We Are Going to Need a Balance. (Day 19/31 #sol20)

I had my first full professional virtual day today.

Eight hours of video-based, student-led self-reflective conferences with first and second graders and their families.

Almost two hours of teaching my first streamed yoga class.

The good news? I felt more socially connected today than I have all week. It was so refueling to see all those young faces, those happy and silly smiles, and all of the extended members of my community.

The really good news? My young students were able to reflect on their year so far and talk quite articulately about their growth as a reader, as a mathematician, as a writer, as an artist, and as a friend… all with few or zero actual resources or work examples in front of them.

The extra topping of good news? I think I actually pulled off the yoga class. I got to connect with 11 yogi friends whom I really miss, I got turned around only once, and nobody left the Zoom group partway through. I figure that’s a good sign!

The bad news? Today incorporated all together WAY too much screen time. My brain is seriously fried. My eyes are jittery and fried. I can’t come up with words. I feel way dumber than I was when I woke up. I feel like I need the biggest set of blue blocker glasses the world has ever seen.

So, how do we find a balance in this new distance learning lifestyle we’ve found ourselves in? How do we maintain connections with students, with families, and with community members, and still stay sane and keep our brains unscrambled? How do we support ourselves in this new age of online connections?

I love what technology allows us to do and to create, but I gotta tell you… what I personally experienced today is 100% not sustainable.

We are going to need a balance. I am going to need a balance.