Zoom Zoom

Remember when Zoom Zoom was what that little kid said on the Mazda commercials?

I long for that commercial.

Because Zoom Zoom just meant that the Mazda car could go fast.

And now Zoom Zoom, or just Zoom, or Zooming means I’m trying to teach, engage, and manage my students FROM AFAR.

And, in the beginning, I was SO EXCITED about it. I can’t even tell you how EXCITED I was. I couldn’t sleep the night before my first Zoom. I couldn’t wait to see my kids. I hadn’t seen them in two weeks, and everyone on Instagram and all across the land had already been Zooming, and I was like I need to jump on this bandwagon, everyone is saying how amazing it is, and I just need to do it whether my district gives me permission or not! By the way, I DO have permission to use Zoom and my district even provided training on it so nobody report me, thankyouverymuch.

Well.

That first Zoom WAS amazing. It really was. We were all so excited to see one another. We took turns saying Good Things (from Capturing Kids Hearts) and then I read a book. It was perfect. Seriously. NOTHING went wrong.

The next week, we took turns saying what our favorite breakfast food was, I read a book, and nothing went wrong.

I don’t remember the third week.

THEN.

Everyone on Instagram and all across the land started doing Scavenger Hunts and Directed Drawings and playing games and I was like I need to jump on this bandwagon, everyone is saying how amazing it is, I must join the crowd!

Are you worried about me that I tend to jump on bandwagons? I’m kind of worried about me.

Well . . . I did a Scavenger Hunt. You can grab the freebie {HERE} if you want it. It was a lot of fun. Not going to lie.

But.

I had a little boy join for the first time, and he was under a blanket on the couch, and then all of a sudden an adult came into the frame, handed him a T-shirt, and left. AND THEN THE BLANKET DROPPED AND HE WAS SHIRTLESS.

So that was fun. I mean, thank goodness we’re in first grade, thank goodness it was just the top, thank goodness nobody commented on it . . . in the classroom setting, if my kids saw someone’s belly button or any sort of crack hanging out the back of jeans, well, it was ALL OVER with ews and gross and stop and giggling. So I was sort of happy that we were all little tiny squares on our screens and it was as quick as a wink.

When I told this story on Instagram, someone messaged me and asked how I knew he was only shirtless. And they suggested he could have been pants-less under the blanket.

Um . . .

😳🤷🏼‍♀️😂

So anyway.

After we finished our Scavenger Hunt, a couple of kids showed up late and they had missed the WHOLE THING. And because they had missed the whole thing, they started misbehaving. They were doing anything and everything to get our attention and I was all up in my head like WHAT ARE YOU DOING? WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS? WHAT SHOULD I SAY? IS THERE A GROWN UP IN THE BACKGROUND SEEING YOU DO THIS? ARE THERE OTHER GROWN UPS IN THE OTHER BACKGROUNDS OF THE OTHER KIDS WATCHING THIS HAPPEN AND WATCHING ME NOT ACT ON IT?

I mean, holy cow, it was SO STRESSFUL.

That prompted me to write an email the following week acting as if I’d set guidelines from the very beginning. And I hadn’t. Because remember, I just jumped on the stupid bandwagon and didn’t ask any questions.

So my email said something like:

Just a reminder: Please make sure your child is sitting up, wearing at least pajamas (tops and bottoms) and be mindful of the background.

Just a reminder. Like we had already gone over this. I’m the worst. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? Someone really should be worried about me.

I added the “sitting up” because I had one little kiddo who kept lying down and I would have to keep saying, So and So, please sit up. Thank you.

The next week we did a Directed Drawing of a Shark and it went wonderfully. Seriously. I was so happy with MY shark, the whiteboard feature on Zoom, and the kids. It was fabulous. I always end each Zoom with a story, and it was just great.

But THIS week’s Zoom was my worst one yet, and now I want to figure out a way to take a break from next week’s Zoom. FOR REAL.

And let me stop right there and say that if you have to zoom every single day with your kids, I worship you. I feel sorry for you, but I worship you. We are not required at all to zoom with our class – I just want to try to stay connected with my kiddos and have them stay connected to each other. Someone did tell me they only zoom in small groups so they zoom every day . . . but that sounds okay if it’s a smaller, more manageable group. But then I overthink EVERYTHING and I wonder how I would make the groups so that the kids could see their friends and blah blah blah blah blah, stop thinking already!!

During this week’s Zoom, we did another directed drawing for Mother’s Day. And because the first directed drawing went so well, I thought this would be amazing.

But you guys! It was like they were bored, or not interested, or thinking we already did a directed drawing, why are we doing another one . . .

The behaviors were just all over the place. One little student was putting his foot up to the camera! HIS FOOT. And two of my students who are not related were together (and the one student probably did need to be out of his environment and I know – social distancing – but what am I going to say on a Zoom about it? It’s not like they were in MY house . . . see what I mean? UGH) . . . so those two students who were together were so naughty! They didn’t listen, they really didn’t do the directed drawing at all. They were wrestling and tickling each other . . . I talked to them a couple of times, and I finally had to say “We can see you and we can hear you, and you need to make better choices or I will remove you.”

GAH! Like WHO ALL HEARD THAT? How many parents were in the background? It was just SO AWKWARD AND UNCOMFORTABLE. It’s just so different than the REAL classroom where yes, I WOULD redirect students in front of parent volunteers, if necessary, but it was just one or two parents, and I could see the student face to face, and it was more REAL.

This Distance/Remote/WHATEVER is FOR THE BIRDS.

I told this story on Instagram and asked if anyone else was having difficulty with behavior, and the answer was YES.

Several people messaged me to tell me that they have put students in the waiting room and/or turned OFF a particular student’s video.

So I need to learn how to do those Techy Things QUICKER because when I am talking or reading or “teaching”, the tech part seems overwhelming to me, and I get hot and sweaty, and I feel panicked about all the boxes to check or uncheck, and then all I’m thinking is I WANT TO GET OFF OF HERE, PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME JUMP OFF THE BANDWAGON!

Well.

That’s my post for today.

I think it sounds a little whiny, but I’m hoping you can relate.

Also, when I put the story of the shirtless boy on my Instagram, I asked if anyone else had anything crazy happen during their zooms, and the comments were INSANE. I laughed and laughed and laughed. If you need a good laugh, go check out THIS POST. Read the comments. HILARIOUS stuff!

Stuff like this:

I hope you’re hanging in there! I hope you do something FOR YOURSELF this weekend! I am going to try to RELAX.

🙂

And maybe watch a Mazda commercial.

Zoom Zoom.