Both of my kids went back to school this week. Although the classes would be entirely online, they seemed to be very nervous and excited to begin the new school year. At 7:55AM on Monday, after brushing their teeth, they sat down in front of their laptops, and logged into their own Google Classroom accounts, of which their teachers sent the links to them via email previously. Exactly at 8:00AM, they met their new teachers and new classmates for this year.
My teenage daughter didn’t need my help, so she stayed in her room and attended the classes independently. My son, on the other hand, still needed my support, so I sat close to his computer just in case.
For the online classes last year, parents had to download apps, help logging into the websites, and help doing assignments for their children. Basically, the school district was leaving everything up to the parents. It was not surprising because the unexpected appearance of the Covid-19 was so sudden, and the school district, as well as teachers, didn’t have enough time to set up proper online curriculum. Not surprisingly, things were very disorganized.
This year, however, the teachers seemed to be ready for the fresh start for online lessons. My son’s teacher explained to the students how her class will work step-by-step, very carefully. I’m a teacher myself, so I understand how much time and effort the teacher puts into creating an engaging, fresh start during their summer break where they can prep for the new year.
I was impressed by the improvement compared to last year, but still, the complexity of virtual lessons was still there. During the class, my son had to visit numerous websites and type up different passwords, and I had to make sure that he was catching up with the teacher’s instructions; he had several panic attacks in the process.
Some of content was confusing even for adults, and in fact, some parents had to show up on the screen, and ask questions to the teacher directly. I truly wonder how lower grade elementary students would handle such complex online schooling, especially at the beginning. What if there was no supporting system around them? I don’t think that every young student is living in the circumstance where they can get proper assistance from their parents or guardians while they take online classes. A lot of parents/guardians need to work during the day.
From now on, my kids will take about three hours of online lessons, which involves live interactions with their teachers/classmates and two hours of independent work. For elementary students, the teacher monitors the students during the independent-work hours, so that the students are able to ask questions if they need help. I think it is a good system, and appreciate the teacher’s dedication to the class.
The Covid-19 has uprooted life that we used to know. Everything has been completely changed; however, we have no choice but to get used to it. It must be hard for schools and teachers to determine how much effort they need to put into the online curriculum, especially if things are still so uncertain. I feel the same way. I’ve been spending hours and hours creating online materials for my teaching, but I wonder if I’ll ever be able to use them again.
Some specialists are pessimistic about the notion that we’ll go back to normal anytime soon by pointing out the possibility of the virus being around us for a long time even after effective vaccines are developed, and that’s mutations will make the vaccine ineffective.
Either way, I was very thankful for the fact that my kids were able to kick off the new academic school year. They have moved on. The Covid-19 crisis surely made me feel more appreciative of what I normally used to take for granted, such as our health, jobs, the jobs of essential workers, our schools/teachers, families, friends, and our social lives.
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/08/coronavirus-will-never-go-away/614860/