Today, my wife, son, and I went for about a two-hour car ride, never venturing more than five miles from our house.
The purpose of the trip was for my wife to drop off schoolwork for her preschool students. A fellow teacher had put together a driving route, using Mapquest, that configured the best route for the 15 or so stops we had to make.
My wife has been meeting with her four-year-old students through Zoom as well as posting YouTube videos of her reading classic children’s books as a way to keep the students engaged in the learning process during the school shutdown. While such technologies are great, they still can’t replace that human connection that comes from being in the same classroom as someone.
So it was wonderful seeing how excited the kids were when they saw “Mrs. Borden” in their front yard, and you could tell what a special relationship existed between her and her students. My wife is an exceptional teacher who loves what she does and I could tell she got as much joy out of those brief exchanges (from probably 20 feet away) as the children did.
Seeing those interactions between teacher and student was certainly the highlight of our “road trip”, but the other thing that really left an impression on me was how many people we saw walking outside. Whether it was a single person or a couple, I think every street we drove on during our two-hour drive had people walking and/or running on it. As you might expect, many of these people were out walking their dogs as well. And in one unique case, there was a family out walking with their cat. The cat was not on a leash, but it walked right behind the family. Cats being cats, she kept turning around to look at us as we were approaching in our car, but never once moved out of the middle of the street until one of the family members came over and picked her up, enabling us to pass them.
I guess we are kind of lucky in our part of the world where the current weather is conducive to being outside and going for walks. If it were the middle of the winter, I think dealing with COVID-19 would have been much more challenging.
There’s no doubt that this virus has been incredibly disruptive, but it was encouraging to see so many people out and about, and it was especially rewarding to see the smiles on the faces of those four-year-olds.
It made me feel hopeful for what lies ahead…
*image is from Mapquest, showing an example of the most efficient roundtrip route to visit all the Big 5 schools, starting at Villanova…
What a great road trip! 😊 👩🏫 😊
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thanks, Beth. it was a lot of fun, and eye-opening…
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Fantastic! I can visualize the smiling faces of these young children. Your wife is undoubtedly a wonderful and caring teacher. I have felt blessed that the spring weather offers me opportunities to walk nearly every day.
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Ithink the nicer weather helps improve our attitude and outlook on things…
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A lovely post to read… how your wife is loved as a teacher, how you perceive her talents and your obvious pride in her…We are seeing an increase in people walking while keeping their distance from others 🙂 I am sad for the many who won’t come out the other side but excited to see what changes it will bring 🙂
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my wife is an amazing teacher and even more amazing person – I got quite lucky! I am excited to see what things will be like when this virus has run its course…
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So am I ….although we have just had the ban on incoming flights extended so I think we know we are all in this for the long haul 🙂
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I’m starting to wonder if I’ll be teaching in person or online in September!
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I agree. It is so nice to be able to get out safely.
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we usually try to go out for a walk and a drive everyday; it gives us something to look forward to each day!
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I’m so pleased to hear you hopeful, Jim. It makes me hopeful too. I also love the esteem with which you view your wife as a teacher. That too is wonderful.
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I think we need to be hopeful for teh future, even though there is a great deal of uncertainty what that future will look like. And my wife is one of those lucky few who discovered what they were meant to do, and are doing it!
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That’s so true, Jim. We do need to be hopeful. And your wife must be too. After all, teaching is built on optimism. 🙂
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My wife is an incredibly upbeat person – easy to feel optimistic around her!
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🙂
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What a lovely trip out, and it must have given so much joy to so many. Maybe not that cat, though 😉
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it was a fun trip out, and I’ve never seen a cat out for a walk before, and off a leash to boot!
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I guess it was their excuse to be out. A good thing they don’t have a goldfish 😉
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that would not have ended well… 🙂
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This was a great restorative post, Jim! I can only imagine how your wife felt at the end of the day. It must have been so encouraging. Glad you both got out of the house and enjoyed the weather. Hopefully we will all be turning the corner on this thing soon!
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thanks, Brad. We try to go for a walk and a drive every day, and yesterday’s drive was by far the best one we have had. There’s not many things better in life than the smile of a four-year-old!
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Those kid’s beaming faces would lift anyone’s spirits. I am so glad you got to share that with your wife! I am sure for her it was as emotional as anything gets. You and the family stay safe!
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My wife does love her students, so it was a great day for her. You stay safe as well!
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Wonderful post, Jim. I’m so glad your wife got to connect with her students, albeit from a distance. May we all have a renewed appreciation for the importance of face-to-face interactions! 🕊
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Thanks, SnapDragon! It certainly made me appreciate the value of such interactions, as well as realize technology can’t do everything…
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Absolutely. Don’t even get me started on the limits of online learning. . .
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I agree, there are some serious limitations. But beyond just the fact that it is the only option, sometimes there are advantages to using some of the online tools, which allow students to proceed at their own pace, as opposed to the possible difficulty of trying to stay up to speed with a live class.
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Sure thing. I will always view it as an enhancement , and not a replacement. 😀
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that’s a perfect way to describe the use of technology in education!
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Haha. Thanks!
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that’s so wonderful, jim. i totally get how incredible this journey was, and it is so hopeful.
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thanks, Beth! I am sure you can relate more than most to such experiences, and realize how special that bond is between young students and their teacher.
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Posts like this are so good for the heart, Jim. This virus is emotionally hard on everyone. I can’t imagine having to explain to a child why he/she can’t see friends for such an extended period. I have to think that it was fun for you to not only see the kids’ joy in seeing your wife but to see her light up so much too. Way to go, Mrs. Borden! Bless you, for doing your part to show your students you haven’t forgotten about them.
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I’ve thought the same thing, Pete. I wonder how much of this a four-year-old understands. That being said, it was clear to see how much they enjoyed having my wife as a teacher, and vice versa.
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Nice sentiment, Jim. Agree about the weather. Even here in Glasgow it’s been glorious for three weeks. Lockdown would be much harder in the rain.
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thanks, Peter. I hope the good weather continues! I’m not sure if you are a golf fan, but I was sad to hear that The Open has been canceled for this year…
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After raining all autumn and winter we have had four weeks of sunshine. It’s lovely seeing families out together for their once a day permitted exercise.
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I think the weather makes a big difference in how we cope with the lockdown. Glad to hear the weather has been so nice; ours has been up and down…
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I’m sure the kids were really happy to see your wife!
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they were indeed, and she was just as happy to see them!
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That’s so sweet!
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Loved this Jim….
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thanks, David!
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Your venture out seems like a blessing for everyone. Mine was the opposite with the stark reality that people are starving here.
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my thoughts and prayers to the people of South Africa…
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