Let me start by saying something very important to make known. I love my job, I love teaching, and I love my kids. I said it over and over throughout this trip and other trips, “I would trade all of this to be back with my kids in the classroom” and I truly mean it. However, due to COVID-19, we are not allowed to teach our kids in person. Personally, I still show up in my classroom every day, I feel like I am more productive if I am not distracted at home. Distance learning is awful, I don’t feel like we can make nearly the same impact as we can in person. Though we all try our best, it’s almost impossible making sure that everyone is on task, students aren’t distracted at home with family, cell phone, tv, and trips to the beach to celebrate their mom’s birthday (during class) (yes, it happened). I decided that I wanted to teach from the road and that I can do the same things in my car that I can do on my laptop at home.

This list is not in any particular order, however, some aspects are more important than others, for example, securing reliable internet service and/or a location to work. First and foremost, every time I get to a different town I do a google research on “cafes” to try to find somewhere to work. I look through the reviews and see if there’s a patio to work outside because during COVID days you’re more likely to be able to use the facility if there is outside seating, however, I was surprised by the many places that allowed you to sit inside and work. Something important is checking the speed of the internet. I stayed at a motel one night out of the two weeks and that happened to be the slowest internet I had the entire trip. It was quite a tough lesson to learn. I ended up having to use my Wifi hot spot from my phone and used up 3GB of data because we were having a “virtual study trip” and I had to stream and share videos the entire morning.

THIS is a good connection,

What I failed to do was to check that the hotel had a decent connection, and it didnt. The hotel where I planned to do my virtual study trip had 3 Mbps Download and 0.09 Mbps. Yes, less than ONE Mbps. That was a good lesson that cost me 3GB of my hotspot plan on my cell phone. That was also the last night we stayed at a hotel, it was all car camp from there.

My Classroom

My Jeep is equipped with AT&T Wifi that I can activate it, its not as fast at my phone on LTE but it is enough if the area gets good reception. Something to keep in mind is the limits on Hot-Spots for cell phone thetering. I paid for an upgrade that gives me 10GB more per month because I knew I would need it, and I did.

If you do choose a coffee shop, make sure you have headphones to cancel out the noise in your years and the noise going into the microphone. I could not have had a successful class without my headphones, it allowed my kids to hear my voice clearly. I have even invested in a microphone so that I know they can hear me clearly and not any distractions.

Power ⚡️

Having a power source is almost as important as water. Once I walked into a coffee shop the first thing I looked for was a power plug near a table, that I could charge my laptop. I also carry around a large portable battery and I use to keep the refrigerator running overnight, so I don’t drain the car battery. I charged that battery every morning at the coffee shop. I never ran into any issues with charging my stuff anywhere, coffee shops came in pretty clutch.

Something tricky was the time change, Colorado is one hour ahead of California, so I had to constantly keep that in mind. Hour 8 am class was 9 am in Colorado, our 3-5 meeting was 4-6.

Food!

I actually cooked most meals, or we ate sandwiches. I had a powered fridge in the back of the Jeep that did an amazing job at keeping things nice and cold, some things at the bottom even froze! I cooked a lot of stir fry in my two-burner stove.

Crucial Lessons

Not related to teaching, but some things that I have to cover is a shower, sleep, and laundry. Well, I managed to take one shower, local KOA campgrounds may have showers and it only costs $5, and you come out smelling like a million bucks! I slept 13 of 14 nights in the back of my Jeep, and I honestly could’ve slept there 14 of 14. It was cold at night but I love it, just make sure if you do sleep in the trunk of your car that you leave windows cracked open to avoid condensation. In the middle of the trip I stopped by a local laundromat after class and went grocery shopping while the clothes were being washed, it was very productive. I do come prepared though, I own merino wool socks and underwear because they are antimicrobial and can last for many days without developing any smell. I simply changed clothes because I felt that it was time, not because I smelled bad at all.
I hope you enjoyed this, but I can’t wait for things to be back to normal!
Make sure you sign up for newsletter and check out my current prints here!
Thank you!

What I Learned While Teaching Remotely During COVID-19