eLearning Week 1: Students miss school community

For the first week of eLearning, teachers assigned 20-30 minutes of work for each class, each day. Social distancing began on March 15 to slow the spread of COVID-19, but it posed new challenges for students.

Question: Is eLearning going the way you thought it would? Why or why not?

Junior Colleen Carey:  “E-learning is going the way I thought that it would because it’s pretty much just school outside of school. I’m still getting the same amount of work, I just have to do it at home now.” (interviewed over the phone)

Senior Zach Humphrey: “eLearning is going smoother than I expected. All my teachers seem to know what exactly they have to do to give us a small assignment to complete. I know in the past eLearning has been a little shaky considering directions and requirements but I believe that problem has been resolved.” (interviewed over text)

Junior Sam Sanchez: “No. Everything just seems super inconsistent and there isn’t like a set plan by admin that teachers are following. All my teachers have different rules that conflict with other classes and makes it all so confusing.”  (interviewed on FaceTime)

Junior Jack Collins: “eLearning is definitely going differently than I thought – mostly because the copious amount of work that was promised wasn’t that bad.”

 

Question: What has been the hardest part of being out of school? Why?

“

  I miss any genuine collaboration or human interaction.

— Kaelyn Tai

Senior Kahla Grimpe:  “The hardest part about being out of school is not being able to see friends and teachers. I usually feed off of others’ energy and because I only have my sister at home at the moment it gets kind of boring talking about the same stuff. Another issue with being out of school is that we have to learn a bunch of stuff on our own. Because I am taking four AP classes, all of which are very work-heavy at the moment, there is a lot to focus on and learn by myself even if I finish it quickly.” (interviewed over text)

Sophomore Kaelyn Tai: “The hardest part of being out of school has been not seeing anyone. I used to be homeschooled before junior high and I don’t know how I did it. I miss any genuine collaboration or human interaction. Friends were maybe one of my biggest motivators and now that that’s been taken away, it’s been difficult.” (interviewed over text)

Question: What has been a good part of being out of school? Why?

Junior Grant Miller: “A good part about being out of school is that I have much more time to do things that I wouldn’t have been able to if I was at school. For example, right now I’m renovating my room and catching up on shows I watch.” (interviewed over text)

Sophomore Alexia Kline: “It has been nice being able to learn and do notes at my own pace when traditionally a teacher has to fit a certain lesson in 50 minute. They usually rush the process. Being able to take as much time as I need to understand the material has been really helpful to me.” (interviewed over text)

Sophomore Ethan Bravo: “A good part of being out of school is that I get more time to relax, sleep, and focus on my needs. During school I mostly work hard to do everything given to me, and do it to the best it can be. Even if it means that my life schedule and ability to socialize will be affected by it, I would still do it for school. It brought more stress and less time to be a teenager and focus on ourselves.” (interviewed over text) 

Sophomore Nicholas Rasmussen:  “A good part of this E-Learning experience is the fact that I can stay up later, and I can wake up later. This is good, because I don’t have to worry about getting enough sleep in order to function throughout a normal school day.” (interviewed over text)

Question:  What is something you miss about being at school? Why?

Senior Maddy Horne: “Actually being in class every day. I kind of took that for granted the connections I made with my teachers and friends in class, and not that I don’t have that, it’s proved to be really difficult to truly have the school experience.” (interviewed over text)

Junior Genevieve Decaudin: “I constantly miss seeing and interacting with people everyday. You forget how much a little conversation in each class or in the hallway means to you when you are stuck at home. (interviewed over text)

Math teacher Brent Freed: “I really miss the daily face-to-face interactions with students and teachers. We spend a lot of time learning at school, but it is also a place where we make broader connections with people.  There are a lot of fun things that happen at school every day, and I will miss that until we are all back together.” (interviewed over email)