona

I have shamelessly stolen that title from one of my fellow English teachers (thank you, Bidita!), but it seemed fitting for my first post in over 5 years!

Yes, let that sink in. 5 years. I thought I had packed it in. Life had taken over (in more ways than one) and the blog no longer seemed important to me. It was simply an artefact of my past. But recent events seem to have made the virtual life more important than ever. So I am giving this one last go. We'll see how long it lasts.

Brief update:

1) (Surprise) Baby Number 3 was born in April 2018. We have a boy to complete our family. I am struggling to find an appropriate nickname for him. Stay tuned. Crumpet and Cupcake are now 11 and (almost) 8, respectfully. Time flies.

2) We have very sadly lost both of my parents-in-law, which makes me ever more homesick. The current global situation, and the fact that I actually can't go home, doesn't help matters. This has definitely made us take stock as a family. Again, stay tuned.