There’s nothing like a pandemic to bring focus to your work. With no commute to campus and no time in my office to gossip with my office mates and no opportunities for after-school beers at The Black Cat, my focus was completely on my students — which is where it should be.
I missed the serendipity that comes from in-person contacts with students in the classroom or during office hours on campus—the back-and-forth dialogue on ethical issues and those moments of blazing light that come when you make a breakthrough with a student on a research topic or the inverted pyramid.
Teaching remotely forced me to rethink my approach. You can’t just take a syllabus crafted for in-person learning and slap it on a course you’re teaching via Zoom. I found that I was using my Zoom class sessions in JOUR 207 and JOUR 351 as places to reinforce the notion that my students and I were working together as a community of seekers. This seemed essential at a time of enforced isolation.
Some things stayed the same. I make a point of always dressing for my Zoom class as I would for an in-person class. So, yes, sometimes a blazer and collared shirt, sometimes a cardigan. Of course, I wouldn’t wear sweatpants on campus, but I can on Zoom.
I’m looking forward to being back on campus in the fall, assuming Gov. Inslee, President Randhawa and Dr. Fauci say it’s OK.
