Virtual School At A Glance

By Austen Frattura

        The new experience of virtual learning began last April. Students went from their whole educational experience being behind a desk, to being behind a screen. We were not prepared for this new experience but had to make the most of it. The transition wasn't easy but had to be done almost instantaneously. Sports were canceled, students sent home, and teachers had to figure out online curriculum in less than a week. Needless to say, this was a new reality for everyone.

        Changes were made from last year's online schooling to our current model. Last year was a very loose schedule allowing the students and teachers to manipulate it to their needs. This year we have been handed a rigid schedule with long classes and one break. This new model strains the attention span of the students and requires a longer than needed teaching session for the teachers to plan for. Sixty-five minutes is an extremely long amount of time to hold one's attention especially when they have the distractions present in their home.

        As with anything that has to be created and implemented quickly, it will have its flaws. Staring at a screen for excessive amounts of time is not healthy and lack of interaction with teachers and students can drastically affect the learning process. There is no perfect way to teach and format online school, but with my experience, this one is very challenging to the student in more ways than one. I appreciate all that the school has done to try and make online school a pleasant experience. We are going to just try and work through this together and whether we like it or not, are going to have to do our best to make the best of an unideal situation.