Grad School in the Time of Corona

I'm in my final weeks of grad school, finishing my MAT in Special Education.  I was happily cruising along my student teaching semester, as my dreams that had been put on hold for decades were finally coming true, when schools abruptly closed for the remainder of the year.

I know how blessed and lucky we are.  We are all, in this house so far at least, healthy and have plenty of food (and even toilet paper!) and we have acres of land to explore and spread out when we need space.  Still, trying to finish school without the one thing that keeps me motivated -- my students -- has proven to be a big challenge.  I worry about them constantly, try to find new ways to engage them, but the rural area we live in doesn't lend itself to sudden distance learning.  I still have that big 75 page final project due in 13 days, but I am creating this curriculum for imaginary students now and am having such a hard time focusing.  Plus there's the whole - if time is running out, I want to spend my time with people I love not research writing - thing.  Every day I contemplate just quitting.  And every day I make myself sit in this chair and get back to work during the precious times that the house is quiet enough for me to think.

And every day I think about how blessed & lucky we have been so far during this and keep a grateful heart.