October 14, 2020
Who says that school Zoom sessions can’t be Hilarious?
Well, usually me. Except today.
Some background. Like in most schools, there are a myriad range of ages amongst the teachers, aides and paras. Some are young and just getting started and some have been doing this for awhile. I truly appreciate the energy and new ideas coming from the youth, just as I truly appreciate the experience And wisdom of the older staff. At the same time, I fully acknowledge that what I know about technology filled a pistachio shell before quarantine and as of today, I might be able to fill up a peanut shell. So by no means am I an expert. With that being said, I feel that I have no room to judge another’s tech ability, so I just don’t. But, as I laugh my butt off at my mistakes, believe that I am gonna smile at the other miscues being made around me...and when you give me what happened today; well, odds are quite good I am going to be wiping my eyes as I chuckle.
Bradley and I jumped onto Zoom right after we got home from his therapy sessions. So yes, we were a bit late - but just in time it would turn out. My friends, the Para running the breakout room is one of our older ladies, and in previous conversations she and I have commiserated about our tech challenges and attempts to learn what we are doing, as she also has mentioned that she has enlisted family help on many days as well. Bless her heart, she was running the screen share today and when she went looking for the screen she wanted, she found her subscription had expired and so being diligent, she popped over to YouTube and tried to find it there...probably should have screen shared after she found what she wanted...and perhaps looked for typos first... sigh...
So we were working on Counting...and it would seem she forgot the letter “O”, and we all got an O...like “Oh My!” As I think I might have yelped and covered Bradley’s eyes. No worries, he was almost asleep anyway.
There were three video thumbnails that popped up to choose from...none better than the rest. And as all things go - of course it was a situation where she couldn’t get the screen back down fast enough. But one of the other paras is a little better with tech and also able to screen share, so she got a more appropriate video thrown up on the screen. The small “u” sound...but counting or reading, whatever at that point.
So the poor Para was terribly embarrassed. The other Para that took over was mortified and trying to hold it together, and me... well I am like five year old - off camera and on mute, laughing so hard I can’t seem to tell Eric what happened until I get a breath and then he is laughing too. Is it great that our son just had a brief introduction to Adult Recess? No it’s terrible...but, it was not meant to happen, it was a genuine mistake and for God’s sake...it is 2020 and we are very surprised that some whack job hasn’t hacked into one of our zoom sessions before now. I covered his eyes pretty quickly and it wasn’t on his IPad, so he won’t accidentally be finding that later. And the good news, my noise and activity woke him up and he was ready to engage in the next activity.
We got an email from the teacher with apologies and she wanted to talk to me about it. I told her it wasn’t necessary...so of course she called me.
I tried to reassure her that it was fine. And it was, until she kept talking. She tried to say that it was actually a nose procedure with a scope. I just paused and listened in disbelief. Apparently, she thinks I am a complete moron, Three kids later, I think I might have some knowledge in that area...so maybe trying to convince me that what I saw was not what I saw - is a bit insulting. I know what happened, and though I laughed myself silly because of my maturity level somewhere far below my son’s...I am also able to let this be the mistake it was and not need to make it into anything or make anyone have to pay for the error. But how frustrating to have someone try to turn it into something it wasn’t, and try to imply that I am not aware of what I was actually seeing. Argh!!!
But hey, it made for the most interesting Zoom class session we have ever had. And we then went into an activity to build a Jack-O-Lantern, which is one of Bradley’s favorite things. Not only did he build his own during his turn, he was trying to choose a pumpkin and all the parts while his friends were choosing...to which my son might have been yelling - “No” for every choice that they made that didn’t match his choice. Again, thank goodness for the mute button! But hurray, for his interest and willingness to enjoy the pumpkin activity.
Good grief! What a day!
Who knew that the days weren’t going to be come more predictable as the year goes on; but really, should we even pretend to be surprised?
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