Three months of living through what no other students, teachers, faculty, and families have gone through ever. It’s weird to think we have no control over what is considered our new normal. I haven’t seen my friends in a radius closer than six feet in three months. Three months of learning through a computer screen instead of face to face. Three months since I have stepped foot onto my high school campus and seen my teachers and friends. Learning at home is a whole new ball game compared to learning at school. From my experience, some teachers really need to understand that.

I live in a household with three other siblings and my two parents. My sister, a current junior in high school, and I share a room. To say it’s a struggle sharing a room during distance learning is an understatement. We have all of our calls at different times throughout the day. Our day constantly includes alarm clocks blaring in our room from as early as 8:00 a.m., and as late as 3 p.m. We can’t leave our rooms for our calls because our parents work from home, and we can’t disturb them, and our brothers are either screaming or on zoom calls themselves for their school. Throughout my calls, my camera and microphone are always off because I don’t want to show my teachers what’s happening behind the scenes. My parents are busy leaving it to my sister and me to take care of our brothers. We cook the meals, clean up the house, and make sure our brothers are on top of our school work. It’s a lot. In my experience of these past three months, calls should be a time to check in with students and give information that will also be restated on canvas for those who can’t join calls. Calls often conflict with household duties, and it’s I am rarely able to join one and actually pay attention. The option that worked best for me was videos. Whether it was on Youtube, Loom, or even just a video on Canvas, these were the most helpful sources for me these past three months. It allows us to watch these videos at the time that is best for our convenience, and to be able to replay certain parts in the event of which we don’t understand parts of the lesson. Learning live did not work for me because I was never able to fully devote my attention due to the distractions occurring around me. If distance learning were to continue in the fall, I would highly recommend using videos as the primary source of teaching over live conference calls.

Empathy, a feeling I see as vital to living. I feel certain teachers lack this feeling and do not understand the struggles we are going through as students. As a student struggling with personal medical problems, I found most teachers were not understanding when I would explaining my situation. I would tell them of how I couldn’t make a call or take a test because I was having surgery, a procedure, or even a doctor’s appointment. Understandable right? Apparently not. I was not excused from those assignments and received emails from my teachers being frustrated my schedule wasn’t free for their class. How can we be expected to attend calls and learn the material with no way of reviewing parts we don’t understand, without teachers even considering what’s happening in our lives?

“Most people need to have their specialness reflected back in the eyes of others in order to see it themselves.” – The Power of Empathy

We could be more affected by covid-19 than they know, be struggling with mental health issues school drastically helped us with, have conflicts with our families, and more. If teachers were more mindful of this and willing to do what they could to help accommodate students going through these things, it would indeed allow them to thrive and succeed in this current situation.