Welcome Back?!

Greetings and welcome back!

We hope this message finds you and your family well. Not only does it feel like forever since we’ve seen each other, but also it seems like those days were from another world. Thinking of the changes we’ve experienced since then is mind-boggling and upsetting and frustrating and challenging in many ways.

We want this day to be about coming back together, about having ways to process what you have been thinking and feeling, and also about pushing the ways you are writing and thinking about it all. Some of what we are going to ask you to do today echoes questions we asked nearly two weeks ago during the “Acts of God” days, but much has changed since then.

To begin with, please spend some time writing in your journal about these prompts: 

1. Reflect on the range of emotions you have been experiencing during this time. Start by making a list of them and then choose one to explore further.
2. What have you been doing with your time? Are there things you wish you did more / less of? What are those, and what plans do you have to address this in the future? 
3. Of the things you’ve read and seen and heard, write about a particularly compelling story. It might be a video you watched, people you read about, or even things you’ve experienced in your own neighborhoods (real or virtual). 

Next, watch this video, starting at 2:28 and just up to 4:30. When you are done, respond to these two prompts: 

1. What do you think about the connections he is making between what is happening now and what happened during World War II, based on what we’ve learned about it?
2. We had you pause the video before he fully names “what matters most” - based on what he has been saying, what is the rest of that sentence? Do you agree with what he is saying? Why / why not? 

Next, it’s Flipgrid time! For those of you who joined us last week, thanks for helping us test out that technology. Your videos were powerful and also wonderful to see! For those of you who did not try it yet, here’s what you will do:

• Go to the Flipgrid for your class:
• 5th/6th: flipgrid.com/amstd56 - code is amstd56 
• 7th/8th: flipgrid.com/amstd78 - code is amstd78
• You’ll see the new topic for today, appropriately titled “Welcome Back?!” 
• Record and post a short video (more than 30 seconds, less than 90) with your responses to some or all of the questions from above
• Check back later and watch a bunch of videos from your classmates - you can respond either with a short video or just audio. Please respond to at least 3.

Lastly for today, we want to return to short talks. As you may recall, these are short pieces of writing that can exist in a wide variety of formats. If you want a reminder of some of the different formats, here is a link to a document we previously shared with you. Please write at least three short talks about life during the coronavirus, using these or other perspectives: 

• Yourself
• A family member 
• A Politician 
• A doctor / nurse / medical professional 
• A person whose business was either closed or is not able to work (for example, a musician or actor) 
• The USA 

Keep track of everything you write - we’ll return to it tomorrow!

If you have any questions, please email us: kkramer@dist113.org or nrigler@dist113.org
We will be actively monitoring our email during the school day and a little less frequently during the afternoon and evening.