The World According to Leslie

This past school year, many (or most) of our classrooms across the country (and the world) sat empty. Students are being required to stay home to work. As the title suggests (Virtual, In-Person, or Hybrid: Oh My!) this is about the options and how I see them. First a little about me. I am a licensed high school English teacher. I hold a Master's degree in Teaching. I have been in the classroom for 5 years, but last year (2019-2020) and this year (2020-2021) I have been at home. Before becoming a teacher, I was a Sign Language interpreter for four years. These years in the education system were NOT consecutive, but, total, I have 9 full time years. I also have about 5-6 years of substitute teaching. I have a year of teaching English at a community college, and I have worked in a daycare as well.   I have been on most sides of the education system. I have been a student, and I still am (master's degree). I have been a teacher, interpreter, and substitute. I have been a parent, b...

 As you know, I am staying home and helping my sister with her two littles. The schools here are completely virtual, at least for the time being.  So, I have my kiddo upstairs doing her community college classes for dual credit (high school and college). Then I have a 2nd grader and a 4th grader downstairs at the dining room table with me.  As I type this, the 2nd grader to my left is watching a live video of her teacher, and the teacher can see her. Every so often, she unmutes herself and speaks to her teacher and classmates. On my right, the 4th grader is watching a live video of her teachers (yes, two of them), but the teachers can neither see or hear her. The 2nd grader will have the chance to do a 2-3 minute dance break, but the 4th grader will sit there. She will get a 5 minute break, but unless she goes to the potty, she will not move from her seat.  This goes on every day from 8:30-10am. At that time, they either go to small group with teachers, or they do in...

As of today, there are only 24 days of school left for the kids. That means that I have 26 days of work left.   Updates:   1. In February, my Principal told me that my job may be on the line. The class I currently teach is funded by a Federal grant that runs out in June. (There are 5 of me—one at each High school in the district. Each of us was in the same boat.) There was only one difference.  Each of the other teachers (at the other schools) had been hired as an English teacher. So, they had higher rank in their departments because I was hired FOR the grant position.  A couple of days before Spring Break, my Principal came to me to let me know that they added some sections for next year, and I get to keep my job.  It was awesome!   2. In March, Tony and I got a letter that we were going to owe $1600 to the IRS for something that was on our taxes in 2012. (YES! TWO years ago!) So, our tax lady (my awesome sister in law) did some research for us...

Snow Day #3 for the year was Thursday of last week.  We actually still had snow falling.  Then all of a sudden, it stopped.  Every school in the 22 surrounding counties (and most all of the schools in the state) were closed that day and Friday!    We ended up with about 8” of snow total!  It was crazy!   Snow Day #4 was Friday!  OMG!  After being stuck at home Wed and Thurs, I was pretty sure that the Princess was going to go nuts!  But, she didn’t. Her teacher sent home assignments. She completed them.  All is right with the world.   Friday night, we had our first Girl Scout Cookie booth.  Saturday we had 3 booths.  Sunday, we rested!     Then….Monday…..  President’s Day.  Wow! That was a heck of a week off!  The Princess had my niece over Sunday night.  That kept her entertained yesterday!   Now….  I’m awake (or so I keep telling myself)!  I’m getting ...

Yesterday was snow day #2. Today is snow day #3 for the year.  On Tuesday, we got out of school early because the snow was coming. It came.  It accumulated. It melted. It was pretty.  By 4pm on Tuesday, most places didn’t have a bit of snow on the ground.   Yesterday, they canceled schools because the snow was coming.  So we waited.  We waited some more.  Finally about 12pm (NOON!) the snow started.  We could have gone another 1/2 day and wouldn’t have to make that day up on a Saturday….but nooooooo!  Once it started, it started accumulating quickly.  We got about 1” of snow per hour.  It snowed until about 7pm last night.  Some times it was slower, so we probably have about 5-6” in my yard.    About 7pm, the sleet and freezing rain started.  That’s what it is still doing now.  So schools called to cancel around 3pm yesterday afternoon for today!   Today, I’m “working from home”.  I do ...

I guess it would be more accurate to say 9 to 70.  (No! I’m not talking about speeds in a new car!)   During this past week, those have been the temperatures here.  YES! I realize that is a huge gap. YES! I know it sounds crazy! But… YES! I do live in NORTH CAROLINA! You see, in NC, we wear snow boots and shorts in the same week.  We wear sweaters and sunscreen in the same day (sometimes). It’s crazy.   However….  I wouldn’t live anywhere else! I just wish it would level off somewhere in the middle.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE L.O.V.E. LOVE 50-55 degrees.    I guess we shall see what the rest of winter shall hold for us.  I’m hoping we get a REALLY GOOD snow this year.  I’d love to have 4-6”, but I know that everyone will be complaining about when we have to make up the days at school.   For this week, we will stay above freezing (except for a couple of morning lows); we will have lots of rain. We will have a couple...

Today is the last day I have to teach my kids anything.  On Monday, their exams start.  That means that if they don’t know it today, they had better study it and learn it this weekend.      Because students may not come to school every day next week like they are supposed to, we have a bit of a strange schedule.  Monday thru Thursday, the kids take one exam a day. They get out of school at 1/2 day.  On Friday, we have a full day of school.  If all of our students took their exams, we have literally nothing for them to do.  Some teachers are telling the kids that they will have work for them.  I’m telling my kids that we will have a movie that day.  Seriously…. no need for them to come if they are finished with exams.  (BUT….some of them will!)   So for the past few days (since Tuesday) my kids have been teaching my class.  I gave them the Study Guide over the weekend.  I gave them the answers to it on Mon...

Wow!  I can’t believe it’s been 5 days since I’ve written anything.  So, I’m going to try to catch up all the things I am thankful for.  I posted them on Facebook, so if you are my friend there, you already know these things, but I guess I just didn’t take the time to do it here.   Day 22: Thankful for Fridays. For some reason, this has been an EXTREMELY long week. Tonight we are going to the tree lighting and hanging out with family.   Day 23: I'm thankful for family time. Today, I got to sleep in....all the way to 8am! We may be heading to a Craft Bazaar at Hickory Ridge High School. We will be going to the Christmas parade in Concord....family tradition! We will be having fun knowing that the HOME team (CONCORD SPIDERS) are still undefeated for this season and moving on in the playoffs!   Day 24: I'm thankful for my nieces and nephews. I really do have a LOT of them. Mariah Rayne will be graduating this year! (How did I get so old?) Dorion P...

We are starting to settle into our routine over here.  Today we have softball practice. I hope the girls saw on Saturday how important practice is. They won because of the things that the coaches taught them on Monday night.     Tomorrow I don’t think we have anything.   Wednesday, I have a Girl Scout recruitment. I need a few more girls for the troop so that we can do activities and stuff.    Thursday and Friday I have training at work. I have to get my sub plans together. These are days #3 and #4 of 5 training days I have to do. Day #5 is next Thursday!   So I will only see my kids for 3 days this week, 4 days next week, and 4 days the next. (I am supposed to have another training on Sept. 25th!)  Required trainings that are interesting are not bad. I just wish we could have spaced them all out instead of putting most of them in a 3 week period at the beginning of the semester/year!  LOL  But… we are hoping to get the sam...

This is my 600th post. I have been waiting for the right thing to write, and I think this is it!   Today, the Princess starts at a brand new school. She has her backpack and supplies all ready. Her uniforms are laid out and waiting. She is always excited about school, but this year it seems even more so.   She’s going into the 5th grade. Like I said, it’s a BRAND NEW school. They just finished building it in July. The teachers are still working to make the rooms perfect….even yesterday!    I am heading into a new school year. I am excited for the things that await me this year. In reality, I only have plans for today finished. I worked really hard on everything else this past week, and I attended a million and one meetings (or so it seems)! So, today during my planning period, I will be PLANNING!  I’m glad to be at a school that will allow me to do that. Other schools have things for the teachers to do every day during their planning periods. ...

I have noticed that I have been slacking off on my writing here. I have not written every day like I was before school let out. It’s not a bad thing I guess, but I feel weird when I have had a day or so off. I never know what to come back to write about.   Work starts back on August 19th officially for me. School starts back for the Princess on August 26th.   We have had two vacations already this year. We are looking at two more. That’s the best part about me having a job. We get to plan to do more things.  More pictures for the scrapbooks. More time with the Princess and the family.   For Labor Day, I think we are going to go to Boone and visit Tweetsie. The Princess earned tickets through Girl Scout cookie sales again. I think we will head up there that weekend.   Then…right after Christmas, we are planning to kidnap my parents and head to Gatlinburg again. This will be the third year in a row! The first year was to get Tony some new boots. ...

I know you guys are probably getting tired of hearing about my countdown.    I’m just so excited that the Princess is almost finished with this year at school.    So….today is THE LAST MONDAY for her (and me).  After Friday of this week, she can hang out, watch TV, play/read on her Kindle Fire, and relax……until August.   Of course, she LOVES to read, so we will see how many books she reads this summer.   I’m still trying to get some writing jobs for the summer. Just to make a little extra cash.  There are some that are for doing book reviews.  I would love to do those.     But….for now, I’m going to enjoy my last Monday.  Even though it’s pouring rain outside.

WOW!  You know the old saying, “Time flies when you’re having fun?”  Well, I must have had a blast this year!  Today is the last TEACHING day for my kids.  Exams start tomorrow.   Between tomorrow and Monday, I will give all of the exams I am giving.  Then the grading starts, but still….. WOW!  By Tuesday of next week, I will have finished all of my grades for kids.  I will not have any paperwork for the kids left to do!   After Monday,  I have many kids that I will not see again.  Those that I do see will be watching a movie.  I really only have 3 more 90 minute classes to teach.    Then…..  it’s over!   The Princess is taking her exams yesterday and today.  She won’t get the results back until October! WOW!  That’s FOREVER!   I’m taking the paperwork to her new school today.  (I just need to get 2 things from her doctor and everything will be in!)   Countdo...

With this being a holiday weekend, I have an extra day to fill.     So, Saturday, we are going to SC.  My brother-in-law’s daughter is playing softball there in a College Showcase tourney.  We are going to go catch a couple of those games and hang out with his brother.  We haven’t seen him since the Princess was like….2…. I think.  So…. it’s been a while!    Also, Sunday we will have church.   Monday, we will probably get together with family for Memorial Day fun.   All during this time, I am going to be working on those articles I’m writing.  They are due on Tuesday, but I get a bonus if I get them in on Monday!  (That’s what I’m shooting for!!)    Tuesday sends us all back to work and school, but the Princess and I will only have 9 days left until we get to sleep in!    Today….we have 10 days left (counting today!)!!!  Almost single digits.  Almost done! 

So, I can’t believe that today we have less than 30 days left at school.    As of today, counting today, we have 29 days left!  6 of those are exam days.  23 actual teaching days left! I’m nervous and excited!  I can’t wait to see how the kids do on their end of the year stuff. I am also a little anxious about what to teach the kids next year! The good thing is that I know, unless something drastically changes, that I have a job to go back to next year! I just can’t believe how quickly this year (especially this semester) has flown by!

Today, we have a pretty busy day! We have church this morning.  Lunch.  Then....  the dreaded getting ready to go back to school/work tomorrow!  I'm not looking forward to 4am!  However, if I look at it really well, I only have 9 more weeks to do that!  Then.... it's SUMMER break! Today is going to be a classic Sunday.  It's what we do for 10 months.  Church. Lunch. Get ready for school/work on Monday!!! I'm kind of excited to see what my kids did over the break!  :) 

I know, you just looked at the title and said, "WHAT?"!!!  I would have too. This has been an extremely long week.  For the past few weeks (3 I think) at work we have had early release days, holidays, and "snow"/"ice" days.  So we have not had complete weeks in 3 weeks.  This week, we have been in school normal hours all week.  5 days!  7 hours/day! That's CRAZY! However, even with being in class 7 hours a day, the days have flown by.  It could be that I am still getting used to my new kids.  It could be that time is just flying as I get older.  It could be....  a million things, but this week has flown! Every day seemed to take forever to pass.  Now, today is Friday, and it feels like yesterday was just Monday. I think I could be going crazy.  What do you think?  Ever had this happen to you? So... I have had an extremely long week that has flown by.  (Sounds weird, but it is possible!)

When school lets out, my niece (who is a junior in high school) picks my daughter up and takes her to my mom at daycare!  I love it.  It gives my niece a little money every week, and it gets my daughter "home" safely!  My niece goes to the same high school that I went to, my siblings (including her dad) went to, and MY dad (her Grand Dad) went to.  It's a great school.  We just moved into the district so that my daughter, too, will be attending the same high school in a few years. However.... (There's always a "however," right?) However... the rival high school is just up the street (a few miles). The daycare is in the district for the rival high school. :(  So...yesterday, I went to pick up my daughter at daycare.  When I got there, a group of kids from the rival high school were standing in the middle of the intersection where I needed to turn.  (It was a side street, but STILL!) They saw me and moved.  One of them is in my Gi...

As you know, I am a high school teacher.  In the county where I teach (and in many places now) the classes run on a 4X4 block schedule.  This means that the students have 4 classes from August until January; then they change classes and have 4 different classes from January to June. Right now, we are in the final days of the first semester.  The students only have this week (5 days) and then Monday of next week of "regular" classes.  Then they have four days of exams--one each day.  That means that next week, the students will get out of school early on Tuesday thru Friday.  Then we have our Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday and a teacher workday the following week.  I can't believe that I only have these kids for 6 more days and an exam.  I'm a little excited to see what my new kids will be like, but I have gotten so used to these kids.  They are FABULOUS!!!  I can't imagine having a better group.  (I am going to double my numb...

I'm really not a morning person!  I hate mornings.  I would much rather sleep until noon and get up and stay up all night! However, for most of my life (almost ALL of it) I have had to get up early for everything I do.  I think they should have 3rd shift school.  I could teach at that.  Shoot!  I'd even send my kid to that!  (She's not a morning person either!) I have been blogging every day this year (haha!  4 days!)!!!  I have done it in the mornings for most of those days. Why is that I have time in the mornings to do things that I can't do in the evening?  It could be that I don't plan anything else in the mornings.... because I'm not a morning person.  It could be that I'm in here on the computer anyways (email, work email, etc.).  It could be that since I graduated in December, I haven't had to spend hours on the computer every night working on homework.  So, I have been letting my Princess play on my compu...