This is for all my fellow planners… Those who invest in a beautifully organized system of lessons, who plan weeks (months) ahead of time to create cohesion.
2020 has been an exercise in procrastination. Not real procrastination, but procrastination by my definition. I am one who plans units at a time, adjusting them as necessary for my learners. I like to have a vision for where we’re headed, and have everything prepared way in advance.
Part of this is my anxiety, but the other part is my desire to create lessons that reflect my identity and the identities of my students. I like to be prepared, so that the lessons I’m teaching are not done on the fly. I prefer to have things ready, so that I can adapt and modify for my learners while still maintaining focus on our end goal.
But this year… oh this year.
I can’t do any of that. Because things are constantly changing, skills that I’ve taught a million times take three times longer to teach virtually, and every.single.thing is different.
I literally cannot plan ahead. And goodness, it is hard.
Planning a week at a time is not my forte, nor my preference. But I just cannot know where we’ll be, both literally and figuratively, further out than that.
So my fellow planners, I am trudging along with you. Week by week.
Curriculum Coffee 
I was just speaking about this to a colleague – I, too, am a planner, a notorious list-maker, and have been unable to prepare for more than a day at a time for school. Everything really does take three million times longer, in that it all has to be reinvented! But your words are so reassuring – there’s a comforting kinship in this – and I am learning every day to just be sufficient for that day, and to modify on the spot. The kids are the easy part – more gracious to us than we are to ourselves! A day, an hour, a moment at a time…
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Oh yes, the pain. I feel it. I love planning ahead. It actually allows me to venture and be spontaneous because I’ve processed it in one way. Not this year. So draining-my hard to feel like I’m in a co star flux while juggling on a tight rope. Send in a virtual hug.
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