The first week of (online) classes comes to an end tomorrow.  It’s been a good week.  Turns out I’d forgotten a lot about the way technology works, so Monday was a kind of crash course.  And while screen-to-screen is always going to be different and feel a bit “off,” I do feel like at least some sense of connection with those on the other side.  Things keep coming, of course, and adjustments are always being made.  But that’s part of life in this “little ice age.”

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I continue to learn ways of teaching and communicating more effectively from the ideas of Alan Jacobs.  We are about 20 pages into How to Think in class.  Today he posted a “Message to My Students” essay that, while obviously specific to his work at Baylor, still has some nice hints for how a teacher can carry himself in Our Current Moment.  It’s a nice piece that ends well with a quote from Paul’s letter to the Colossians.  Jacobs freely admits that things will be different but that he will remain available, that some but not all accommodations may be met and that’s okay.  He also links to a couple of other pieces he’s written that are appropriate for the moment that I’ll look into soon.  But here’s the ending:

So let’s be patient with one another. I will try not to ask more of you than is reasonable in the circumstances, and I hope you will do the same for me. And I would encourage you all to keep in mind, as we begin this strange term, these words from the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians: “Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful.”