What school could be: After months of reading books on how to handle the extra homework, more teachers, lockers, and all the other new things that come with middle school, I’m finally here. I step out of the car. It looks just how I pictured it, scary and intimidating. I have prepared as much as possible, and I still feel super nervous as I walk through the front door of my new school…
Virtual school: After months of reading books on how to handle the
extra homework, more teachers, lockers, and all the other new things that come with middle school, the world is flipped upside down from Covid-19! Apparently now people are hogging toilet paper?! There are a ton of wildfires?! People are taking advantage of peaceful protests to loot stores?! What is going on with 2020?! (This is me trying not to get sidetracked.) It would be fine if I just had to deal with another year at my old school, but now I had to start a whole new school! I couldn’t believe this was happening to me as I logged into my first class…
What school could be: I am at my first class of the day, English. My teacher is introducing herself, and she is very nice. My classmates are too. We go over what we are going to learn that semester, and have no homework at all because it’s the first day! The calmness of it all soothes my nerves, and I feel a lot more confident as I speed to my next class...
Virtual school: I’m in my first class of the day, English. My teacher introduces herself, while all I can think about is how it’s SUPER weird not seeing below someone's shoulders, right?! I can’t tell how tall my classmates are, or my teacher for that matter. I also think about how in regular school everyone would be wearing uniforms, while now everyone can wear whatever they want. I guess that’s one pro of online learning. I logged off after class, thinking that one day these events would be what students study for history, not ancient civilizations...
What school could be: I’m at my last class of the day now, gym. The others weren’t so bad, since they didn’t have a lot of homework, but I’m not sure about how easy P.E is going to be. As I enter the classroom, my teacher introduces himself and tells us all to start by running laps. Then we move on to push-ups, jumping jacks, planks, and high knees. It was tiring, but not as bad as I thought it would be, maybe I’d actually survive this school year…
Virtual school: Oh boy, it’s time for PE. This is the one class I’m super worried about, how are we supposed to do all those kinds of fitness activities at home? Turns out, my teacher just has us watch a video of other people doing exercises and had us follow their lead. (Wah wahhhh.) I followed as best as I could, but it was a little hard in the small space of my room. Even though the class was not what I expected, I am still glad to get any exercise at all in this pandemic.
All in all, both versions of school are incredibly different; they both have pros and cons. (Being serious for a moment, ;) But in these weird times, I’m glad to get an education at all.
-Zoe Weirauch ‘23 :)
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