Changes to School during Covid

Changes to School During Covid-19

By Shaan Patni

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s 1.5 billion students have been affected by school closures. With the COVID-19 pandemic still spreading, many people wonder whether it is safe for students and teachers to return to school. Closing schools entirely isn’t a good idea. Without them, students can miss out on learning important subjects such as math, science, language arts and more. Many in some areas may miss out on breakfast and lunch because they rely on schools to provide it for them . This is still an arguable problem even with the school year just starting.

While other schools have many issues, Woodmere Middle School has made specific changes in order to create a successful learning environment for all students, whether learning in person or at home. Although teachers have worked tirelessly for a positive and robust school year. Some changes made as a result of Cofi-19 have begun to take a big toll on student-teacher communication and proper learning as a result of technology complications.

Firstly, students have the option to decide whether to go full in person, hybrid or entirely online. While many students wanted to go fully online, due to safety issues, teachers now have to worry about setting up and speaking directly to students on a Google Meet and a classroom which creates the problem of communication issues. In the classroom, plexi glasses make it difficult to hear the teacher or speaker because it feels like you are boarded up in a soundproof room. It is even harder to hear if you are in the back of the classroom because there are more peers in front of you and you can barely see the teacher. Communication issues are even harder online because the teacher is not talking into the microphone, because the teacher is speaking to the students in the class. As a result, students online don't know where to access assignments or, cannot hear important information such as homework and tests.

Secondly, the Covid-19 pandemic has caused students to get distracted during school hours. Due to the fact that most if not all learning is accessed on the computer, students have many options to explore the Internet when and when not directed. Even though teachers have DyKnow, a website to monitor students behavior on the computer, students neglect this and go on YouTube or play games. This is important and should be openly discussed because this action can negatively affect classwork participation and overall learning.

Lastly, there are many technological complications. One problem is that many Chromebooks cannot remain charged throughout the entire school day. The Chromebooks are used at all times throughout the day which drains out the battery. Another issue is work not saving on the Chromebook. This should be addressed properly because even if some students have done their classwork or homework, sometimes platforms such as Kami, do not save or submit properly. As a result, students lose points even though they have done the work.

Overall, while there are many great changes to Woodmere Middle School this year. Because of the global pandemic, it is very difficult to fix the issues, however, students and teachers have worked tirelessly to make learning successful. While this pandemic is doubling, the community of Woodmere Middle School is still dedicated to a successful school year.