Online school was hard for me, really hard. In the spring, I struggled to find motivation to complete my work from home. When I was quarantined in August, I only missed a couple of days and didn’t fall behind at all, but after my second round of quarantine and my first full two weeks gone, my mindset has changed slightly. 

The main difference from the spring to now was the isolation I felt from my classmates. Last time, there was a “we’re all in this together” mindset. No one was positive about what was going on, and we worked together to understand assignments, complete work on time, and stay motivated in general to finish the semester. Even though physically we weren’t together, mentally we became a team dedicated to this cause. 

My second quarantine experience was nothing like this. It was difficult to watch myself fall behind my classmates despite trying to stay caught up. There was no motivation to join online classes when half of the time you can’t read the board or understand what the class was doing. Online school is not a requirement when you are in quarantine, but it’s highly recommended to avoid falling behind. Knowing that the school technically couldn’t require you to do the work led me to not doing the work at all, creating a culture shock effect when I rejoined in-person classes. Not only was I confused on how to do online school, but some teachers also seem confused. I often found myself frustrated when teachers would forget to start the class or leave themselves muted for extended periods of time unknowingly. 

There is no way to receive the same education through a screen that you would receive in a classroom. You miss out on physical copies of worksheets and interactions with other students. Online school is sometimes seen as better than in-person school because you can go at your own pace, in your own home. However, this isn’t really the case. You must rely on teachers to provide you with everything you need, and you must rely on yourself to make sure things get done without constant supervision and reminders from those around you. 

My only advice to other students in quarantine is to communicate. Miss a slide in class? Email the teacher and ask for a screenshot of it. Not sure how to edit a pdf of the homework to add your answers? Email and ask your teacher if you can type it out on a google document instead. Keep in touch with classmates and ask to compare notes. Online school doesn’t have to be impossible. Try and keep a schedule, and keep in touch with others to ensure you are getting the same information and education that your classmates are.