Covid - 19 What We Can Do To Stay On Track: Kasey Chonko and Nora Harr
Introduction Imagine a world where you are forced to stay home, there is a curfew for being outside, we have shortages on simple things like toilet paper, and all school is online. This used to seem crazy, something that only happens in movies, but now it is our reality. We surveyed a total of 180 students and 15 teachers.
Why are we doing social distancing? Some may ask, ‘Why are we out of school?’. We are social distancing to help stop or slow down the spread of the disease. If we were constantly in large crowds, always touching each other, it would be more likely for the virus to spread more rapidly.
Productivity We wanted to know what every student was struggling with, therefore we sent out a survey. According to the survey, the majority of people (both students and teachers) ranked online school a 4-8 on a 1-10 scale. People have found social studies the hardest to complete and science the second hardest. On a scale of 1-5, most students ranked their productivity a 3 or a 4. Of course, both students and teachers are working hard to be productive during this scary time. Please remember that it is alright if you aren’t feeling as productive as normal, this is a new experience for all involved.
Distractions Students: Many students have been distracted, and I’m sure that’s no surprise! Being at home means you have technology at your disposal, food all around you, and your siblings trying to talk to you. In fact, those are the most common responses we received for students. So many students feel tempted to scroll through Tik Tok or play video games.
Teachers: Don’t worry students, teachers get distracted, too! Many say they have to take care of their kids while answering emails and it is no easy feat. Usually they only have one class to manage, now they have to talk to all their periods at once. Talk about multitasking. There is an underlying culprit between students and teachers, though. Food!
Just remember that everyone has these distractions and you are killing it anyway! Working from home is no easy task for anyone, especially when your entire family is right there with you.
Teacher -> Student Communication Both students and teachers have mixed thoughts on how they feel about communication between them. We found the majority of teachers rated the experience a 3 out of 5 (5 being they love it). Other teachers found that the number of emails was overwhelming and they strongly disliked the new setup. Unfortunately, it’s what we have to do to stay safe. All of the teachers we have had contact with do say they miss seeing their students and being in the classroom!
Peer Communication Based on the survey, the majority of students only asked peers a few questions through text. Luckily, we have the ability to communicate with friends without being face-to-face making quarantine a little less annoying.
Positives Like most things, you can find a positive from this! Seventh-grader Aki Sykes said a positive she has found is “getting into a good routine every day.” Seventh-grader Christina Ensuar said “ I think I’ve gotten better with technology and time management. Going through the routine I’ve realized how I should go along with the schedule and when I should do each assignment.” Seventh Grader Isabella Jackson said that there is “More time for things like breakfast and its easier to brush my teeth do my hair and do some of my homeschooling and then doing the rest of a normal routine.” Eighth-grader Anna Hall said “I think the only positive thing I've gotten out of this is absolutely nothing. Most people I've talked to like the online schooling, but I detest it.”
To conclude, here are some messages from the teachers for students and other teachers: Stay Healthy! Listen to your favorite music, drink some coffee, enjoy the quiet mornings. Try some stretching or yoga activities. I got a lot of spring cleaning done. We are all in this together and are here to support you! For the love of all that is holy-----READ DIRECTIONS!!!! It's a tough situation we are in, let's hope we wont' have anything like this in any of our lives any more. It does give us a chance to stop and look around and enjoy the privileges that we all have. If you compare our situation to that of a third world country or people who are less fortunate, we are all going to be just fine. If we all do our part, we will make this a healthy, peaceful, kind world. Take your time- breath- students- please. please, please- 1- read the directions, 2- stop trying to multi-task- you'll get more done
Hope students know that we care and here for them. One thing at a time.
I would like the students to know that I miss them, and that it's difficult to enjoy teaching without the laughter and silly banter!
Screencastify wasn't that hard, try it. relax and do your work
Dado's Guide to Quarantining Hello Tinton Falls Middle School! As many other schools, we have been set for quarantine due to the infamous Coronavirus. Now for some people, you may be relaxing with your time off or enjoying waking up at later times but I know that for me and many others, this quarantine is driving us mad. Personally for me, being trapped inside my house is making me go insane, especially with my loud family. Even though we all dislike school very much, I think most of us can agree that being trapped inside our house, especially those with crazy families like mine, sucks! Today I am here to give you advice and tips on how to get your work done productively and how to not go insane stuck in the house with the fam! My first piece of advice is to get your work done in a productive manner. I know for me, working from home has been rough. It’s hard to stare at a screen for 7 hours straight with no human interaction although my mom says I already do that with my phone, but that’s besides the point, the point is that the first step in working productively is waking up at a good time. Lately, I have been going to bed around 1 and 2 AM in the morning, and everyday I wake up and feel like a truck has hit me. Then I have to sit there and do my work as I am forcing my eyelids to stay open. I'm surprised I’ve gotten my work done properly, but still not everyone works the same. So completely ignore what I do and go to bed at an earlier time. If you go to bed earlier you will wake up not feeling like a truck has hit you and although you may not want to work, you will be ready to. Having the right mindset is what is going to get us through this. We have to stay positive and push through it to get our work done. If you spend half your time complaining, I’m sure you haven’t even finished two assignments tops. So no more complaining, if you do your work and stop complaining every two seconds, I’m sure you’ll be done in no time. Another thing about working productively is to split your work in an evenly manner. You don’t want to be doing twice as much work on one day and then little work on another day. Here’s what I do. I look at the work given for me in the week and create a little calendar in my head. Now if you are a visual person you can just make one and take time doing that but I’m lazy so I just use my head. Anyways, take your work and divide up into 5 days of the week that you’ll be working on it. So spilt up the work so that you are doing parts of the assignment each day until that day it is due. If it is due earlier in the week like the middle of the week, then count the days until it is due, and split up the work so that you can complete it. I know that everyone thinks that it is a good idea to spend a whole day doing all of your work in one day so that you can play video games and sleep in for the rest of the week. Well guess what, that is a terrible idea. First of all, the schedules and workload are changing every single day!! Sometimes the assignments are switched around and the rules have changed. This is why it is best to just do a little each day until complete because you have time to see if anything needs to be changed. Another thing that can help with productive working is to time yourself. You don't want to spend 1 hour and a half on one class and 2 hours on another. Think of this as regular school and set up a timer for each class. As I am writing this right now for ELA, I have 30 minutes left of my class. Time yourself, I’m telling you, you’ll feel a lot better and way more productive. Another thing that has helped me is to change your area once in a while. If you are sitting on your couch, maybe go sit at the counter after 2 hours. You don’t want to be in the same spot because your bottom will probably hurt and you’ll get tired easier. Get up, take stretch breaks, go for a walk, do anything, but don’t stay in one spot for too long. Also just a friendly reminder, get google hangouts. Teachers abuse that app and it’s so much easier to chat with your teachers and get help. One last thing that has saved me from procrastinating, is putting my phone on do not disturb. It is the best thing that I have ever done. If you have friends who text A LOT, then I highly suggest to dnd the chats or just your whole phone. I know on the first day I didn’t and I was constantly checking my phone. Putting your phone on do not disturb saves you from an hour of procrastination. I know you may not want to miss out but you’ll be getting your work done a lot faster. So follow these tips and I’m sure you’ll be completing your work in no time. Now this next piece of advice I’m going to give you is how to not go insane in a house of a crazy family. Not saying that your house is crazy but mine definitely is and I'm going to tell you how to stay sane through it. If you have the chance of being alone, or don’t share a room with a sibling, take it to your absolute advantage. Now obviously we all love our families and want to spend time with them, but I know for me, if I spend more than 3 hours with my family I might go insane. So if you have your own room or someplace to yourself, USE IT. Another thing that has helped is taking walks and going for runs. I know that I hate to run but sitting in the house all day is much worse to me. If you have the chance and it’s nice out which we have had nice days, take that advantage and go take a walk or run. It’s been nice and sunny out with beautiful spring weather. Go outside, go biking, do whatever, but enjoy the nice weather. Not only can you use that as an excuse to get away from your family but it’s relaxing and refreshing after a long day of work. Another thing that has helped me from my family is taking naps. Now I’m not suggesting to do this all the time because that’s how you mess with your sleep schedule, but I would be lying if I said that it feels great to take a nap after all my work is complete. Now this is advice for people who have siblings. I know for me, all we have been doing is fighting and being annoying with each other. So I’m here to tell you how to avoid a fight with your sibling and eventually physical contact. DO NOT engage in an argument. If it starts to escalate, just leave. That would be the best time to go for a walk. If it’s night time, then go to your room and if you share a room, lock yourself in the bathroom or go hang out with mom and dad. Do whatever you want but avoid your sibling because once one fight starts, it literally never ends. Also lanother piece of advice, not that I personally have done this, is to stop eating all the food in the house. I know we are all bored and there is nothing to do, but eating is not the answer especially when it's a hassle to buy food at this time, do not finish it in one day and let it last. Now I know not everyone does this but I know there are some people out there doing this so this is for you. Use these tips and I’m sure you won’t be having AS MUCH arguments or going insane with the fam! That concludes Dado’s guide to quarantining. If you ever feel bored, just wash your hands, it couldn’t hurt, plus your taking away the germs. Have a fun, healthy, and safe quarantining, and remember to follow these very rules and I see a very bright future of quarantining for you!