Enlight21

Author: Audrey Kong | Category: Education | Lifestyle | Reflections | Date: 07-19-2020

Before COVID-19 hit, I was attending high school as a sophomore, I was doing various events for my school band, and I was working as an assistant at a Tae-Kwon-Do studio. On a Thursday, I was informed that our school and my work would be temporarily closed due to the coronavirus. Hearing about it, I was thrilled because that meant that I could stay at home and be comfortable, but after a few weeks of virtual learning, I had a different view.

The first week of virtual learning, I could definitely tell that my school was not prepared for the sudden shut down. My teachers were just assigning assignments rather than actually teaching us. My oldest sister, who was a freshman in college, had a whole different experience, academic wise, of where she would attend Zoom calls and actually learn through lectures. Meanwhile, I just had to check Canvas, a communication platform our school uses, to see if I was assigned anything. After a month went by, I was tired of this whole virtual learning because there was just reading to do rather than being in contact with the teacher. It made me feel extra tired and I had no motivation to do the homework. Fortunately, my math teacher who would do Zoom calls with us and that made me feel like I was learning something. In addition, Band was one of the classes that took the most time outside of school. We would have to attend various sports games, do concerts, play at school events, and so on. The next few months were our busiest because we had our spring concert, a trip to DisneyLand, and many more. As expected, all of those events were canceled because of the pandemic. Also, because of COVID-19, I am unable to work. My job includes interacting with children, teaching them the different aspects of Tae-Kwon-Do, therefore, because it involves a lot of interaction, the studio is temporarily closed and I am stuck at home. 

Knowing that the first semester of this year will start off virtual, I would recommend to use the technology that we can access to the fullest. I feel lucky to be a student in this day in age because we have access to such advanced technology. People have created multiple learning platforms, of where we can virtually interact and learn. As a visual learner, it helps to see and listen as to what I am learning. I found that I learned more through my Math class, which used Zoom, compared to my Spanish class. I think that virtual interaction will be important to students because it allows them to be on a set schedule, participation is an option, there is easy communication between the student and the teacher, and many more benefits.

About: Audrey Kong