You may have noticed I have missed a few days posting. I have a self-imposed schedule to post Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Three times a week is a lot when I am not a writer. It is not as if I have things I want to get out or stories to tell. I started posting Friday Photos because I still wanted to post three times a week, but I thought pictures would be fast for me to post and fast for you to “read”. I have a lot to say about what is going on in the world right now- especially since it is really somewhat ALL that is going on right now – but the information changes so fast and as with everything we are all in different situations, I don’t want to have a bunch of coronavirus / COVID-19 stuff on my blog. So, I haven’t kept to my schedule. I do want to share something somewhat related though, a post came across my Facebook feed within the last few of days and I sympathized with the person. Then last night I realized I am in the same boat and a lot of us are in similar boats due to the storm that is raging.
My “boat” is not EXACTLY like my Facebook friend’s because she is more like on a cruise ship whereas I am in a little dingy. She has a dance studio that usually has at least 35 classes a week (I am guessing because I don’t remember, but it is A LOT) and she has converted a lot of them to virtual classes. Granted she has a studio from which to transmit the classes, but she and her fellow instructors are doing a lot of classes. She had shared a list of the things she was saying she needed to be right now which included a manager, a set designer, and a camera woman, I didn’t really think too much about it because the post was long and my focus was on another portion of it. But then a couple of days later my friend asked me what else I had been doing aside from teaching classes and I thought, “Snap! What have I been doing? Why don’t I have a lot of time?”
Then shortly there after I received some payments for some classes and set about sending out thanks yous and the information needed to join the class. And doing the bookkeeping that I think needs to go along with all of it. Also, having sweet little side conversations with the students that are purchasing the classes. Then I needed to think about the classes themselves, deciding on what to teach. I don’t like to teach the same thing every class and the only way I can manage that is to plan my classes in advance. And then . . . I need to make sure that the computer is set up . . . Zoom is basically doing updates every time I start a meeting so I must make sure that my settings have not changed. Then I need to make sure that the camera/laptop is set up to capture me and not just the wall. THEN I need to make sure that the space is set up. I mean, I know that everyone understands that we are doing classes out of our homes so there is going to be a room with furniture and maybe even pets walking around, but I try to keep in clean and empty when I can . . . but that requires continual upkeep and/or rearranging things.
All of that takes time. And I didn’t realize I, too, was having to do many of the same things (audio technician, camera woman, key grip) on my friend’s list that she was saying we are doing for the first time and learning on the fly. And all of this takes time. It also takes energy.
At first when my friend asked me I was thinking I must be experiencing some sort of time “event” because I wasn’t getting much done during the day nor was I just sitting around watching TV. But then I realized that all of this new stuff, this new way of teaching takes time.
I am so grateful to all of my students who keep encouraging me to continue teaching online. I am so humbled that they keep coming back. I love that they are helping me through the little speed bumps (Did I really have the input volume turned DOWN?) so that I can deliver a quality class – one that I feel good about and one that has them feeling good after taking. But I really don’t have extra time. I feel I am working more than I was P.C. (pre-COVID) because it is more involved to do a class.
So while we are not all in the same situation, I know a lot of us are having to do and learn new things. So for those of you that have added a whole new set of skills to your list – Cheers. Hears to you – to us! Hang in there.
So are you doing anything new? Have you learned something new? Are you having to be an audio technician or a camera person?
Terre Pruitt's Blog 