Clear as mud.
A Silly Schedule
Schedules are difficult to make. They should be written in a clear and easy way to understand. If there is any ambiguity in a schedule, your audience might not be in the right place at the right time. It only gets more difficult when you make changes to the schedule. I am not sure I can explain my new online schedule because it is as clear as mud.
The original schedule was not online and had four teachers taking turns teaching. There was also a conversation class where each teacher would teach concurrently. One week before the start of the semester, the person in charge decided to do one week of online classes. It is still unclear why that happened. She appears to be the only one who wants that. Next, we wanted to address the single class periods. Usually we plan lesson for double blocks. It is difficult to do many things with adults in only one class period. You probably remember that you had much longer classes in university. The supervisor said that we could rearrange the schedule in some cases to make double blocks, but she was adamant that each teacher needs to teach at least one class per day. She said that the trainees need / want to see each instructor each day. Again, the person in charge is the only one that believes this.
The new schedule for online classes is that the class is split into two groups. Both groups are being taught at the same time. Each class has one teacher. The classes switch during the morning to see the other teacher that is teaching the other half of the class. Then, the trainees break into other groups for conversation for an hour. Conversation online sucks. It is not natural. To combat this, the supervisor wanted to do two conversation classes each day. I don’t understand how doing twice as many bad classes would help. In the afternoon, the trainees will again be split in two and be taught by the other two teachers. Again, halfway through, they will switch to the other teacher. Is this clear as mud?
Meaning
Clear as mud means that something is difficult to understand. The person is not explaining it well. The phrase is ironic. Mud is dirty water and it is not clear. This is a common simile that can be used to say that you don’t understand. It is usually meant in a playful or not serious way.
Example: These instructions are clear as mud. They must have been written by chimpanzees.
Example: “Do you understand me?” “Clear as mud.”
Origin
Clear as mud may have arisen as an antonym for crystal clear or as clear as day. It dates to 1796.
See Also: I get the gist, Red herring, Actions speak louder than words
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Reference:
https://www.etymonline.com/word/mud
https://idiomorigins.org/origin/clear-as-mud
https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/434581/phrase-origin-for-clear-as-mud