Your alarm goes off at eight a.m. sharp, you wake up and look at the time, groaning at the prospect of having another dreaded distance learning day. You check your phone, as you always do, and see that your friends are excited because it is an asynchronous day. God bless, you think as you sigh and cuddle further into your pillows. Your phone vibrates once again: your friends text you once more reminding you to not forget that one of the teachers has assigned an mandatory Zoom meeting today. The feeling of comfort and relief is replaced by one of dread as you realize that despite today being a so-called “asynchronous day,” isn’t really asynchronous at all. With heaviness dragging at your feet, you walk to the bathroom and get ready (which is basically just putting on a school shirt and some comfortable pajama bottoms.) You look into the mirror and the sleepiness is still hanging on your face, but you shrug because the quality of your web camera isn’t even that good for the teacher to notice how you're dying to go back to bed.
“If you feel like this, you’re not alone at all.”
It’s finally time to sit on your desk and try to learn through the computer screen. The Zoom meeting begins and you greet your teacher. You immediately mute yourself, wondering if you’re ever going to speak again throughout this meeting. It’s nine in the morning and thankfully the classes only last an hour. You smile to yourself thinking that as soon as this is over you can go back to sleep. The teacher starts explaining a new concept as you try to fight the urge of checking your phone, which has been lighting up for the past five minutes. You wonder what your friends are talking about this early in the morning as you try to concentrate on the lesson. You feel a constant battle going on in your head: Should I answer or should I pay attention? The battle is long and arduous as your hand hovers over your phone trying to resist the temptation of checking on it. In the end, temptation wins, you pick up your phone and scroll through the messages, occasionally laughing at a random comment or picture sent by your friends. Your scrolling is immediately interrupted by your teacher saying goodbye, and you sit confused as you realize that you just missed half of the class. You close the meeting tab and sigh as you pick up your phone once again and ask your peers what the assignment is.
If you feel like this, you’re not alone at all. I, personally, go through the same ordeal most mornings. In fact, many students share similar thoughts. A few days ago, a survey was sent to AST high school students, where they were asked what they liked and disliked most about distance learning. As I scrolled through what students disliked, essays and paragraphs were written about all the complications and complaints they had related to distance learning. When I scrolled through what students liked, small sentences and one word phrases plagued the answer column. As I read each one individually, I came to the conclusion that students don't enjoy much about distance learning, especially as high school students since it’s very stressful.
Many of the students complained that the deadlines for assignments are due extremely early in the afternoon, and they struggle to complete assignments on time due to the small time frames given. Even though we are taking virtual classes, many of us are still attending clubs or college-related activities. To many, it isn’t fun sitting all day in the same seat, completing assignment after assignment until your eyes become irritated and your head starts to hurt. After sitting over five hours on the same chair, pain blossoms on your butt, and it’s extremely annoying and uncomfortable. However, not everything is that bad for an AST high school student. Many students actually like that the lunchtime is longer, the classes are shorter, and how many can stay in bed all day if they are sneaky enough. Although the perks don’t outweigh the cons, it is still something positive to think about as you look at the seven assignments due at six in the afternoon.
So, if you’re reading this while seven assignments are pending on your Schoology page, it’s okay. We're all trying our best to survive this strange and weird school year, so good luck and don’t give up!