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Being Quarantined Is Not as Great as You Might Think BY Justin Curran
Quarantined learning really wasn’t for me. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a pretty social person, and I thrive off of interaction and class environments. I was the only one quarantined in my classes for a majority of my quarantine this year, and so the Google Meets were typically just my teacher and myself. If you’re like me, this is your worst case scenario.
With a return to a full schedule with lunch blocks once again beginning soon, and COVID-19 still impacting everyone’s lives, at-home school has once again arose as a question. CHS has taken yet another approach to Distance Learning, and I’m here to tell you, it is in your best interest to stay safe because you do NOT want to be quarantined.
I am someone that LOVES being in school. When school closed down in my freshman year on March 13th, I was devastated, and you can imagine I was even more devastated, like many others, when I found out we would be online for the last three months of that school year. It didn’t get any better for me when we were fully online for the first month of last year, and hybrid? Oh man, hybrid was probably my personal least favorite. None of these techniques were as challenging, however, as my two weeks of “quarantine learning.” I would like to tell you about my experience, to not only spread awareness about what the online learners have gone through this year, but to also stress the importance of staying safe at all times so we can stay in school at all times.
Before I begin, I would also like to express that this is in no way meant to be attacking, diminishing, or insulting the school in any way. I think that Mrs. Macomber and the rest of the staff, teachers, and everyone involved have made the best they could of the situation, however, there is only so much you CAN do when you’re in the middle of the pandemic. I applaud and appreciate every teacher, staff member, and administrator at CHS for their hard work. This is far from an easy job to have in the middle of the pandemic, and I’m so grateful for their persistence and dedication. Now with that in mind, let me tell you all about how my experience in quarantine learning went.
I was sent into quarantine after being a close contact on September 2nd, 2021, the fourth day of school. To that point, it was too early in the year to tell how things would go, and I, myself, was nervous. What would happen? Would I be the only one in quarantine? How would my school day even go and what would it look like? I was stressed and the happiness I had just gained from having the best day of that week had suddenly flown away.
I don’t think I can begin to explain the irrational embarrassment that I felt when I joined my Google Meets that day. Being the only student on the Google Meets, while the rest of my classmates were in person felt silly, embarrassing, and just plain lonely. This was a feeling that would not go away, that I would feel every period of every day, as long as I was quarantined.
Before I get into what my day typically looked like, let’s recap how my day looked like in the past two years. In the 2019-20 version of distance learning as a freshman, I would typically wake up at 6:30 am, shower, get dressed, get about an hour of exercise, relax for about another 30 minutes to an hour, sign into the Google Form for my first period class, and then do my work, which usually only took about 1 hour or so. I was typically done with my schoolwork by about 10:30, and had the rest of the day to relax, socialize (virtually of course), and get some fresh air.
In the 2020-21 version of distance learning, as a sophomore, I would also wake up around 6-6:30, I would shower and get dressed, get about an hour of exercise, and then sign into the Google Meets. In those Google Meets, would be my teacher and all of my classmates. The workload would be minimal since we were all online, and everything was still pretty good.
In the 2020-21 hybrid version of COVID-affected school, I would wake up at about 6 again, shower, get dressed, get about an hour or so of exercise, and then sign into my classes forms and complete the work. Because a majority of the work was designed specifically for being online, and I had other friends doing at home learning, I could still socialize and get my work done in a timely fashion and still get a break.
This school year, my quarantine day started very similarly to the other three: wake up at 6, shower, get dressed, exercise, and then at 7:20 school would start. Me being me, I was unsure of how to handle how things would go, and I was paranoid that my teachers would forget me, so I emailed all eight of my teachers multiple times per week to remind them that I was in quarantine and ask what they would like me to do.
To no fault of the teachers, quarantine learning was a bit inconsistent. I had some teachers that had me join Meets, some teachers that didn’t, some teachers gave paperwork, some didn’t. I also had some teachers that were unable to respond to my daily emails, so I was left unaware of what to do for that class. Some of my classes had Google Forms to take attendance, yet a majority of my classes didn’t. Of course, I am not totally confident what the requirements for teachers are for the quarantined students, but honestly, keeping the students’ best interest at heart, I think all teachers should have the Google Form on their classroom for attendance for quarantined learners. I know it may be inconvenient, but it keeps consistency with attendance. That way, a Google Meets isn’t always 100% necessary, especially if the work for the day is mostly individual work. Lots of teachers already post their agendas for the class on Google Classroom, I know most of mine do, so coming on the Meets, just to be marked present and told I can work on my stuff on my own and leave the Meets seems unnecessary.
I would also like to touch on the importance of mental health. Quarantine learning is really hard on mental health. Being the only student quarantined felt so lonely, and it really plummeted my motivation to learn and get work done. Couple this with the normal workload of regular school and it causes not only the lack of motivation, but it can cause stress, and it really caused me to have a mess of emotions for the entire quarantine.
I really recommend, whether you’re a teacher, a student, a parent, no matter who you are, check in on your students, your kids, your teachers, and be there for them. If you are a quarantined student or teacher reading this, I applaud you for your hard work, and I hope you’re doing well. If not, I, as well as many others I’m sure, support you fully. If you ever need to talk, reach out. You are a warrior.
Quarantined learning really wasn’t for me. Anyone who knows me knows I’m a pretty social person, and I thrive off of interaction and class environments. I was the only one quarantined in my classes for a majority of my quarantine this year, and so the Google Meets were typically just my teacher and myself. If you’re like me, this is your worst case scenario.
Overall, I really enjoy going to school, and I hope I don’t end up quarantined ever again. It is a rough experience. It basically takes the best parts of school away from you, and for me personally, it honestly kind of ruined my mental health. I am so glad to be back, however, and I really would like to stress to everyone the importance of wearing your masks at ALL times in the school day, and staying as safe as you possibly can, because you do not want to get quarantined.