"Distance learning is hard for everyone, students and teachers." --Polly van de water, 6th grade
Distance learning is hard for everyone, students and teachers. Some things make it easier, however. This article will explore what both teachers and students think about this. What things are some of the things that are easier and what are some of the struggles? To find out, I talked withMs. Farmer, a sixth and eighth grade english and social science teacher and Mr Foster, a sixth grade PE teacher, as well as Nanako Frey, a sixth grader and Eliza Van de Water, an eighth grader.
Personally I think that online school is harder, it is harder to get to know someone, it is harder to focus to get work done and it is even hard to ask a question. Now that we are all stuck at home you don’t really realize the things that you used to think were so normal but now seem almost impossible. There is also another side to online school. The first day of school is a lot less scary when you are in the comfort of your home and you have a 15 min break where you can do what instead of having to worry about having to get to class. We just think about what the worst parts of online school are but if you really think about it then you realize there are a lot of things that are actually good.
Ms. Farmer said that aside from teaching, she feels like she is stuck in her house. “One of the hardest things about teaching online is not leaving my house to go to work,” she said. “The whole family is stuck at home, and we feel really stir crazy. I enjoy the time traveling to and from my job as ‘alone time’ (away from my family, by myself in the car) and I haven't had a whole lot of ‘alone time’ since we've been sheltering at home during the pandemic.”
Farmer also mentioned that she was a little bit nervous that kids would just get distracted from other tabs, text or Youtube. As a teacher, she said it is a lot harder to know what your students are doing. However, there are still some parts that are not bad, they are even better than in person school. Farmer said that she enjoys seeing people's pets and siblings. She also enjoys how you can use things like virtual backgrounds and play around with that kind of thing.
“I would much, MUCH rather be in the classroom with my students,” Farmer said. She expressed how she misses being able to just look over your shoulder to see what you are doing and feels like she doesn't even know if you are listening or even there. Explaining things can be a lot harder because it could just be a paper hand out in class but now some people cannot do it because they don’t have a printer. They have to find a way to do it online if there even is one. It is so hard to engage with each other. Say you said a joke but it turns out you were frozen or you accidentally muted yourself.
Mr Foster said he thought that it was hard to find a “variety of activities and exercises for students.” It is also hard when someone's internet cut out or accidentally left the meeting. He also misses skateboarding, ice skating, jump rope and going down to the lake. “I also miss walking the halls of OSA and hearing and seeing our students practice their art and hone their talents.“ But on the other hand he thinks it is much easier to communicate online. He likes in person school better because you can have everyone together instead of in little boxes on a computer.
Sixth grader Nanako Frey said that online school is really hard because the teachers can’t actually be there to work with you on little things. It is also easier to get distracted with all the noises in your house. “There could also be someone in your house who could be trying to talk to you the same time that a teacher or student is,” Frey said. Another thing she thought was hard was not seeing your friends, new students, and your new teachers in person. But she liked how you can wake up and go straight to class and you don’t have to get to the building. And how you can never “forget something at home.”
Eliza Van de Water, an eighth grader, also really liked how she didn’t have to wake up early like many other students. But she found it a lot harder to get motivated to do her work when she is at home. She agreed with Frey when she said that it was hard to focus with the distractions in her room and that it was really hard not seeing teachers and her friends. She also mentioned that she thinks it is easier for returning students because they already know the school, the teachers and have made friends when they were not online.
Personally I think that online school is harder, it is harder to get to know someone, it is harder to focus to get work done and it is even hard to ask a question. Now that we are all stuck at home you don’t really realize the things that you used to think were so normal but now seem almost impossible. There is also another side to online school. The first day of school is a lot less scary when you are in the comfort of your home and you have a 15 min break where you can do what instead of having to worry about having to get to class. We just think about what the worst parts of online school are but if you really think about it then you realize there are a lot of things that are actually good.
Ms. Farmer said that aside from teaching, she feels like she is stuck in her house. “One of the hardest things about teaching online is not leaving my house to go to work,” she said. “The whole family is stuck at home, and we feel really stir crazy. I enjoy the time traveling to and from my job as ‘alone time’ (away from my family, by myself in the car) and I haven't had a whole lot of ‘alone time’ since we've been sheltering at home during the pandemic.”
Farmer also mentioned that she was a little bit nervous that kids would just get distracted from other tabs, text or Youtube. As a teacher, she said it is a lot harder to know what your students are doing. However, there are still some parts that are not bad, they are even better than in person school. Farmer said that she enjoys seeing people's pets and siblings. She also enjoys how you can use things like virtual backgrounds and play around with that kind of thing.
“I would much, MUCH rather be in the classroom with my students,” Farmer said. She expressed how she misses being able to just look over your shoulder to see what you are doing and feels like she doesn't even know if you are listening or even there. Explaining things can be a lot harder because it could just be a paper hand out in class but now some people cannot do it because they don’t have a printer. They have to find a way to do it online if there even is one. It is so hard to engage with each other. Say you said a joke but it turns out you were frozen or you accidentally muted yourself.
Mr Foster said he thought that it was hard to find a “variety of activities and exercises for students.” It is also hard when someone's internet cut out or accidentally left the meeting. He also misses skateboarding, ice skating, jump rope and going down to the lake. “I also miss walking the halls of OSA and hearing and seeing our students practice their art and hone their talents.“ But on the other hand he thinks it is much easier to communicate online. He likes in person school better because you can have everyone together instead of in little boxes on a computer.
Sixth grader Nanako Frey said that online school is really hard because the teachers can’t actually be there to work with you on little things. It is also easier to get distracted with all the noises in your house. “There could also be someone in your house who could be trying to talk to you the same time that a teacher or student is,” Frey said. Another thing she thought was hard was not seeing your friends, new students, and your new teachers in person. But she liked how you can wake up and go straight to class and you don’t have to get to the building. And how you can never “forget something at home.”
Eliza Van de Water, an eighth grader, also really liked how she didn’t have to wake up early like many other students. But she found it a lot harder to get motivated to do her work when she is at home. She agreed with Frey when she said that it was hard to focus with the distractions in her room and that it was really hard not seeing teachers and her friends. She also mentioned that she thinks it is easier for returning students because they already know the school, the teachers and have made friends when they were not online.
