There are two pandemics happening now.

The first one is COVID-19 and the other is panic.

Panic is propagated by the media and amplified with social media. That’s why I made the conscious decision to digitally retreat, only checking in short bursts.

To help, these posts were/are written by hand or with a plain text editor.

Then March break ended and it was time to check-in with the education world. What ensued was an avalanche of information.

PING! Message from a colleague
PING! Email
PING! Clarification email
PING! Form #1 to track
Check in with my students and their families to see how they’re doing.
PING! Another message from a colleague
ARTICLE “Check this out: Tech tool to connect with students…”
ARTICLE “Stop with the worksheets…”
“Here’s a video tutorial…”
“Check out this free resource…”
PING! Form #2 to track
“Daddy! Can you come over here?”
ARTICLE “This might be grief. Read-on…”
Check out what I’m doing!
PING!
BZZZT!
Article to read
Video to watch
Incoming messages
“Make sure to take care of yourself.”
Kids fighting again.
Realized my lack of sleep last night just hit.
New announcement from the government!
More questions, few answers.

I hit a breaking point.

I updated my students for the day, turned off my phone, shutdown my computer and made a cup of coffee.

I haven’t been infected with the first pandemic (yet), but the second one almost got me today.

Time to prioritize.

It’s the government’s job to make the big decisions. That’s why we elect them–for exactly these situations.

Then the chain of command comes down to me.

What do I get to decide?
I get to decide how to react.

What’s my responsibility?
To make sure my family is okay, I’m okay and my students are okay.
After that, I can filter out everything except for what’s best right now.

And that’s what I’m going to do.