Today was my first day of working from home (officially) due to the Novel Corona Virus known as COVID-19. Of course as an educator we work from home all the time, usually after a full day at school or over the weekend. I am very much looking forward to keeping work within ‘normal’ working hours now that I probably have more control over what I do and when I do it. Today was a full day from the comfort of my own home… and yet still I somehow managed to be sending emails after 9pm!

This week is going to be busy as everybody has questions and we are only just connecting with colleagues after the recent Spring break. As a Vice Principal, I participated in a couple of conference calls last week as news was shared around what the return to school after Spring break would look like. The information at the end of week one (March 21st) was already updated by the end of week two (March 28th). This reflects how quickly the world is changing and the pace of the spread of the virus.

Yesterday I worked in the school building with a handful of other colleagues to tie up some loose ends and pick up some things that I’ll need with me in my home office, which is for the time being my sofa and a lift-top coffee table. After one day of working solidly from 9am-4pm (with a proper 40 minute break for lunch – a real treat!) and then 6:30pm-now-11pm intermittenantly working and scrolling, I can definitely say I need to sort out a better set up. My back is killing me!

I already know what my ideal schedule will look like. I have it mapped out in my head. I know when the time comes that I will fiercely guard my boundaries but the time is not yet. It will be after the dust settles and everyone has found their own daily rhythm. I look forward to weekly ‘Zoom’ meetings like the one this morning, and this afternoon, and tomorrow morning, and Thursday lunchtime, and Friday morning… As you can tell the working world has gone ‘zooming’ mad. It’s a novel way to see each others faces and feel connected. I truly do look forward to continuing to connect with teachers, support staff, and maybe students over ‘zoom’ in the coming weeks but I am looking forward to it being the thing that breaks up the day, rather than the day being consumed by zoom meetings.

My goal is to spend a part of the working day on reading and learning about new tools to help educators teach online, other interesting resources for teaching and leadership, and perhaps complete some training. Ideally this would be how I start my work day at 9am, rather than with emails and calls but that is probably wishful thinking. I aim to have one ‘virtual’ meeting per day with either students or staff. I plan to eat lunch and take a full hour off to enjoy it every day. I will be dressed and ready to start work at 9am. I am not a morning person so I am not going to force myself to be up and responding to anyone before then. I aim to finish at 4pm. I truly plan, once school is in full-distance-swing after Easter weekend, to be disconnected and completely switched off from work after 4:30pm daily. Now that I don’t spend 8:30am-3:30pm running around the school building, I can respond to emails and do the other parts of the job during the working day. There is no reason to ‘take work home’ after the day is done. The world needs to slow down and people need to relearn not to expect immediate responses.

After work I will go for a walk every day. I can easily walk for an hour and not pass anyone else on foot as I live in such a small community so there’s no risk of contamination! Then I’ll take a nice shower and get into my evening relaxing mode. Maybe I’ll video-call friends, or binge-watch Netflix, or if I’m really making great use of my personal time I’d finish my renovations.