Never in history has education changed so drastically than during the pandemic of 2020. Watershed moments in history changed the way we taught, with radio at the turn of the 20th century, a television in the 1950s, personal computing in the 1980s, and the internet in the 1990s, but in the 2020s? It all happened in one fell swoop, having to dramatically switch to virtual learning. We all had to scramble to learn Zoom or Google Meet, maneuver Breakout Rooms, and navigate through countless collaborative apps. There was hardly any time to learn the new technologies of virtual learning, but with patience and perseverance, we’re all climbing this steep learning curve, and managing . . . perhaps simply surviving.
But how do students think and feel about all these changes? How are they coping with losing the face-to-face interaction of the brick-and-mortar learning? How are they learning with these new technologies?
At the occasion of the founding anniversary of Hope Christian High School, we are giving voice to students to express how they feel about and to reflect on this “New Normal’—how they are managing the changes.
The first sections in this anthology—in prose and poetry— focus on their experiences dealing with the difficult initial adjustments to the change. The succeeding sections shift to the way they are learning new technologies.
Read and marvel at the way these students handle and redefine the school year!