Adjusting to the new normal… again
The challenges of adjusting back to school
Juniors Karlee Menges and Jared Rich demonstrate the newest additions to the year. These additions are the school provided chromebooks and wearing a mask. “It’s been strange getting used to this new version of school, but I’m glad to be back,” Rich said.
The start of the new school year has just passed. That’s a completely normal experience every August, but there’s something different about this year. We are attending school during a global pandemic. This means that life isn’t quite normal as we would have hoped. Adjusting to these changes can be extremely difficult because many students have adjusted to being home most of the time.
When school was initially closed in March, most students struggled with doing school work at home. This being said, no one knew what the future would hold for the rest of the school year. It was thought that we would come back in a couple of weeks, and everything would be fine. That wasn’t the case.
Students and teachers alike had to completely adjust to the online style of learning. This was hard to do because of the lack of person-to-person instruction and communication. It wasn’t purposefully like this, but no one was prepared for a situation where attending school wasn’t an option.
The irony of the situation is how used students and teachers became to online school. For example, students got used to having more freedom in their schedules. They were given work that reviewed concepts instead of teaching new concepts. It seemed like life was at a stand still.
Despite all of this, life must move on. This means that people had to go back to work and students had to go back to school. The only problem is the lack of normalcy. There are new regulations that everyone has to follow for their own safety. It’s strange to see in an environment that was once familiar.
For example, we must wear masks if we aren’t able to be six feet apart. It can be strange for teachers to be unable to identify people by their faces. Teachers have to rely on students’ eyes. It also makes it hard to gauge a student’s attention with the mask on.
Finally, as we continue this school year, we need to make a conscious effort to make it easier for everyone around us. We can do this by working with all of the changes made to our school. The administration is doing everything that they can do to keep the student, teachers, and staff safe. We could also do this by keeping a bright outlook for the rest of the year. Hopefully, we won’t have to worry about COVID-19 in the spring months.