The Struggle of Distance Learning
Edward Calkins '22 Staff Writer
In January, nobody could have imagined needing to wear a mask to go outside, having class once a week for less than an hour and getting tired of watching Netflix. However, after two months of social distancing to reduce the spread of COVID-19, those situations are the reality for Howard High students.
Senior Paige Eakes “never envisioned spending [her] last semester at home.” Eakes was “looking forward to a lot of different things this last semester and now they are not going to happen,” adding that she “misses school a lot right now.” Acknowledging the difficulty of the situation, Eakes expressed that she is still “grateful for what Howard is doing to celebrate our seniors.”
For teachers with kids of their own, working from home adds a new level of challenge. Eleventh grade English teacher Ms. LaVoie expressed her feelings on distance learning with, appropriately, a simile: “Trying to distance teach with a toddler is like brushing your teeth with Oreos.”
One of the hardest aspects of distance learning is communication. Teachers are trying to help students find assignments, Google Meet codes and other helpful resources, but that is not always easy. For sophomore Anthony Negron, distance learning “makes it a little harder because I have to wait for the teacher to respond to my inbox, rather than simply going up to them in person.” ESOL teacher Mr. Arnold says distance learning has resulted in more communication for his students “partly because we are able to join the same class being offered at Mt. Hebron High School.” Formerly in a class of one, his student now has 15 classmates with the same first language, working together to improve their English. “This across-schools model is one that HCPSS should consider more widely,” says Arnold.
Few things about school have remained as they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. With classes held only once a week, and a few hours of online work per class, students are looking for new ways to fill the time. Class of 2022 President Nico Drummond has “started a bullet journal … and learned some new photo editing skills.”
Many students are also missing the social element of school. Negron remarked that while it is nice to communicate through social media, he still misses his friends.
For Eakes, it has been “weird not being able to see everyone in person or go to school,” although seeing her classmates online has made her experience “a little bit easier.” Ms. Bragunier reflects, “While I miss everyone tremendously, I do believe that adversity builds character, we will come out stronger and better through this and value education and each other more.”
“Distance learning has drawn traditional school activities to a halt, but the SGA has been meeting and discussing ways to keep the student body engaged. We've started a segment, modeled after John Krasinski's show, on Howard 360 and have been working with the administration to really bring everyone together...we continue with our mission to represent, hype, and engage the student body,” said Drummond.
Senior Paige Eakes “never envisioned spending [her] last semester at home.” Eakes was “looking forward to a lot of different things this last semester and now they are not going to happen,” adding that she “misses school a lot right now.” Acknowledging the difficulty of the situation, Eakes expressed that she is still “grateful for what Howard is doing to celebrate our seniors.”
For teachers with kids of their own, working from home adds a new level of challenge. Eleventh grade English teacher Ms. LaVoie expressed her feelings on distance learning with, appropriately, a simile: “Trying to distance teach with a toddler is like brushing your teeth with Oreos.”
One of the hardest aspects of distance learning is communication. Teachers are trying to help students find assignments, Google Meet codes and other helpful resources, but that is not always easy. For sophomore Anthony Negron, distance learning “makes it a little harder because I have to wait for the teacher to respond to my inbox, rather than simply going up to them in person.” ESOL teacher Mr. Arnold says distance learning has resulted in more communication for his students “partly because we are able to join the same class being offered at Mt. Hebron High School.” Formerly in a class of one, his student now has 15 classmates with the same first language, working together to improve their English. “This across-schools model is one that HCPSS should consider more widely,” says Arnold.
Few things about school have remained as they were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. With classes held only once a week, and a few hours of online work per class, students are looking for new ways to fill the time. Class of 2022 President Nico Drummond has “started a bullet journal … and learned some new photo editing skills.”
Many students are also missing the social element of school. Negron remarked that while it is nice to communicate through social media, he still misses his friends.
For Eakes, it has been “weird not being able to see everyone in person or go to school,” although seeing her classmates online has made her experience “a little bit easier.” Ms. Bragunier reflects, “While I miss everyone tremendously, I do believe that adversity builds character, we will come out stronger and better through this and value education and each other more.”
“Distance learning has drawn traditional school activities to a halt, but the SGA has been meeting and discussing ways to keep the student body engaged. We've started a segment, modeled after John Krasinski's show, on Howard 360 and have been working with the administration to really bring everyone together...we continue with our mission to represent, hype, and engage the student body,” said Drummond.