Let’s be honest: Whether you thrive at school or dread waking up to an alarm telling you it’s time to get up and go sit in a chair for six hours, we all had mixed feelings after receiving the email telling us we would be out of physical school for the foreseeable future. I was excited for a bit of a change and an opportunity for a little more rest, but I also didn’t want to not see my teachers or friends in person for the rest of the year.
As I am writing this, it’s week 3 of “remote learning,” and I am sure that we have all been able to settle in (and sleep in) whether we like it or not. Here is my honest experience (blogish style) so far after trying to get the hang of a new schooling environment at home.
Days 1-4ish:
I was honestly excited at this point! Me and my friends were excited about being able to hang out and do our homework or meet at the pool with all of our free time. This, however, was pre-actual lockdown, so it was a bit of a false anticipation. Still–we were all pretty ready for a break after the stress of research papers and, for us juniors, the exegetical paper. It also helped that we had a four day weekend, so, honestly, the whole thing just felt like an extended weekend and not actually leaving school.
Official Week 1:
Ah, then Tuesday, the first day of remote learning came along. The first week was for sure met with some stress about figuring out online, less motivation, but an enjoyment of the extra time! It was super helpful having daily emails from teachers, office hours, and a lot of grace! Our teachers did so well adjusting so fast to preparing remote lessons for us, and I think they deserve our gratitude and grace as well! I definitely felt like I could take the time to adjust to online without feeling rushed or pressured to get everything right on the first try. Overall, week one still didn’t exactly feel as though we actually were not going back to school. Besides figuring out online testing and adjusting to quite a different kind of block schedule, I took advantage of the extra time by getting outside, baking, and doing things that I love doing but often don’t have time to, like playing guitar or making art.
Week 2:
By week two, I began to get in the swing of things. I had somewhat of a daily schedule for myself because personally, that’s how I stay on top of things. One of the advantages of online learning for me was that I was able to get school done a little earlier, or work a little later but not have homework to complete after that. To be honest, it all kind of just felt like homework (I guess technically it is). I really started to miss the face to face conversations with my teachers though, and definitely made efforts to go into some of my teachers’ office hours even if just to say hi (shoutout to Miss Dismuke!). By the end of the week, I had started to get a little stir crazy, but it helped to get outside in my neighborhood and using facetime to still have some other human connection.
Week 3 (This week):
While I am writing this, we are only halfway through week three. This week I feel I have gotten the most used to this new routine than I had been. I wake up around 8 every day, drink some coffee, and start school. I motivate myself to work fast and have been able to be done around 1 for the day. I do really miss the environment of learning face to face, and it is still weird thinking this will probably be the way school is for the rest of the year. While I am sure my opinion of remote learning will change week by week, for now, I am trying to have the mindset that while not ideal, this is our reality now, and in many ways can be seen as an opportunity to have the time we often say we don’t have, for better sleep and less stress, and time to see our families more than us teenagers usually do.
So there you have it, my experience thus far with this new way of learning! I hope everyone is staying safe and finding ways to make these weird times seem a little more normal!
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Picture Credits: Instagram.com
