Items

• 2020-10-27

  Senses Throughout the Covid Experience

  I remember the intercom on March 13th telling the students “School will be out for two weeks due to the Coronavirus.” At first, this was awesome, we got time off school with no homework!! But then the break never stopped and school never resumed to what it used to be. Being quarantined went from days, to weeks, to months, and hasn’t stopped yet. We barely finished the school year online and thought we would go back at the start of next year. Oh were we wrong! All we see is the computer screen! We were quarantined for another 3 months and proceeded to do the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year online. Hopefully we get to go back to school next semester. We will be able to talk to one another and get out of the boring home. This virus has blocked us from our homecoming, football season, sports, hanging out with friends, celebrating holidays, socializing at school, and seeing family. Instead, we are on the computer for 5-6 hours a day either in zoom meetings or doing homework. We now can’t touch everything, talk to who we used to, and taste all of the diverse foods we would go out and have. It isn’t healthy! We need to go back to school next semester even if it is hybrid. This pandemic has taken a toll on everyone and we need to get through this together.
• 2020-10-26

  A Short Review of My COVID-19 Experience

  Everything started at my job at my school’s pool, when one of my bosses told me that the district shut down my school. I was a little surprised, but I got back to work, it was off season and the pool wasn’t going to watch itself. The smell of Chlorine and chemicals was slightly comforting, since at least I still had work, which was something to do during these strange times. But over time there was more talk from my job’s higher ups about shutting down the pool, and two weeks after school closed, my job did as well. Now the only thing I could do was lay around my house, listen to the news and my family stuck in our home. Online school starting up was the worst though, having to sit there and listen to teachers yell at us over due dates even though I wasn’t paying attention to what day it was, everything was just a blur. Finally, it was summer, instead of sitting outside and listening to the birds chirping or smelling a nice barbecue, I was stuck inside, with nothing to do. In June, after almost three months, my work returned! Back to Chlorine and Hand Sanitizer, it was the first time I’d seen any of my friends in person, we stayed safe and far away, but it was good to be in the same room as them. And as quickly as Summer came it left, and we were back to school, well digitally back to school. it's much better than earlier this year. But it didn’t help that during the first week of school we got huge fires, it didn’t affect my schoolwork but it did affect my work, I spent two weeks on and off at work, only smelling smoke and seeing the orange sky and red sun. Now things have gotten better, I still work, I still go to school, and I’m a year older than I was before. Hopefully, things will keep getting better.
• 2020-10-26

  Leaving the House After 4 Months of Quarantine

  Leaving the house in this climate has been an event and a half each and every time it happens. You really begin to take it for granted- all those months in quarantine and not seeing the outside world really does do numbers on your perception of what is real and fake, as odd as it sounds. Everything changes when you’re deprived of something for so long. I remember the first time I left the house. It was my family and me- we were leaving to go to my Grandma’s house, I think, and this was four to five months into quarantine. Prior to this, I haven’t been past my backyard for the past half a year. I’ve never been a big outdoorsy person, so there was no reason to really leave my house the entire time. So my family drags us all out to go and see my Grandma, who has been doing somewhat meh recently. We get ready, take showers, the whole shebang. I remember seeing trees again. You’d think that oh, seeing trees is completely normal, it’s something we see on a daily basis. But the difference between seeing them through my bedroom window and in real life was honestly kind of shell shocking. I spent the entire car ride just watching outside the window and absorbing the world back in. It seemed so much greener than before’ I’m not sure if that’s because no one has been outside and that helps the environment, or if it’s just been so long since I saw plants that it almost seemed unreal. The smell, too, oh my god. I forgot how the outdoors kind of vaguely smells like plants all the time depending on where you are, but the area near my grandma's house smelled exactly like flowering trees. My family were all laughing seeing my reactions because it seemed so odd, but honestly, it genuinely shocked me. You don’t realize how much you take for granted until it’s ripped away from you, after all. They’ve been able to leave the house, but I haven’t, so of course I’m going to be super confused and astounded. But yes. Was a weird experience. Trees really did look greener back then and the world seemed so new- it’s weird to think about since it’s not something people think about often or re-evaluate. After all, it’s something that’s meant to melt into the background, since people have more to focus on than trees passing by on the highway or the smell they make.
• 2020-10-26

  Sports? What's That?

  March 13th was the day that everything changed. My social life, school, activities and especially sports, were gone. I remember the last day that we were in school before getting the email that schools were going to be shut down for what we thought was only going to be two weeks, I had open gym for volleyball. I remember me and my team being super excited because we haven't played in moths and we were all excited to get back on the court and to all be together. My team and I all meet after school to get ready for practice and as we were walking to the gym in all of geer that took 20 minutes to put on, out team captain told us that our open gym was canceled. Everyone was in shock and mad at the same time because we all wanted to get back on the court, plus we had already changed and that took a lot of work! After we all said our goodbyes not knowing how long it would be until we saw each other again and even how long until we were able to get back on the court. Finally after months of being away from volleyball and my team we started conditioning. It was so fun to each my team and to get to workout together. We are not sure when we will get back on the court but at least we have conditioning which is a huge step forward.
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  2020-08-13

  The Reality of Traveling During COVID-19

  ere silent and it seemed as if I was living in a ghost town. I exited the car with family who all had their masks on. I could smell the cloth of my mask and see the open building that I always remembered being packed. I remembered the people scattering around trying to make it to their flight on time. But what I was experiencing wasn’t even close to that. The building seemed empty. When I did encounter someone they would look at me and make sure to maintain their distance. As I continued my journey to my boarding gate the restaurants didn’t seem as exciting as they normally did. My mask clogged my sense of smell, as I couldn’t smell the food like I normally could. Eventually I made it to my plane. The plane was filled will barely any people. My family occupied one row and the rest of the people were far from our seats. The entire 3 hour journey to Louisiana was filled with hard breathing with my mask, admiring the scenery and the empty plane. Smelling the humid air and my disappointment that I wasn’t getting my free drink. The entire experience was different and proved to me how Covid-19 is considered a sensory revolution.
• 2020-10-26

  Sensory Memory Changes During COVID-19

  The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly affected our sensory memory. All of the 5 senses have experienced a lot of change during this pandemic. Personally, I found the streets and stores to not be as packed as they used to be. When I go outside, I see most people are wearing masks and staying 6 feet apart from each other. During the pandemic, it has been a lot quieter as well. There is barely any traffic on the freeways or even the sound of cheering from football games and gatherings. The sense of taste also experienced a lot of change. Due to social distancing regulation, restaurants and cafes have been closed or only allowed takeout. Personally, it's been almost 8 months since the last time I went out to eat at a restaurant or get coffee pastries at a local cafe. For smell, California was struggling with fires so for a few weeks and all I was able to smell was smoke. Finally, the sense of touch has been experiencing change. I'm not able to see my relatives and friends. Since I can’t really go outside or visit people during these times, I haven't experienced a hug, high-five, or shaking someone’s hands in a while.
• 2020-10-26

  2020

  August 17, 2020 the first day of school. Years in the past for school i have jumped up excited to meet my new teachers, see my classmates and start sports. This year i felt something different, I was excited I was scared to start this virtual learning journey where my home becomes my school, my bedroom becomes my classroom and my family becomes my classmates. This life we are living is one that will be told for decades to come, so let’s tell it the right way. The very first mandate was to wear a mask, this was to keep others safe of your germs. Wearing a mask limited interaction with people because it was hard to hear them or know how they are feeling because we can’t see facial expressions. The second mandate was a country wide quarantine, two weeks in your home to clean your body of the Coronavirus. Many people didn’t believe or did not want to follow this mandate so they didn’t, so two weeks turned into four months. Not being able to see your friends, family, co-workers, and just the general public was really strange and was hard to get used too, however now as things start to open it is strange and hard to get used to this as well.
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  2020-10-06

  The Media & COVID-19, Lesson Plan

  This curriculum was designed for a junior level US History course. Students are asked to identify a news article that highlights an important aspect of the COVID-19 experience. Students are also asked to write a summary of the article that includes an overview of the article, why they selected the article, the importance of the article, what the article reveals about life during COVID-19, identification of any noticeable bias in the article, and a statement about the responsibility of the media during the pandemic. The curriculum and student work are being submitted to the JOTPY archive to provide insight into the topics that are important to teenagers, as well as the expectations and reality of the media during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also give insight into the vast array of perspectives teenagers living during the COVID-19 pandemic have based on the diversity of their current life experiences.
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  2020-09-07

  American Values Essay, Lesson Plan

  This curriculum was designed for a junior level US History course. Students are asked to identify core American values and to formulate a claim in response to the essential question, "Is America currently living up to its core values?" The curriculum and student essays are being submitted to the JOTPY archive to provide a picture of how teenagers view America as a whole in 2020. They also give insight into the vast array of perspectives teenagers living during the COVID-19 pandemic have based on the diversity of their current life experiences.