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Collected Item: “6 hours of Zoom for 1st grade, it's going swell (or like 💩)”

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6 hours of Zoom for 1st grade, it's going swell (or like 💩)

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Screenshot

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

Distance learning started for my 1st grader. After seeing the schedule, I could tell it was going to be rough. She’s supposed to be in class just under 6 hours a day. 6 hours on Zoom M-F. I couldn’t handle that as an adult, so why would I expect a 6yo to do it? The district handed out Chromebooks, which are fun for the 6yo because you can touch the screen or click the track pad, but ultimately the processors are too slow. It took so long to load Google classroom that I gave her my laptop, even though I really needed it to get my own work done.

Most of the day was spent listening and trying to get the technology to work. If other students are loud or disruptive on Zoom it’s a lot harder to ignore them because they can directly compete with the teacher if they’re unmuted on the screen.

The online learning program crashed for over an hour, so she sat and colored while we waited to reconnect. Maya drew this picture of our dog, yes pooping on a flower, but whatever. We resorted to bathroom humor to make light of the moment.

The whole time I felt so stressed because the first day was uncomfortable and a bit boring. By the end of the afternoon she was supposed to transition into “special areas.” Today was music, but she didn’t want to stay in class. She was sick of learning on the computer. I’ll also say that the music teacher was a bit obnoxious asking for introductions and really digging in deep to people’s summer activities. I was over it at that point too. I really don’t care if a classmate is at a cabin, why does she need to sit there and listen to all of this? It was already a long day, and she wanted to quit. I logged her out of Zoom early and we’ll try again tomorrow.

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your story. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

first grade, distance learning, Google classroom, technology, frustration

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Katy Kole de Peralta

Give this story a date.

2020-08-17
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