Last week was the first time, probably for most of us, doing real online school using zoom. I’ve never actually had any zoom classes except for maybe one or two times in the past, so it was kind of the first time for me. It was certainly an adjustment to switch to the zoom classes, and in the beginning, I kind of liked it, but as the snow days dragged on it made me realize how much I enjoyed going to in-person classes.
The zoom classes weren’t that bad, at least for me since I only had at most two a day, but I know that it was difficult for a lot of the younger students. I have a little sister who’s in sixth grade, and the intermediate school took a very different approach to the zoom classes than what we had at the high school. She goes to NAIS and they have a lot more classes fit into one day than we do. She had to attend a mandatory zoom, with their cameras on, for every single class, including the extra ones like library class or gym class. So she ended up sitting in front of her computer from about 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and then on top of that, she was still assigned even more homework to do after the zoom calls. Overall, she was very overwhelmed with the amount of schoolwork she had to do and it just was too much for a 12-year-old. I’m sure a lot of other kids were feeling the same way as her, especially since they aren’t used to doing that.
I think that maybe the online zoom calls could be handled a little better in the future, especially if we’re going to be using them for snow days more frequently. I’m sure as time goes on we’ll get the hang of it, but I think it was a little tough for some of the younger kids at first.
The week off however did make me realize how lucky we are to be able to attend school in person. Millions of kids across the world aren't able to go to school still, and they have to do these zoom classes every day. Even though going to school two days a week isn't exactly perfect, it's better and safer than the other options.
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I completely agree with you. I think when we think of zoom classes we think of high school students with a couple of classes a day, but do not really think about the young kids who have to try and focus on a screen for hours at a time. I have been helping my orchestra teacher teach the younger students at the intermediate school with music and I can't even express how much of a struggle it is. I am glad that we are able to go in at least twice a week cause that is better than none.
ReplyDeleteI didn't really realize how much worse the younger kids have it. Attention spans aside, I can't imagine having library (for example) as a mandatory zoom. I enjoyed the zooms because I still was able to hear my teacher teach and for the most part my camera didn't have to be on, but I know even I had trouble just sitting there and listening. I can't imagine what the little kids go through.
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