Programming Note
Only those students (30, as of today) will continue to receive daily updates. Edgenuity is due on June 12 at 5:00pm. This deadline is serious, and I do not know what the consequences will be for missing it. You now have 14 days to complete Edgenuity courses! Two weeks! Here's what ya'll accomplished yesterday:
Shout Outs! Most Progress YESTERDAY!
Reflections I have strong reservations about Richmond entering Virginia's Phase One of reopening today. While the percent of people who test positive for the Coronavirus might be decreasing (percent positivity) might be decreasing, it has certainly not been decreasing for two weeks. I also think reopening businesses sends the message that the pandemic is over, when articles like this one in the Richmond Times Dispatch indicate that, without continued distancing and proper use of face masks, the worst is still yet to come. That being said, I cannot help but feel excited about some of my favorite spots in the city opening back up. One of my favorite stores in the entire city is Deep Groove, a tiny record shop on Robinson St. in the Fan. While I've continued to buy vinyl records over the phone from the shop, there's nothing like spending some time flipping through used records and stumbling upon a few lucky, unexpected gems. I'm hoping to get over there today, don my homemade face mask, and start digging! What is one local shop or restaurant you're looking forward to getting back to as soon as it feels safe?
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Programming Note
This will be the final daily update that goes out to ALL biology students & families. Only 30 students have not finished their biology Edgenuity requirements, so I have put all those people into a separate Remind group. Only those people will continue to receive daily updates. Anything that pertains to all biology students, such as invitations to our weekly Zoom meetings, will continue to be sent to all students & families. Edgenuity is due on June 12 at 5:00pm. This deadline is serious, and I do not know what the consequences will be for missing it. You now have 15 days to complete Edgenuity courses! Here's what ya'll accomplished yesterday:
Shout Outs! Most Progress YESTERDAY!
Reflections I watched episode seven of The Last Dance last night, and I found the last few minutes especially poignant. The documentary, including the interview with Michael Jordan himself, dealt with his role as a leader on the Chicago Bulls team and whether Jordan was a "nice guy." The consensus, from his teammates, experts, and Jordan himself, was that, in his professional role as a basketball player, Michael COULDN'T afford to be a "nice guy." He had high expectations of himself and everyone that he worked with. If he felt that a teammate was not meeting those expectations, he chose to push them, often through conflict and harassment, to improve. Jordan's opinion was that, if you didn't want to meet his expectations, and you didn't want to endure his criticism, you could always choose to work somewhere else. Michael Jordan's pursuit of excellence, and his refusal to accept mediocrity, can be applied to any profession. I think about it in the context of my own role as a teacher. I'm thinking about it in the context of professional law enforcement and how police as a community responds to the murder of George Floyd. Character traits of kindness and forgiveness are important, but they cannot supersede justice or the pursuit of excellence. Has there been a time when you felt the need to engage in a conflict with someone else because there was an issue at stake that was more important than "being nice?" RPS extended the deadline for Edgenuity to June 12. This tells me 2 things:
Target Progress Because of the new deadline, this is somewhat meaningless now. Bottom line: get to 80% completion as soon as possible! Here's what ya'll accomplished yesterday:
Shout Outs! Most Progress YESTERDAY!
Reflections When I was in high school, music was still mostly bought and sold on CDs (and cassette tapes not long before that). Streaming music for free wasn't really happening yet, and music industry was still fiercely fighting illegal music-sharing apps like Napster. As a result, creating playlists was a much different (and tedious) process back then. We didn't even call a collection of songs by different artists that we chose a "playlist." We made "mix tapes" or "mix cds," and the order of the songs was just as important and the collection of songs themselves because (esp. with cassette tapes) you usually had to listen to the songs in order. I made a lot of "mixes" in high school, and to this day I enjoy creating playlists for parties, road trips, or to play in the background and work or in my yard. They take me a long time to make, though, so a silver lining of having more time at home is I've had time to create them. I'm currently working on one I'm calling "COVID-19 Cure." The songs on this playlist have to be happy, catchy, "classic-sounding," and relatively short. So far, it's got a lot of classic rock and soul. A cornerstone song is (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher by Jackie Wilson. If I don't give up on it (most of my playlists end up getting deleted), you'll hopefully hear it playing in my classroom next year. Do you make music playlists? What rules or themes have you used? What's your process? 11 days remain to complete Edgenuity courses! Less than 2 weeks to go!
Target Progress
Here's what ya'll accomplished over the holiday weekend:
Shout Outs! Most Progress YESTERDAY!
Reflections I sincerely hope everyone had the chance to do something they enjoyed over the long weekend. Memorial Day is complicated - serving as both a somber reminder of those who have died protecting our country, and as the carefree Unofficial Start to Summer. COVID-19 has only made it harder, because now we have to think about what activities are safe (and legal!) and which ones have to be avoided. I traveled with my wife and daughter to visit my parents in Woodstock, VA, which is in the Shenandoah Valley - known for small towns, caverns, and farms. My three younger siblings, my two nephews, and my sister in law also went out there (which, if you're counting, made this a gathering of 11 people)! We made some concessions to COVID: we stayed outside for the most part, were more mindful about how we shared food, only went for the day instead of staying overnight, and no hugging (that was harder to do than I thought it would). We also took some risks we hadn't taken in some time: we definitely did NOT maintain 6 feet of distance, no one wore a face mask, and we petted my parents' five crazy dogs. Despite the concessions and risks, I'm so thankful that we got to visit each other. It was a great change of the monotonous routine that has been in place since March 13. It was a reminder of what life was like before (and will, with any luck, return to after) the pandemic. Did you get to do something fun or joyful over Memorial Day Weekend? What are you looking forward to as social distancing rules begin to relax? Programming Note - I haven't seen my parents since February, so my family and I are driving out to Woodstock, VA on Monday for a Socially-Distant-In-Person visit. My next update will be on Tuesday, May 26.
15 days remain to complete Edgenuity courses! A little over 2 weeks! Target Progress
Here's what ya'll accomplished yesterday:
Shout Outs! Most Progress YESTERDAY!
Reflections Yesterday, I mentioned that one of my favorite solo past-times is reading, and I've taken advantage of life's slower pace during the pandemic to do a little more of this. I started by finishing Dune, by Frank Herbert, the first in a classic series of science fiction novels that helped inspire Star Wars. Next, I read Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer (who's better book, Annihilation, was the basis for an excellent movie by the same name from a few years ago and the beginning of the crazy good Southern Reach Trilogy). Dead Astronauts was... weird. And I've kept going with the following:
And now I'm reading The Mirror and the Light, by Hilary Mantel - the conclusion of a historical fiction trilogy focused on King Henry XIII (the one who kept executing his wives) and his ill-fated advisor, Thomas Cromwell. What is something you've enjoyed reading during your time at home? Any recommendations for me? |
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