Ms. Bracken what are you doing this weekend?

Last week at school was crazy, we didn't have school on Friday, and We don't have school on Monday. That makes this weekend a long four day weekend. So a lot of students were asking me what I would be doing for these four days. My response was simple, because I already had my plans. My fiance Kevin and I would be traveling to Louisville Kentucky for the National Farm Machinery Show. I am sure some of you are rolling your eyes because "how is that fun" or "that's a long drive to just see some tractors". Let me tell you, it isn't about looking at tractors, its about being a life longer learner.

When I was asked about my plans I would explain them, and then talk about being a life long learner. Students would then look at me as if I had 43 heads. When working in an industry that is constantly upgrading and changing you must be adaptive and always be willing to learn and make changes. Yes I drove 446.1 miles to continue learning about a field of study that I love so much.

Part two, on our way home from Kentucky I realized I wasn't feeling normal. I began to shiver and turned my side of the vehicle to about 90 degrees. When I got home I went directly to a local urgent care center where I tested positive for the flu. My question this week is reaching out to teachers, when you are sick how do you handle it?

Comments

  1. Becky HaddadFebruary 17, 2020 at 4:27 PM

    Thanks for sharing, Britton! Sounds like a great way to spend a four day weekend (minus the getting sick)!

    Being sick (or kids being sick) is rough, and I can't pretend that I handled it well in the high school classroom (or always handle it well now). I definitely treat it as more of an emergency than it needs to be. Routines, predictability, and planning go a long way in ensuring that things go smoothly when you're gone. For me, this meant having a point-person in every class. When I was teaching, that was a student who's name I would put at the top of the sub sheet (planned absence or not) who I could trust to answer the sub's questions honestly and in ways that would keep the students on track as best they could. I asked students to be a point person, and they (mostly) were happy to oblige.

    The other piece for "emergency" absences was making sure I kept our LMS up to date about a week in advance (this was a Friday task for me, along with any printing for the upcoming week). By having the resources there, students could get to whatever it was so that the sub didn't have to. The other "default" was making sure every student had an SAE (in my case agri-science fair) project they could work on if there was "nothing else to do." My middle school classes usually had some kind of guide for the class that a sub could follow, and my upper division classes always had "flipped" work that they could do if I was gone.

    Remember: You're allowed to take sick days, mental health days, and use your vacation. Rest up, take that Airborne, and don't come back until you won't get anyone else sick. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Daniel FosterFebruary 23, 2020 at 5:33 PM

    Becki nailed this one!

    Keep on keeping on Britton.

    ReplyDelete

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