PamelainSA

Thank you for doing this!

I’m a high school teacher, and we’ve been strictly online since the middle of March. Before school was closed, I had been implementing social-emotional learning for my students into regular class curriculum. One of the things my students responded well to was the sense of community we were able to cultivate from the beginning of the school year. Now that we’re all separated, I’ve had quite a few emails from students who say they really miss having our class and seeing each other. My district isn’t crazy about using Zoom due to all the security issues (and also because my students are under the age of 18), so video chatting seems to be out of the question.

My question for you is how can I ensure that I’m reaching my students and still helping to foster that sense of community, but in more of a virtual sense?

EDIT: I also have another question, if you have time: Both my husband and I are educators, so we’ve both been working from home since mid-March. I would describe myself as fairly introverted, and I enjoy being alone, so the quarantine hasn’t affected me too negatively. However, my husband is not the same. He’s suffered from depression in the past, and likes to be social. He’s tried to keep up with the things he’s enjoyed doing indoors, like developing film and reading, but I’ve noticed lately that he hasn’t been motivated to do the things he’s usually enjoyed doing.

What are some ways I can help him with this?

Around this time last year, my good friend (who just turned 30 today), was misdiagnosed with chordoma at the base of her spine. They told her that one of her only hopeful options was proton beam therapy and that she could only do it once and then it wouldn’t be an option anymore if the tumor ever came back. Have you been told anything similar? I don’t know if it was because of the location of her tumor (being so close to the spine).

She went to another doctor and was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and with chemotherapy was able to eradicate the tumor. She got the all-clear a couple of months ago that her cancer was in remission.

I wish you all the best!

No, it was! Thank you! I like the idea of writing physical letters to each other.

That makes sense. When they thought it was chordoma, the only options they gave her was the proton beam therapy and surgical removal of the tumor, but the attempt to remove would be very risky due to the location and could possibly result in her being wheelchair bound for the rest of her life. Fortunately, she is cancer-free now, but in her words, she’s not free of it psychologically.

Thank you for explaining!