Our First Video Session

At 1:00 PM today, I meet with my class... most of my class. Today was my first time leading a Zoom session. There was just so much to set up, I didn't think about how it would all make me feel.  

In yesterday's #SOL20 post, I narrowed my focus down to two questions. When I shared them ​

with parents, I included some sentence stems to go along with them: 

1. What do you do for fun? (One thing I do for fun is…)
2. What do you miss the most? (What I miss the most is…)

That was it. Nothing else. My partner and I planned one 30 minute session. The goal was to keep it simple. We did, but it lasted much longer than 30 minutes. I was so busy trying to set it all up, I didn’t stop to let myself enjoy them. Hearing their voices and seeing their faces was good. There was one student who I did not expect to show up, show up. If nothing else came out of our meeting today, having her show up was it.  

We missed her like we missed everyone. I missed her extra because we couldn’t reach her. Maybe she sat on my worry shelf too long. We called, left messages, and texted… nothing. No response. I was sure she wouldn’t show up, but she did. She showed up because of one last text message I decided to send out. It was about 8-10 minutes before the start of our meeting, I sent a text message to all of the parents. “Today’s video meeting will begin at 1pm…” and then, I added the most important part, “Please click here to join on a computer, iPad, or smartphone: rmd.me/…” Because of that last minute text, the student we have been trying to reach for the past two weeks showed up. About 5 minutes into the session, I spotted her smiling face on the screen. Oh my… there she is! I thought. She came into view with her little sister glued to her side. She was smiling. She smiled at all of us and turned to her little sister and smiled at her, too. They were happy and safe. It was the best surprise. 

Only about ⅔ of my class attended our online meeting. My guess of missing ⅓ yesterday was unfortunately correct, but it was so good to see those that showed up. We shared, we laughed, we met pets. Their voices were so good to hear. They did share what they did for fun, but most shared much more than that. 
 
“I really miss you.” 
“I’m babysitting.”
“When are we going back to school?”

It was just so good. Then one of my students asked, “What do you do for fun?” I did not expect to answer my own questions, but I did. I’m so glad I did. 

“We’re going to say goodbye for today,” I announced. Then, I waved my hand to say goodbye. They waved back. Someone began giving a "virtual" hug, so we all gave each other a “virtual” hug. And the last voice I heard only after replaying the recording, said, “I love you.”  I must have played it six times, but I couldn’t figure out who said it. I didn’t matter. I was beautiful to hear. I missed them all.