Journal Entry 3
04/12/2020
Virtual Learning
Distance learning has taken us all by surprise, and me especially. I’m a hands-on learner so distance learning hasn’t been my favorite. Distance learning is simply different from walking down halls laughing with my friends to being replaced by hopping from zoom to zoom while texting with my friends, or asking a simple question turning into an email, and my learning being put on pause multiple times as my WiFi attempts to make out what my teacher was saying. It is what it is, and slowly I’ve been coming to terms with that, yet it is a strange time that we are living in and the thought of virtual learning still gives me an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
My day starts off normal waking up, dragging my half-asleep body to the shower and back into my room, but when I go to enter my closet I’m reminded of the ongoing quarantine the world is facing. Entering my car has been replaced by hopping on zoom and by these little actions school feels unnatural, from not being in dress code, or not having those face to face connections which I miss so much. Learning from a distance has been hard and it will continue to be harder, classes have been shortened to thirty minutes and for the first time in my life classes are scattered around the week. On Friday we may have one zoom class but on Tuesday we may have all classes. All of these changes have left many others and me in a difficult position to obtain the most out of our learning, but we will hopefully get through it with time.
The hardest part of this virtual experience has been missing the things I had been looking forward to all year like the lacrosse season, where I was super excited as a senior to have a chance to play a big role as a leader in the team, or spring projects the 9th grade does, and especially getting to continue to run the all-school meeting and develop my speaking skills. While not getting the full hands-on experiences I would have otherwise had, is unfortunate, we can still make the best of this situation, by possibly running team workouts or still trying to make the spring projects as normal as possible. Although this isn't the best situation there have been some positive aspects of this that have come out of it like having the opportunity to sleep in a little bit more, or even discover new hobbies during the extra time where I would have been in school.
In light of what is happening in the world right now, our health is the most important, and I think that learning is still a priority. To sustain good health you need to broaden your mind and continue your growth as a student, still stay active, and to stay in touch with the world in midst of the chaos by saying hi to a friend or by being more considerate of your siblings who have similar feelings to you in these unsettling times. Distance learning is important, but we must remind ourselves that to keep in touch with ourselves and try to make these times as normal as possible.