It was a Monday, as all Mondays are. I am always a few minutes behind on a Monday, but somehow yesterday I was feeling “all set”.
I got to school at my usual time and greeted my teammates- both of the other home room teachers are there early this year, like me- I like that.
I knew I had a few things to do still on my slides (we are online and send out slides each Morning by 7:30 outlining the day’s work. My wifi wasn’t working, so I went through all of the obvious fixes. I turned the WiFi off and on, I restarted my computer, then I went next door to check with my teammate.
“Mine isn’t either,” she confirmed. “Let me check on my phone.”
“Hmm, not even 3G.”
“I’ll go down and tell Liz (our principal),” I said, thinking it might just be our floor.
“I’ll come too, there’s nothing I can do right now without wifi.”
On the way downstairs we confirmed with our other teammate that he also did not have wifi and headed downstairs.
Liz then confirmed that she did not either and it seemed like the whole campus had no wifi. It was coincidentally the first day our director was away, to take his daughter to university, so she had already contacted the acting director.
“I’ll let you know when I hear back about anything,” she said as we headed back upstairs.
After chatting about how stuck we felt without wifi we started to get a bit nervous- it was nearing the time when our slides had to get out and we had no way to hotspot via our phones for that, never mind the morning meeting/instructional Zoom that followed.
Not long after after a few false starts the intercom chimed. “It looks like the wifi is not a quick fix- it may be out for more than and hour. All teachers can go home to work from there today.”
Ack- then the question of how to get home. By now it was about 45 minutes after my tuck yuk had dropped me off and I knew he would be home and the drive took him nearly that long, so to return would mean I would be late for my Zoom.
Luckily, the teacher next door lives quite near me and her husband knew that their driver was still close by. We quickly grabbed our necessities- read aloud, laptop, and more and were on our way. There is definitely more traffic later, so her driver took a different way home.
I arrived home in time to send out my slides (late) and jump in the shower again before my Morning Meeting. It seemed like school was not the only place suffering from wifi issues, as kids popped in and out of the Zoom. As the TAs went home too, ours was able to introduce her two week old pug puppies to the class, so that was a great bonus! Seven sweet girls! We had seen pictures and a video, but to see them live on the screen left us all with a smile.
All in all it felt like a very frantic day, with that delayed start and change of routine, but today, I am happy to report that all was well with the wifi! It made for a smoother start to our Tuesday. Mondays can be overcome.
Ms. Victor Reads 
Reading about your Monday, it hits me how quickly we all have come to rely on wifi. Your post shows so clearly how your routine is totally disrupted without it. I especially love how this story has a happy ending – meeting puppies and wifi returning and having the feeling that “Mondays can be overcome”. I hope the rest of this week is smooth sailing!
Oh, no. This was stress creating for sure. I am glad all worked out ok in the end.
Wow, what a Monday morning! I don’t know why, but it always surprises me that a lack of internet leaves so many of us dead in the water when it comes to teaching, even if it’s not a distance learning situation. I’m glad there was a “go home” fix to be had!
What a way to start the week. We just got notice that we will be running on a generator tomorrow because there is an issue with our electricity. I do wonder what that means for our use of technology.
I hope the rest of your week goes smoothly.
Erika, what a Monday story. I love all the details! Including the tiny pug girl puppies sound so sweet. Definitely a smile creator for you and your fifth graders. Hope your final days of the week were wifi-problem free.