Writing During Covid-19...and the kiddos

 Welcome to fall!

Normally, this time of year is exciting for so many writers with kids. The summer of distractions where you lost so much of your writing time keeping them entertained (because they were bored by the end of June), getting their back to school things ready and so forth is now ending. They will be back at school and you get that time of yours, during the day to get that writing done.

Whaaaaaaaattttttt? More remote learning??????

Don't panic. Things are not as bad as you think.

As someone who is also a teacher, and a dad with three kids who did remote learning, this is not going to be a doom and gloom situation.

Let's start first with the students. Many teachers fully get that last Spring was not easy. For so many teachers, they had never taught in a distance learning structure before. They were in a learning curve just like the parents and the kids were. However, you do need to know they have spent the entire summer figuring things out and getting things in great shape. Whether you are fully remote or in a hybrid model, they have you covered.

Secondly, and this deals with your own students. They know what they need to do and they know how to do the work. What (unfortunately) so many of the parents discovered is what so many teachers saw every single day. Students' resistance to wanting to do the work.

So, how do we make this work? The answer is relatively simple. The time for your writing is the time when the students are working with their school work. We ae fortunate to have an office where my wife and I both have our computers. Both of us can teach from their or get our own publishing work done. My youngest, brings here work down to the large dining room table which is right outside of our office and she spreads her work out there. 

And then we all work...

When any of us has to do a remote teaching session, we move to a location where it is quieter to work. My daughter goes to her room and either my wife or I often take our laptop and go to the kitchen to work. 

We are still all there to assist each other, but we are still able to work independently. The key is that there is the expectation FOR ALL to get our work done.

And here is the next added benefit. Most of the English teachers promote silent or independent reading each day. Here is your chance to also read. If you read when your student is reading, you will be modeling great behavior. 

Trust me. You can do this!