SLICE #25-BREATHLESS

If I had to describe this year in one word,

I think I would use the word breathless.

Take today for instance...

I finish my second language arts class at 10:50. My mom is having surgery, so I won't be at school tomorrow, the last day before Spring Break. Several kids ask questions about where assignments will be posted for tomorrow, J interrupts if I will please open the Google Meet for my 11:00 ELD class and it's 10:52 before I extricate myself, and pull together my belongs, to switch from teaching remote language arts in room 210 to teaching in person in 209, my third classroom switch of the morning. several kids help me carry my things next door, where 22 kids are milling around, enjoying their passing period. I quickly open my next google meet, the third one of the morning, Emily, the he nurse's aide for our building covers my class, so I can run Rooney outside, he needs a potty break after three hours. O, a student I have known since she was in kindergarten has been hanging around all morning, and asks if she can go outside with me. she and i race the half city block to take Rooney out. We get to the bottom of the stairs and I realize I have forgotten my key card to get back into the building, I know I will get in trouble if I prop open the door, so O volunteers to hold it while I run Rooney outside. I give Roo approximately 2 two minutes to do his business then we race back inside. I contemplate using the restroom myself, but it's 10:56 and I have to be ready to teach in four minutes, so I decide to wait 45 minutes until my lunch break. We are at least a two minute walk from my classroom. On the way, Olivia tells me that she is late because she had to go to get her eyes opened (dilated, I think). I walk into the classroom and the sixth graders immediately start to chant, "Kahoot! Kahoot! Kahoot!" V reminds me that I promised we could play today. It's true, I did, and I even stayed up late to create a new game. I settle Rooney, restore order, or at least try, and work my way toward my computer, on a cart in the middle of the room. The projector is on, but for some reason it is not projecting. It takes me a minute to figure out that the dongle is not connected tightly to the cord. As I am scrambling around, A, who is a remote student, asks me if I know about God. God, I think? Now we are talking about God? So if people didn't sin, wouldn't it be a waste if Jesus died on the cross? I say a quick prayer and try to respond in a responsible and professional way. The projector and the computer finally talk to each other, and my first slide projects on the screen. It is 11:01 when the kids' faces come into focus. "Hey, friends," I say in what I hope is a cheerful voice. "How are you today? It's good to see you."