Items

• 
  2024-05-10

  Two weeks turns into months

  Hearing of this so-called COVID-19 virus towards the beginning of my junior year of High School sounded a little suspicious. It was as if I was watching a movie about an apocalypse. Where everyone rushes to the supermarkets and grabs everything they can. Disinfecting every item as we bring it back into our house. Making sure we wear masks. The news of hearing that two weeks off of school to any student sounds amazing. Although I didn't expect it to turn into months. Not being able to see any of my friends or teachers. Learning everything online has changed the way schools teach to this day. It went from "Yes two weeks off" to "Where did time go?". As time passed going back into school was an adjustment as well. Only kids with the same starting last names had to go to school one day while the other half had to another day. Still, wearing masks doing COVID check-ups before entering the school as well as even checking our temperature as we walk in. Overall looking back I've noticed how hard Covid hit globally. People had to isolate for long periods of time, making sure family members and friends were okay. It was overall a tough time, but we can take a lot from this pandemic to use in future uses.
• 2020-04-01

  Navigating the Pandemic

  Covid-19 was life changing not just for me but for the rest of the world. Finding out that school was going to closed for a day, to two weeks, to months and then suddenly spending my senior year of highschool through zoom. At first, like every student I was excited that school was going to be off for a few days but who would have known what we were in store for. During this time, I was taking all classes through zoom, just like every other student, and the only thing that mentally got me through this pandemic was my PGC family. PGC is known as Peer Group Connection in my high school, Thomas A. Edison CTE. This class was operated by the seniors who had this own group with another partner to talk to freshman, sophomore, and juniors. This class was mainly about encouraging and helping one another as well as doing activities. Although, the pandemic had a significant impact on this class, we were only meeting through zoom but overall we were all eachother's support system. We talked about any and everything with our kids, the good and the bad. This helped us tremendously with our emotions, as well as still having fun through such a difficult time period.
• 2020-06-12

  A missed out senior year.

  When it came to finally reaching my prime year, senior year in high school, I was nothing but excited for finally having that prom experience, the one I've seen in movies for years and the thing that I hyped up in my mind with my now EX ex-girlfriend. Except thanks to covid happening, all of that was shut down, completely shut off from happening. So instead of having prom, I had nothing. Which, to many people would have been seen as stupid but in high school I would've done anything to have something like that. An experience to dress up for a good cause and see people in dresses. Except since it didn't happen thanks to covid, I have a sort of missing feeling when it comes to high school. Everyone talks about prom and how amazing it was, and now I cant relate to it at all since I never experienced it. Probably the main reason why i ahte talking to people .
• 2024-04-09

  My Horrible experience

  Whenever COVID first started I didn't think about I thought it was nothing I remember when we got two weeks off of school I was excited about it then they told us we wouldn't be going back and we had to do work online with no teacher help it was a horrible experience I passed but my grades weren't that great and I got really lazy and started to gain a lot of weight didn't go outside for a while and I couldn't play football than when 9th grade started it was a weird experience going online and then going to school for two or three days out the week and have to stay 6 feet from everyone it was a hard experience I played football but it was 4 or 5 games, not a full season and we had to wear a mask it was bad. COVID took a lot from me during my freshman year of high school and other things that were important to me.
• 2020-08-18

  life in camera

  When COVID-19 first started I was in 8th grade. I didn't really understand what Covid really was or how serious it was. I went in feeling kind of okay about it all and staying at home. Once high school started things went downhill for me mentally. I did pretty well in school. I did all my work and turned it in on time and got good grades, but I struggled a lot mentally with myself and socializing with others. During that time being at home did help me to get closer to my mom, we would go walking throughout the day and that helped me a lot to start losing weight a lot more. However, I started to become depressed and struggled with my outward appearance a lot. Once we started going back to school in person, I didnt know ow how to act, I just felt ugly and quiet. I used to be such an outgoing person and I would talk to almost everyone. Now I don't like being in public and around others. I have very bad social anxiety and overthink a lot about what people think of me. I personally never got Covid-19 so I don't know how that can affect someone physically and I hope I never do. I watched those around me get it and the way that they struggled and even saw a few of them die. It was a really depressing time, to watch your loved ones around you hurt and struggle and eventually give up, and you're never able to see them again. Going back to school in person did help me a lot. Socializing with people and seeing my friends that I hadn't seen in so long was what really helped me to get out of my shell and help me love myself more.
• 2020-03-14

  Leah's experience with Covid

  The objective of this story is my personal experience with Covid 19 and the shutting down of the world around us due to the health affects. At the beginning of the Covid 19 in 2020 where all schools were beginning to mandate the wearing of surgical masks to stop the spreading of the newly found disease, Personally I didn't expect this disease would shut down what we once knew as normal. In the early days of the pandemic my family was the ones who were reluctant to wear the masks, as we did not realize the danger that is to come. Only a few weeks had gone by and the schools and stores were beginning to shut down and everyone had begun to learn the severity of this pandemic. Doctors were turning away patients who were suffering with health issues caused by outside sources other than the pandemic, causing other lives to decline. As a middle school student watching the depletion of the world right before my eyes, I was afraid of what may come in the following years. I was afraid of the pandemic and what negative affects that it may bring to me and my older family members. I was also afraid of the new norm that I now had to get used to along with the remote learning and not being to hangout with my friends and family as I once did.
• 2020-03-11

  The Effect COVID-19 Had on me.

  I was a freshman in high school when we had the first COVID outbreak. I remember when my mom had to explain to me what was going on. It happened so fast I was just a confused and scared kid. Then I found out we had to go online. I missed a big part of my freshman and sophomore year of high school because of COVID. I lost contact with a lot of my friends. It was a very rough time not just for me, but also my parents. It was a very big change. I want to say the time sucked, but I try to think of the positives that came out of it. By one being I got a lot closer with my family. We were always close, but through COVID we only had each other. So, I try to think of the positives that happened throughout the pandemic rather get sad and think of all the things I have missed out on.
• 
  2020

  Life of a Trini during the Covid 19 Pandemic

  My story talks about difficulty I experienced during the pandemic
• 
  2022-06-03

  First Student Trip After COVID-19 Pandemic Began

  I have led a student global travel trip for the last 10 years at my school. Because of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, our trip to Australia and New Zealand was delayed/cancelled until 2021 in hopes of COVID being over by then. I had 27 students have to postpone traveling on this trip. In 2021, we came across the same restrictions, and our trip was cancelled again. As we we were planning our 2022 trip, New Zealand still had quarantine rules that would have kept us in the hotel for a week before we would get to go anywhere or do anything. Due to this, we changed our trip to one to France, Switzerland, Germany, and Austria. My students wanted to travel again, but did not know what to expect. There were still masking rules in place in a lot of the places we visited, and everyone had to take a mandatory COVID-19 test to be able to leave Europe at the end of the trip and get back into the United States. This was the scariest part because if your test revealed you were positive for COVID, you were required to stay in the country until you were negative. Everyone on the trip dreaded the day of the test because we had heard so many stories about other schools on different trips that had students who had failed the test. The trip was extremely important to me because it represented these students being able to fully restart their lives and finally be able to be kids again. This is a picture of me from the Louvre waiting my turn to see the Mona Lisa. It was taken immediately after I took a picture of all my students in front of the painting. I can see the happiness in my eyes again, getting to see students do something they love to do.
• 
  2022-03

  Teaching in Korea

  During the height of the pandemic I began to think deeply about what i wanted to do if things ever got "Back to normal." I'd spent my entire life in San Jose California, and decided I wanted to get out and do something different. In early 2021 I went through the process of becoming certified to teach English abroad. I was eventually hired by an English academy in South Korea for a one year contract in the fall of 2021. I enjoyed it so much I ended up re-upping for another year. When I arrived I had to quarantine for one week, and my school director (essentially a principal) picked me up from my quarantine facility and brought me to my apartment, paid for by the school as part of my contract. It was an exciting adventure for me slowly adapting to a new culture and learning to navigate the country of South Korea. The attitude towards COVID was much more serious than in the U.S. The outdoor mask mandate was in force until Spring of 2022, and the indoor mandate was not lifted until January of 2023. Even coming from California, one of the U.S. states with stricter restrictions, it was an adjustment. It certainly wasn't a political issue here in South Korea. I can only speak very rudimentary Korean, but from what I could tell, nobody seemed to have a problem following government health advice. It was illuminating to see how different countries citizens can have radically different views to a crisis based on culture, beliefs, values and attitudes towards Science. Many people still choose to wear masks in public places now in the Summer of 2023. Given the tensions with the North, there is a heavy U.S. military presence in South Korea, which made it easier to connect with other English speakers and get a taste of home near the military bases. I even met my lovely partner here, a space force member stationed in the same city I teach and live in. Being shut in is what drove me to get out of my comfort zone and I'm truly glad for my experience over the past two years in Korea. I've met friends from different countries, experienced aspects of Korean culture that I love, and also have had my privilege checked by aspects of living in Korea that I'm not as fond of. I am excited to go back home this fall, but I hope to carry all I've learned about culture and life in Korea with me. In a strange way, I'm glad that at least the pandemic made me think about what I wanted to do and see once I had the freedom to explore, and I can't say enough how grateful I am for the travel I've been able to do.
• 
  04/16/2020

  Mikayla Marshall Oral History, 2020/04/16

• 
  04/20/2020

  Jeff Lewis Oral History, 2020/04/20

• 
  2021-09-30

  Masking through the pandemic

  I have submitted this picture to show what it was like just to be at school during the pandemic. This is a picture of my friend and I in band class. We had to wear masks, and even had special musician masks we had to wear while playing our instruments. This was a very hard time, especially with it being my senior year of high school. I just wanted things to be normal again.
• 
  2023-05-15

  What we need to learn from Covid

  This is based off of what I have seen and heard throughout the pandemic. I have decided to post this because we need more awareness of the issues in education.
• 
  2023-05-15

  Analysis of "The School Where the Pandemic Never Ended"

  Analyzing a New York Times article entitled, "The School Where the Pandemic Never Ended" through the lens of Daniel Defoe and Thomas Paine
• 2020-03-14

  My Sedentary Lifestyle Prepared me for What Came

  In the year of the pandemic I was not aware of everything that was occurring all around me, I did not watch the news; however, I did get news updates on my phone and people would tell me what was going on. I was working as a personal attendant at an elementary school when covid began, and I did not feel the effects that covid 19 has been changing society, the community that I lived in, and in my life until the lockdown began where everyone had to stay inside their houses. Before the lockdown began I was living a sedentary lifestyle where I would spend the whole day inside the house on my phone or watching TV, so staying in my house was an everyday thing for me and many of my family members and friends did not live near me, so I would always call them; however, I have heard about a couple of family members who I have grown up with mention to me that they had covid and before I returned to work after the lockdown was over my mother tested positive for covid, so this is when covid 19 was hitting hard to me because many people that I was close to were getting sick, when my mother was sick I began to worry whether I had covid 19, because I fell ill before her, however, I tested negative for covid 19 which I admit was a huge relief for me, but I was worried about my mothers well being, until she felt better. In news updates I heard about a lot of people who lost their jobs, and places that were shut down, because of the pandemic, so I felt fortunate to still have employment at the elementary school even if my hours were shorter than before because of the changed school hours, but I still felt fortunate that I still had employment and that none of my friends or family lost their lives to covid 19. When I first heard about the lockdown it was when I realized how truly serious the situation was, many people had trouble staying inside their houses during the lockdown; however, I always stayed inside on my phone, playing video games, and watching TV so remaining in my house was never such an issue for me since this was part of my everyday life so my sedentary lifestyle is what prepared me and got me through the lockdown during covid 19.
• 
  12/12/2021

  Anna Shearer Oral History, 2021/12/12

  Anna Shearer was born in Cottage Grove, Minnesota, and recently moved back to the area for her student teaching placement. In this interview, Anna explains the impact COVID-19 has had on her college experiences, student learning abilities, accommodating parents, and her personal struggles from the pandemic. Anna spends a large portion of the interview discussing the direct impact COVID-19 has had on students. She uses her fourth-grade placement class to talk about their struggle with handwriting, basic social skills, and general anxiety. As a recent college graduate from Winona State University, Anna stays optimistic and hopeful for employment within the Cottage Grove area and even feels comfortable teaching remotely online.
• 
  11/26/2021

  Betsy Stangel Oral History, 2021/11/26

  Betsy Stangel continuously faces difficult challenges in her everyday job as a math teacher at Wausau East Highschool. But since the COVID-19 pandemic Betsy, in her later years of teaching, has had to adapt and mold not only her styles of teaching but many of her teaching standards to reach many of her students and their struggles with the virus. Betsy constantly must find new methods of interacting and engaging her class along with dealing with pressure from other school district staff. In addition, the new lazy “COVID lifestyle” that fellow teachers have been encompassing within students and their assignments could be in correlation to parents, guardians, and a vast majority of the American population’s tone towards returning back to work. This could explain why education has been such a rough adjustment back to the original five-day-a-week class schedule.
• 
  12/06/2021

  Jodi King Oral History, 2021/12/06

  Jodi King is an eighth-grade math teacher and district mentor coach in the Kimberly area school district. Jodi was born and raised in the Kimberly area and discusses how the pandemic has affected her, her family, her students, and her coworkers. She shares her experiences throughout the pandemic, from the transition to online learning to adjusting to teaching in person during the age of the COVID-19 pandemic. Jodi also touches on some of the politics that were brought into educational discussions, such as mask mandates and vaccination status, as well as social justice issues that affect the way she teaches in her classroom today.
• 
  2020-03-25

  Teaching in the "New Normal"

  My friend John is a high school math and physics teacher on Staten Island. On March 25, 2020 he sent me photo of his laptop screen. Schools had been closed for about ten days and he, like many other teachers across the state, had to improvise how to continue educating in this radically new reality. He wrote, “Proud of myself today. I figured out how to record myself and my notes.” I compared it to the setup of Governor Cuomo’s daily press conferences which were a unifying and relied-upon source of information in those early days of the pandemic. When I asked him to reflect on that lesson he said: “That early in the pandemic I was lucky I was good with tech so I immediately started recording lessons for students to watch asynchronously. In my mind it was the best way to keep continuity. (I would bet at that time I thought we would be back in school before the end of the year). That lesson in particular is very visual (the right hand rule) so I wanted to figure out how to have notes on the screen and myself to be able to show how to use the right hand rule. I tried to do as closely, as I could, what I would have done in class. I tried to have the students continue hearing from me. The videos were posted so students could learn asynchronously. I did host some live sessions where they could ask questions on anything they learned. We could not mandate synchronous learning because families could have multiple students sharing a computer or even parents who now needed to work remotely, etc. That policy changed in Sept. 2020 when we gave out laptops so we could say you have your own meet at your normal class time.”
• 
  2020-05-12

  The Fireside Video Chat

  Brooklyn high School of the Arts: "Our students are the best storytellers! Tune in this week to see "COVID-19 Fireside Chats". Stories from quarantine from Mr. Savage's US History class! Tonight, First Period! See the full video in the link below. You won't regret it!"
• 2020-03-06

  The Two Week Break

  My Junior year at Midwood High School took an expected turn as a national emergency was declared on March 13, 2020. I remember watching the news with my mother, excited to see I would have two weeks off from school. My mother and I would both be home as all non-essential businesses moved to remote or closed down indefinitely. I immediately messaged my friends about the two week break, planning to play video games all day long. We spent those two weeks staying up late as if it was an extended spring break. Little did I know that those two weeks would turn into months of isolation, living in fear of going into the outside world. I feared for my father as he was a registered nurse at Woodhull Hospital. Not only did he have to go outside everyday for work, but he would be face to face with patients, many sick and dying from this new virus that took the world by surprise. There was no vaccine for almost an entire year, so all he could rely on were masks, gloves, face shields and hair nets. My father and many other medical workers were needed overtime to deal with the immense amount of patients coming in everyday. As he came home from work my mother would bring his clothes and leave them by our front door. I worried for him at work as I feared he could get this virus that we were still learning about. Thankfully he never got sick with Covid-19 during the early pandemic, and with the new vaccines in development many of our fears were put to rest. After almost two months of not having any classes we were introduced to remote learning through zoom and google classroom. It was a very new experience for my fellow classmates and I, but it was nice not having to leave your bed to go to class for a while. However that relief of not waking up early to go to class turned into yearning to go to school and seeing my friends. Waking up every morning to see a screen filled with blank profile pictures with names made me feel very lonesome. I would never imagine missing going to school, but it was something that I had taken for granted. In my senior year of high school there was the option for hybrid learning which I was very excited about, but I'd later find out that there would only be rows of desks set up in my school gyms we used for physical education. It wouldn't be the everyday schedule of switching classes and seeing my friends in the hallways and library. I ended up doing another year of remote learning which was very draining but I managed to do well in all my classes with nothing else to do. Unfortunately I did not have a prom or senior trip, but I was very lucky to have an in person graduation and see all of the people I once saw everyday again. This story of the pandemic is very significant to me as it taught me to never take things for granted as everything can change in a moments notice. The things I'd known as my everyday routine of school and hanging out became a distant memory for a long time until numbers and fears of the virus fell. Being able to go to campus now and have a regular life again is something I will now cherish forever. It is still somewhat hard to socialize again after being isolated for so long, but I have made some friends along the way and I look forward to all the memories that await me in the future.
• 2020-03-13

  In the Blink of An Eye

  Maybe if quarantine lasts three weeks, we’ll have spring break before we go back to class, I wistfully think to myself. It’s already March 13th of 2020, but the air is still nippy and my mom still makes me wear that atrocious parka. She’s been hearing all these reports about the coronavirus, and I think it’s releasing her inner germaphobe. My school day finishes off like any other, except I have to stay behind for AP Biology review, like who has review two months before an exam? Following an hour full of practice problems, workbooks, and texting my friends under my desk, it’s finally time to go home. The talk of the school is if Xaverian plans on closing for quarantine, following the footsteps of nearly every other Catholic school in the city. But I don’t even take two steps out of my desk before my iPad pings with an email. One by one, we all find out that Xaverian will be closed for the foreseeable future, and that online learning will commence on Monday. I picture using this new interface, Zoom, for class. A feeling of exhilaration grows in my chest. I can already picture it: no uniforms, and no restrictions—just a newfound capacity for freedom. Our group parades towards the lockers, gossiping while packing up our books and putting on our coats. The moment doesn’t feel real; it feels like I’m floating, suspended in the joyful innocence of being a high school senior. With our navy and khaki skirts swishing around our legs, knees exposed to the frigid air, my three friends and I begin the trek home through Bay Ridge, blissfully ignorant to the fact that it would be the very last time we ever put those uniforms back on, or that it would be three months before we saw each other next. How naïve we were walking home that day, discussing how fun and convenient online learning would be. We chat about prom dress shopping, boys, and how funny it would be to take AP exams online—not realizing that prom would be canceled, and that we would take those exams online. It was my last day of normal, the last day before everything changed for good. Three months later, I graduated high school from my porch, wistfully smiling as I was handed a trophy for becoming the Salutatorian of Xaverian High School’s Class of 2020. The following week in June, I stand on those same steps in funeral clothes, wondering how everything changed in the blink of an eye. Not even seven days after graduation, my grandma passes away alone at Staten Island University Hospital, unable to be accompanied by her family because of COVID-19. It comes out of the blue; she feels fatigued and lethargic, but refuses to get medical attention until the very last moment because of possible exposure to the virus. By the time she arrives at the hospital, they admit her in stable condition, but she never makes it through the night. As of June 20th, 2020, 176,066 Americans are dead from the coronavirus. My grandma didn’t have it, but I can’t help counting her as the 176,067th life taken away by this disease. Because of COVID-19, she skipped her doctor’s appointments, and lived in complete isolation to avoid contracting the virus. Yet in the end, it is the virus that indirectly takes her away, preventing any of her loved ones from being present in her final moments. Nearly three years later since that last day of high school, on February 21st, 2023, I can reflect on how much my life has changed. COVID-19 went on to rob me of my first two years at Brooklyn College–I spent them cooped up in my bedroom on Zoom, not meeting my newfound friends until my junior year of college. COVID-19 influenced me in my choice to be a Health and Nutrition Science major, as I hope to learn more about preventing disease and use my knowledge to make me a better physician in the future. Millions have now died from COVID-19, and my version of “normal” has forever changed. Three years ago, the future seemed bleak and dire. I still wear a mask on the train, but now I see hope in the future because of our vaccine development and how normalized it’s become to talk about public health. I can only hope that as time goes on, humanity works together to regain a sense of normalcy.
• 
  2023-01-29

  Travelling Post-Pandemic: Reflections

  Deciding whether or not to travel post-pandemic has been weighing on me emotionally. Here, I identify reasons I should vs should not travel, as well as where I would go and why.
• 
  2020-07-06

  Mask or shield, Ms. Rachael?

  I have been a theatre educator for almost 10 years, in particular, children's theatre. I have seen, experienced, and done all that there can be done in a field such as this. Before the official lockdown, we were in the middle of rehearsing 5 different productions. Then, the world shut down and everything stopped. Once it was finally deemed "safe" to be back around one another, rehearsals started again and picked up where we left off. The kids were now older, they had memorized this script forward and back while being stuck at home, and they were eager to get back to work and finish their show. We social distanced, always fever checked, washed hands around the clock, and packed every safety measure we could. Before they begun to sing, they asked me which would be okay to use - the mask or their shield. I took this photo at the end of their dance, when the boundaries of social distancing did not apply. I remember when they leaned in to one another, hovering over someone else, I audibly gasped because I had not seen them that close together in so long. This photo will always remind me of how nervous I was to transition back to post lockdown.
• 2020-03-06

  March of 2020

  March of 2020 is one of the most memorable dates in my life. I was a junior in high school, and news of COVID-19 spreading throughout the United States was increasingly growing. I remember being on a bus with people who went to my high school after our school's girls basketball team played a game a couple hours away from where our school was. Our team lost in a close regional finals game, so the ride back home was somewhat gloomy. I remember people behind me talking about this new virus, now COVID-19, and I heard them say, "I hope it doesn't come to Ohio." This moment is engrained in my mind because just a couple weeks later, the whole world went into lockdown, and I missed out on the rest of my junior year of high school. It is somewhat weird to think about how back in the earlier days of the pandemic, everyone was confused and worried about what COVID-19 was, and now, it is just a normal aspect of our lives today.
• 
  2021-02-06

  Model UN in the time of a Pandemic

  I uploaded a screenshot of my Model UN conference that had to be conducted over Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a normal year, a Model UN conference would take place at a large event space, usually a university or a hotel. Model UN teams from high schools across the globe participate in the conferences that my school attends. Unfortunately, I did not get to have this unique experience during the pandemic year. Instead, my school took part in an online form of the conference via zoom and discord, through Boston University. Although it was not the same, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to meet plenty of interesting people from all over the world! This screenshot shows the "bloc" (or alliance) that I had formed with students representing countries such as Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia. I can be seen in the middle box on the right, representing the nation of Afghanistan!
• 
  2022-06-16

  Teenager Covid experience

  Wanted to share how pandemic effected myself and my family
• 
  2022-05-30

  New guidelines for face masks in Japan

  Japan, as of May 30th, 2022, is relaxing the face mask guidelines. For the most part, masks do not need to be worn outdoors except when the elderly are in close quarters to other people. Indoors, masks are still required indoors except in the case of when someone is in little to no conversation, which the article shows in a chart. The chart's example states walking around museums and libraries where there is little to no conversation. One of the reasons for why Japan is relaxing face masks is because summer is approaching and the temperature will rise. There are fears about face masks causing heatstroke. In Japan, temperatures can range from 70-90 degrees F, but the summers are hot and humid too. So, it makes sense to relax the restrictions, especially in the outdoors.
• 
  2022-01-13

  Addressing Trauma from COVID-19 on Students and Teachers

  COVID-19 has had a huge impact on both students and teachers. Not only has there been learning gaps, but there has also been an impact on the social and emotional well-being of teachers and students. Many experts now say that these issues need to be addressed before focusing more on academics.
• 
  2022-02-01

  More than Half of Teachers Looking to Quit Due to COVID

  According to a poll given by the National Education Association, 55% of teachers who participated feel burned out enough from COVID-19 to quit. Some of the reasons that COVID-19 has caused additional stress for teachers is due to student behavior, additional responsibilities, and longer hours.
• 
  2022-05-28

  My parents worry about the psychological implications of our masks

  This is an Instagram post by tat2luvgirl37. This is a political comic referencing both school shootings and mask wearing. The comic artist is trying to create irony where the parents of one of the kids seems to worry more about mask wearing rather than gun protection. The mask versus no-mask camp is highly partisan, with the no-maskers typically being Republican in the United States, and the pro-maskers being Democrat. Additionally, the Republican party is overall viewed as being more-pro gun, which some critics say is the reason why mass shootings happen more often. As we can see by the #voteblue used by the person that reposted this comic, it is very politically charged and meant to be criticism against those that are pro-gun and anti-mask.
• 
  2020-12-08

  Teaching Middle and High School Virtually in the Pandemic

  I taught both middle and high school during the pandemic, which required virtual learning. I lived with a roommate and both of us couldn’t teach at the same time in the same room, so I taught exclusively from the floor of my walk-in closet. I sat on the floor of that 5’x3’ closet every work day for 9 months. The carpet was scratchy and my legs would often fall asleep from sitting in one place too long. I often woke up just before class started at 7:30AM and was groggy. Many of us ate breakfast during first period. The thing that bothered me most however was the silence. The only sound of class was me, talking. My lecture, my out loud readings for accommodated students, and my replies to students typing in the chat were the only things I heard for 5-6 hours of the day. There were none of the usually noises I associate with my job: idle chatter from every corner of the room, tapping of pencils, the pencil sharpener, a student blowing their nose, clicking of pens, hoody zippers, crinkling paper, students moving around in their chairs, chip bags opening, metal water bottles falling on the floor and a student yelling “foul” afterwards, occasional shouting, crying, and groaning. Students very rarely, if ever, turned on their cameras or mics to talk to me. I surely was isolated more than the average remote worker; yes, I talked all day, but it felt like it was talking to no one. I don’t have much tangible evidence to show from the pandemic. Frankly, I didn’t do anything noteworthy of documenting. The three pictures attached are from the beginning of the pandemic, around December 2020. Google Meets hadn’t quite caught up to some of their pitfalls technologically and teachers had to “kick out” each student manually, and when 7-10 of your students are AWOL, it can get tedious. I started to make up dumb games and sing songs to entertain myself, please enjoy my new line to the Oompa Loompa song. You can see that all the students are just icons—no faces, no voices. For reference, I have attached two videos of the end of the school year from before the pandemic. You can hear how loud the classroom is with all the students talking to each other, or playing games and dancing to music. After seeing these small clips, you can understand just how soul-destroying it was to teach to a bunch of digital circles who made no noise.
• 
  2022-05-21

  Arizona governor OK’s ban on school COVID-19 vaccines

  This is a news story from Fox 10 News by Bob Christie. Governor Doug Ducey has recently signed legislation that would prevent state health officials from adding COVID-19 vaccines to list of required school vaccines. This legislation was done by the GOP to prevent government overreach.
• 
  2022-05-20

  Online School Problems

  Having such a difficult school year before the pandemic hit, I initially couldn’t be more excited for this break from those all nighters. After getting the opportunity to recharge for a few weeks, finishing the school year was relatively easy. Summer flew by, and I soon realized that my entire junior year would be online as well. I quickly found the homogeneity to be unavoidable; I could sleep and attend school without moving more than a few feet. Each day was the same, a mechanical routine of jumping from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting. Countless students would log into these meetings for roll call, and simply tilt the camera at the ceiling fan as they went out with friends or took a nap. It was easy to think this situation was just an obstacle to get past, another building block for the vision I had put in place for the years after high school. For me, this vision was about college, building knowledge towards my future career, and compiling a worthy resume. However, there was no reason I couldn't give value to this time period, to give meaning to each day such that they didn’t all blend together. From the daily differences in curriculum to the unique interactions of each period, I found these minute contrasts to be more significant. Realizing the importance of being mindful, even when little to no dynamic quality existed, allowed me to continue furthering my studies and interests. Looking back now, during a time when I have gotten accepted to one of the best schools I could’ve ever asked for, I think about how difficult that year and a half was for me, and how much harder the situation was for many other individuals. Again, the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of mindfulness. Whether it be a triumph or a tragedy, these life events should not be skimmed over like a mountain or trough to pass through. They are all lessons in some form, pieces of knowledge that should be taken with thought.
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  2022-05-20

  Online School Problems

  Having such a difficult school year before the pandemic hit, I initially couldn’t be more excited for this break from those all nighters. After getting the opportunity to recharge for a few weeks, finishing the school year was relatively easy. Summer flew by, and I soon realized that my entire junior year would be online as well. I quickly found the homogeneity to be unavoidable; I could sleep and attend school without moving more than a few feet. Each day was the same, a mechanical routine of jumping from Zoom meeting to Zoom meeting. Countless students would log into these meetings for roll call, and simply tilt the camera at the ceiling fan as they went out with friends or took a nap. It was easy to think this situation was just an obstacle to get past, another building block for the vision I had put in place for the years after high school. For me, this vision was about college, building knowledge towards my future career, and compiling a worthy resume. However, there was no reason I couldn't give value to this time period, to give meaning to each day such that they didn’t all blend together. From the daily differences in curriculum to the unique interactions of each period, I found these minute contrasts to be more significant. Realizing the importance of being mindful, even when little to no dynamic quality existed, allowed me to continue furthering my studies and interests. Looking back now, during a time when I have gotten accepted to one of the best schools I could’ve ever asked for, I think about how difficult that year and a half was for me, and how much harder the situation was for many other individuals. Again, the biggest lesson I learned was the importance of mindfulness. Whether it be a triumph or a tragedy, these life events should not be skimmed over like a mountain or trough to pass through. They are all lessons in some form, pieces of knowledge that should be taken with thought.
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  2020-05-26

  Reyes_Gia_

  C19OH
• 
  2020-04-01

  How Covid-19 Effected Highschool Athletics and the College Recruiting Process

  High school sports for many students such as myself were drastically affected because of the Covid-19 Pandemic. As an avid golfer and college golf prospect from Michigan, the pandemic hurt me and my fellow athletes in many different ways. In my Junior year of high school, my golf season was canceled entirely because of the pandemic after being one of the state's higher-ranked teams. This took away the most important season for college golf recruiting as the most important year for junior golfers is your senior year of high school. The pandemic also temporarily closed courses and facilities, meaning that I could not practice my skills to become a better athlete. The pandemic affected all different kinds of athletes, not just golfers like myself. In the end, I was able to battle against the pandemic and persevere as I am now a College Golfer at Elmhurst University in the suburbs of Chicago.
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  2020-03-10

  How the Covid-19 Pandemic Effected Me

  The Covid-19 pandemic affected me in numerous kinds of ways all trending to be negative. Most specifically the pandemic put a damper on my academic experience. When the pandemic spread to Michigan in March of 2020 and was highly infectious, learning in schools became extremely difficult for my classmates and me. Learning became online synchronous and the whole way of learning changed for everyone. For me, it was extremely difficult to adapt to completely online learning and instruction after being in classrooms for fifteen years of my life. After some time I was able to adapt and continue to be successful but for some of my classmates, the freedoms of online learning took a toll on their academic success. Luckily I stayed focused and put the task at hand to be the best student that I could possibly be. The rest of my high school experience was overwhelming and difficult as well due to the pandemic as the pandemic really never reduced during my time in high school. Regardless of the obstacles that I was faced with, I was able to persevere and place in the top thirty of my graduating class.
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  2022

  Teacher Burnout is Real

  826 National is a non-profit organization focused on helping students with their writing skills. In this post, they highlight statistics related to teacher burnout and stress during the second year of the pandemic. One of the most alarming statistics is that 90% of teachers that participated say that teacher burnout is a serious issue. The pandemic has exacerbated the stress put on educators and they have received little support in return.
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  2022

  Not a Normal Year for Teachers

  This post shows an example of teachers supporting each other through the end of the 2022 school year. In many different places, people are acting as if life is "normal" again. Schools are not requiring masks or sanitation procedures, school is in session like normal, in-person assemblies, activities, and sports are occurring. However, teachers can definitely tell that everything is not normal, and our job continues to be increasingly more difficult.
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  2022

  Teachers are Tired

  Now that we are ending the 2022 school year, many people have "returned to normal". Most students no longer wear masks in schools. However, we are still working through the pandemic. Teachers are still at risk for contracting COVID and are navigating the severe behavioral problems of students. With summer approaching, everyone is looking forward to a break from an extremely stressful year.
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  2022-01-10

  Criticizing Teachers

  Even before the pandemic, many teachers have felt that they are underappreciated. During the pandemic, the number of responsibilities on teachers increased. They have been forced to teach during a health crisis, putting themselves at risk. When teachers are sick, the remaining teachers are forced to pick up the work without any empathy if they are not able to fulfill all obligations. The expectations have increased as teachers are also battling increasing behavior issues.
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  2021-09-08

  How the Pandemic Has Changed Teachers' Commitment to Staying in the Classroom

  According to the article, there was a 16% national turnover rate for teachers before the pandemic. A survey given in January 2021 shows that almost 25% of teachers stated that they wanted to leave teaching. Pre-pandemic surveys and surveys given during the pandemic also show that less teachers believe that they will stay in education until retirement. The pandemic has required that teachers maintain the same responsibilities, while also piling on constant communication with parents (even without a response), social-emotional lessons, plans for asynchronous and synchronous learning, teaching students virtually and in-person at the same time, keeping up with changing health and safety regulations, and having to deal with increasing behavior issues.
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  2021-04-15

  COVID-19 Changed Education in America

  The pandemic has completely changed education. Students' views and attitudes towards school has changed, as well as been impacted by trauma and lack of normal school routine. School districts and teachers have been scrambling to accommodate to the new change while also trying to maintain a feeling of being "normal" during a pandemic.
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  2022-04-22

  Teachers Are Calling It Quits

  Before the pandemic, teachers already experienced a job where they are overworked, often underpaid, and underappreciated. This article details rising frustrations by teachers during the pandemic and the subsequent leaving of many people from education.
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  2021-11-14

  Emotionally Exhausted Teacher

  This item is a screenshot from a Twitter account known as the Diary of a COVID Classroom Teacher. This account's response to a picture about children with big emotions shows the frustrations that many teachers are facing during the pandemic. Many students have struggled due to the lack of routine and disruptions in their lives caused by COVID-19. Throughout the nations, behavior issues are being seen. Teachers are struggling more than ever while they try to help these students who are acting out while also staying on top of their other responsibilities.
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  2022-01-08

  Frustrations of a Teacher

  The item is a screenshot from a Twitter post of someone known as "Diary of a COVID Classroom Teacher". For their post, they had edited a motivational photo to question how to handle a toxic person if they are in your classroom. This post expresses frustrations that are shared by many teachers during the pandemic. With many schools being entirely in-person for the first time in two years, teachers are experiencing a huge amount of behavior issues, most likely caused by lack of routine and social/emotional growth during this time.
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  2022-05-07

  Ashlee Harper Oral History, 2022/05/07

  Ashlee Harper is a single mother and high school history teacher in Phoenix Arizona. Ashlee recounts the struggles of adapting to the Covid-19 pandemic, the hardships of teaching virtually, and the acclimation back to in-person teaching. She also describes how Covid-19 affected interactions within her personal life as well as how it greatly impacted the development of her students.
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  2022-05-04

  Experiencing the Pandemic as a Student in Sri Lanka

  It provides the pandemic perspective of a student from Colombo, Sri Lanka.