Day 2 of this reactivated blog, no thanks to the covid
Livestreamed Mass from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I think we’ll try a different state each week, since we’re going to be sheltered-in-place for a while.
Leftover pizza is great.
Hung up a tribute to my friend who is fighting the coronavirus in the ICU in our big fron window. He isn’t doing too well but he’s a striver. I’m sure he is striving with all his might to get well. Also hung up some Christmas lights to bring a little more light into this world.
After I posted it on his Facebook page, a few people reached out to find out what was going on with him. Mostly people I hadn’t heard from in a long while. Social closening!
I have never seen so many people out for walks and bike rides in our neighborhood. I also met a new fluffy neighborhood cat, out for a walk without a leash. The cat’s hoomans pleaded for the cat to keep up with them, but this cat had other ideas, including inspecting the inside of our garage. Cats are so funny.
Alice made no-flour banana pancakes for dinner. We didn’t have some key ingredients, so they were more like banana crepe mush. I thought they were good, she thought they were disgusting. I also didn’t have an allergic reaction from my oral allergy syndrome, so it was a big win.
Made a big chunk of progress on re-flipping my Web Design course at TJU in time for tomorrow’s restart after last week’s spring break. A few years ago in a bit of a pedagogical frenzy, I turned my standard lecture class into a flipped classroom. This is where the primary instruction is through instructional videos that students watch on their own time, and the classroom time is devoted to working on projects. I found that this was less effective for my students than a straight lecture, so I unflipped it. And now I have to re-flip it, with no in-class time.
Me being me, I produced the instructional video myself, which is how I spent the evening. With no in-class time, I have to do what I can to keep the students engaged. I shot the video in my basement music lab – this way I can let my personality show by showing them some of my guitar and drum stuff. Note to self: I need to lean into this more.
In the middle of this, I remembered to submit the evaluation for the data analytics course I took for my master’s program. Whew, it was due tonight! I enjoyed the class so much, I wanted to make sure I left a glowing review.
Back to teaching, I also thought to simplify this first class back, so I shifted a bunch of things around. My motto is: “do what’s best for the students” so a-shifting I will go. We all have to shift a bunch of things around now, eh?