I still don't know what's over this next horizon for me. I keep trying to be okay with that. It's definitely a first world problem in the middle of this pandemic. I'm reminded of that when I see a former student of mine on the news. Thankfully he's now recovering at home, a victim of "pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome" which is the name given to the COVID-19 complication that has been hospitalizing kids worldwide.
Today was a nonstudent day. It was on the calendar all year as a teacher work day for the accreditation report the school was supposed to have finished in June. Of course, that was before the COVID crazy hit. I don't even know what the current accreditation plan is, nor does it really matter for me at this point since I won't be working at the school next year and we are no longer working on the report. My group was done anyway. I mean, it needed to be edited and merged into a common voice with the other parts of the document, but my group was ready for that. I wonder if words I wrote will be used in the final report some day, when accreditation is relevant again?
The school honored the non-student day that has been on the calendar since it was published about a year ago. I spent today grading. I wasn't behind, but I asked my students to do a review assignment for a history chapter yesterday, and reading through their responses took most of the day. Even with distance learning and the "senioritis" that comes at the end of 8th grade in a pre-K through 8th grade school, the students by and large proved they learned something about Westward Migration in the 1800s. A couple of students even punctuated their responses with snarky asides that had me smiling at their wit. One even added additional research in case the questions were asking something slightly different than face value (very much above and beyond the expectation)!
In the midst of the hours this ended up taking me, I received two emails. One was to let me know that my application materials have been forwarded to a selection committee for a high school social studies position. The other was offering me and interview for an 8th grade homeroom/middle school social studies position. There is even a curriculum developer position I was excited to submit application materials for recently, for a job developing eLearning materials in the area of social studies. Of course none of these are sure things, and I have only been asked to interview for one of the positions, but it is interesting to me that *all* of them are related to social studies.
Okay. I can be down with that. My favorite activities of this year were tied to social studies. I am hopeful the job hunt will soon be at an end. But it's still so sad to be thinking about an end to my time at my current school. It was a short stay, but one that I will always value.
A few pictures from the Revolutionary War/Capture the Flag simulation this fall:
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