What Happens When High School Goes Virtual?

Over the past couple of months, we’ve focused a lot of our communications on how COVID-19-related school closures have impacted students around the globe. While there is so much ‘big picture’ stuff to focus on, we thought you might be interested in hearing directly from one of the 1.5 billion affected students: our wonderful high school intern, Gabriela!

Gabriela started her internship in February, and has been working with us remotely since shelter in place orders were issued in mid-March. We’ve had to deviate quite a bit from our regular intern activities over the past couple of months, but Gabriela has taken everything in stride. As part of her internship, we asked her to start a blog series to help shine a light on the ups and downs of distance learning. So, without further ado, here’s Gabriela in her own words:

Paperseed’s Spring/Summer 2020 intern, Gabriela Rosenfeld

High School During COVID-19 - The Switch to Home Learning

by Gabriela Rosenfeld 

Rumors were flaring among my classmates as COVID-19 cases started cropping up in the United States. The possibility of school cancellation excited the student body as word spread that school might be closed for a couple of weeks. However, school administration told us school closure was not likely and would only occur if a student at our high school (Redwood High School) contracted the virus. My classmates and I joked around, saying we had to choose a student to “take one for the team” and get infected. 

Just days later, an email was sent out from the school district: school was cancelled for two weeks. Being the Gen Z’ers that we are, most students did not find out through the email; social media became flooded with the news. I heard about it on the drive home from playing tennis with a friend (which turned out to be my last time playing for a couple of months). My phone was swarmed with texts and calls from friends saying: “SCHOOL’S CLOSED!” I watched as everyone made plans to hang out for the next day and week. I wondered if, even though the potential spread of the virus at school would be mitigated, the virus would spread just as much from students spending time together in groups

The following day, coincidentally Friday the 13th, all of my classes transferred online. Teachers uploaded video lessons and online assignments. Because teachers were assigning all of the work that they had scheduled for us to do in class, on top of countless hours of homework, the next two weeks were some of the toughest in terms of schoolwork. What was not considered was that when learning material online— without the guidance of a teacher— it takes most students much longer to complete work. As a result, my classmates and I found ourselves completing much more work than we had been before. I was overwhelmed. 

Normally, when I am in class and I have a question about the material, I simply raise my hand and the teacher explains the content. However, when the content is being taught in a virtual environment, with only myself to answer questions, it becomes much more difficult to learn. In order to ameliorate some of the struggles associated with this, some of my teachers scheduled virtual classroom meetings. While this opportunity alleviated a lot of the stress that had been built up for the last couple of weeks, the meetings did not last long, and rarely were able to  replicate the classroom environment. 

The routine of long days filled with hours of homeschooling continued. Soon after the announcement that California was extending shelter in place, the school administration announced that they would be extending school closure yet again, but that there would be a new “remote learning schedule” in place. With student feedback, administration realized that the workload we had been receiving was unrealistic, so they created a much more reasonable schedule along with a set of guidelines. My friends and I were relieved by this news and felt grateful that adjustments had been made. 

Today, the 19th of May, 2020, I am starting my sixth week on the adapted school schedule. I have become used to this new routine, and my peers and I are feeling much more comfortable with the workload. Most classes have one virtual meeting a week, some of which is used to teach material, while others are just a meeting for teachers to check in with students and see their faces. 

At the beginning, I worried that I would not have the opportunity to have as much one-on-one time with my teachers. In reality, I have found it easier to schedule personal meeting time with my teachers — a benefit of virtual school. Being at home the majority of the day, teachers are able to respond to emails much quicker than when we were in the classroom, and they have more available time to help. I am very thankful that teachers have made their time so available and have been making sure that every student gets the same assistance that they did in person.

Now, I wake up each morning, attend my virtual classes, and by the early afternoon my school day is complete. Although I cannot be out on the courts playing tennis, or spending time with friends, I take advantage of the countless activities that I can do while sheltering in place: going on walks outside, exercising in my backyard, FaceTiming friends, and spending time with my family. Two months ago, I couldn’t have imagined that my school days would end up like this, but learning through a screen has become my new normal, and I am enjoying every day of it.