Week Two: Different ways to organize your work
Welcome back! This week, we will be digging deeper into the remote week of hybrid learning to see how students organize and complete work, as well as find out how teachers post work and communicate with kids that need clarification.
I wanted to see whether or not kids had a routine they stuck by regularly or not. Sophia Lanzoni, a junior at FHS explained that she has a routine because it, “helps me to remain balanced and study on a week where I don’t have much structure.”
Many students felt the same way, waking up early every day in order to be productive, whether in school or at home.
There are also some students who take advantage of being at home, doing their work as they please.
“I do my work when I feel like it,” said freshman Brayden Tremblay. “I wake up late, with a different schedule every day.”
Based on what people had to say about their remote week routine, each individual approaches it differently, but it seems that having an organized schedule does benefit students’ learning.
After interviewing so many different students, it became clear to me that everyone has their own routine, but also a unique way of completing their work.
For example, Joshua Arruda explained, ¨I do my work by class, so each day I will complete one of my five classes.¨
There are also many students, like ninth grader Olivia Turgeon, who plan their work out daily.
“I like to organize it in my planner because it helps me feel less overwhelmed,” said Olivia.
Other students, like Eric Zhao, have made adjustments to the remote week as they get more used to it
“At first, I did all my work right away, but then I started spacing out day by day,” he said. “It got easier as I spaced it out.”
While everyone is trying to figure out how they learn best, especially now, it is crucial to try different things, and see what works best.
I also wanted to take a look at how teachers post work, and allow students to give feedback about it.
I found that teachers posted work in various ways including posting one assignment per day, or sending it all out at the start of the week. Fairhaven High School is also using a virtual platform known as BUZZ that many students like freshman Sofia Torres shared.
“I don’t like BUZZ because it is not user-friendly,” she said.
It seems that Google Classroom is mainly where teachers post their assignments, and students prefer it over the work provided on BUZZ.
According to Arden Bradshaw, “Most teachers assign the work with a document outlining all of our tasks for the week,” which makes it easier for kids to complete the weekly work.
For the most part, students do like the way their teachers send out the weekly work, but do have preferences. Some students would like it if all work was sent out at the beginning of the week, so they can plan it out all at once. Whereas, others would rather have one assignment from each teacher per day because it’s less overwhelming.
Despite the difference of opinions, it seems that teachers are successfully getting the work out to students. But what happens when students do not understand that work?
Well, I interviewed students asking how they communicate with their teachers.
Some kids simply stated, ¨I don’t.”
Others said they use email or add a private comment on assignments.
Most teachers have been responding to students quickly through emails, which is great to hear because communication is key to learning. Unfortunately, some kids feel that it is hard to communicate effectively with their teachers because they do not have the opportunity to do Zooms or Google meets regularly.
Seeking help purely through messages and emails is no way of learning, but it is good to see that both teachers and students are able to work together from a distance.
Next week, we will take a break from the students perspective, and see what teachers have to say about hybrid learning. Stay tuned.
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