Let me take a moment to decompress about this semester. It was the hardest one I've had, both thanks to teaching remotely and the outside stresses (homeschooling kids, election, eldercare). What I learned is that we all need to think carefully about what we expect from ourselves.

I hoped that maybe I could get some research, some sci comm writing, some [other things]. Instead, I survived week to week, making sure my remote classes ran as smoothly as possible. I had help from @LazDukeOfYork and @climbing_ripple in intro (we teamed up), so that was great.

And the students - mostly - say that got a lot out of this semester. Could I have taught in person? Maybe, but with so much uncertainty, looking back at decisions should be one were you acted too cautiously rather than cavalier.

Provided more time and brainpower, I would have tried to get students outside more over the semester. I might have tried to meet with more students one on one. I would have rethought how to assess students' progress. Yet, I can't complain too much about how the semester went.

I thank my lucky stars for Virtual Microscope, Google Earth, SERC, my experience doing podcasts/audio and really anything to make the remote semester seamless. I am also lucky to have colleagues that really wanted to move the needle in how intro Earth science might be taught.

I think we made real progress in diversifying the voices and ideas in our Earth science intro and the students responded positively to it. Now, hopefully it will translate to in person when we can do that again.