WXHS, Hattaway, Yearbook, Friday March 20

Good morning, Wildcats! Sketchbooks out! Draw!

***Parents & guardians – I’m told that several students are not receiving these emails. I know that you’re getting barraged by email and I know how frustrating it is. Please check with your students and verify that they are: checking their school email daily; receiving my email – the students who notified me of the problem yesterday were forwarded my email by their parents; and, emailing me any day they would be in class with me. Thank you.

Hattaway here. Here’s what’s happening at the Hattaway Hacienda as of Friday, March 20th:
1. Today is my first rotation day off-campus. It’s a little strange to not be in my classroom. But, I spent a year working on my masters degree in this same spot at the kitchen table. Frankly, checking in with y’all is much better than writing about obscure educational theories.

2. https://nomuse.com is the repository for everything that we’ll be doing for the duration. I brought my web site back from the mothballs on Wednesday to be a place where I can provide instruction, materials, half-witty patter, and what-not in a way that makes sense to me. It’s very much a work in progress. Let me know if something doesn’t make sense to you.

3. One of my mom’s oft used phrases is “hope for the best; plan for the worst”. I hope that we’re back to “normal” soon, preferably before all of y’all go completely feral, but I suspect that getting back to “normal” may take a bit longer than I’m hoping. I’m here for you, for the long haul, even if I’m hoping with you that it’s not long.

4. You’re a bunch of not-checking-in-with-me slackers! Except for the six of you who did check in, for whom I am grateful. To repeat from yesterday’s mass email, email me as soon as possible to let me know how you are, then again every day that you would be in my class if you weren’t confined to home and generally avoiding me in all social contexts. You can email me at jhattaway@dsdmail.net or use the lazy webs contact form on my website: https://nomuse.com/contact-me/. The contact form on my web site has spaces for each bit of data that I’d like from you with each check-in.

If you’re stumped for something to tell me, I am providing a prompt. The current question of the day: What are you binge watching on Netflix/Hulu/Youtube/Disney/Amazon/DVD/etc.? I’ll find a way to include a summary of what y’all tell me in my email to you and/or in the online classroom (see #6 below).

My other classes have a daily drawing prompt; take the five minutes to join in with that activity. Youtube/Hulu/Netflix/Disney/Amazon/Tiktok will (probably) still be there after you spend 5-minutes drawing. Plus, it’s a tiny bit of structure in your day – both the contact with me and the drawing.

5. Grades are up to date and likely fudged in your favor on MyDSD. Check to make sure that I haven’t missed something.

6. Starting on Monday at 10:00am and running M-F, I will host an online classroom, general discussion, 40-minute webinar thing using the Zoom platform. I’m hoping this will allow you to interact with some of your classmates without, y’know, interacting with your classmates. If the webinar winds up being useful, I’ll add more sessions and may setup class specific meetings. Let me know how this format might help you best.

Zoom has an app for phones and tablets; check your app store! In order to join the chaos on Monday, you will need a free zoom.us account. You can sign up for an account here: https://zoom.us/signup. Be there on Monday or be square. But Huey Lewis lyrics do not apply here; it most certainly is NOT hip to be square.

Hattaway out.