Here's a shout out to the teachers who've gone back to school. To all the paras standing beside them. To the custodians hourly wiping down high contact areas. To the bus drivers and the lunch ladies (and gentlemen). To the specialists, Title teachers, and other support personnel. To the school nurses. To the admin, clerks, and secretaries. And to everyone in the technology department.

Well done!

It wasn't easy. It didn't all go smoothly. The masks were annoying.

But we're back!

I held a whole class meeting today. In the old days, that would mean everyone in the class gathered on the rug to chat and share. Today I had six children seated at desks before me and eight children seated at home Zooming in. We talked a little and shared a story together. Then the Zoomers logged off to work at home and my in person crew grabbed paper, pencil, and crayons to work with me.

It's so different. It's much harder. But it felt good to be back.

My favorite part of the day was when I was showing students how to safely don and doff their masks. I asked them to hook their fingers into the ear straps, slowly lift down the mask, then look at all of their classmates and smile. At first they all made the normal smile-for-the-camera-faces, but as they looked around and saw each other, the smiles just kept growing. We quickly popped our masks back on, but I could tell by the crinkled corners of their eyes that the smiles hadn't faded.

It took a lot of hard work, and we're not done yet. But, yup. We're back.

Thanks to the teachers who've gone back to school. To all the paras standing beside them. To the custodians hourly wiping down high contact areas. To the bus drivers and the lunch ladies (and gentlemen). To the specialists, Title teachers, and other support personnel. To the school nurses. To the admin, clerks, and secretaries. And to everyone in the technology department… Thank you!