To Zoom, or to Not?
by Charlize Jenna Ang (Grade 11)
On an early, sleazy morning, Jenna had prepared herself to meet her classmates through a large video call. Her face in her hands, she hesitated to log into Zoom, as she feels a bit nervous. Jenna didn’t know who her teachers were at all, and what kind of people she may have to come to terms with. Well, she did recognize some of the teachers’ faces, but she didn’t know their personalities. What if they were a lot stricter than she was expecting? She didn’t like the thought of that. Although she was rather nervous, she did feel a little bit excited, since this marks as her first day in senior high.
Jenna had felt quite uneasy as she had carefully logged into each class meeting, as she found the entire online learning situation quite strange. She always takes in a deep breath before she enters the Zoom meeting I.D. “Man, this is going to be a long year, won’t it?” she thought, since she isn’t too keen on video calling. In time, her synchronous classes had ended, and Jenna could relax and not overthink how she presents herself in the call. “Phew, that was quite tiring for the first day.” she murmurs to herself as she left her last class of the day. Well, her first impression of her teachers was fine, she liked the friendly feel she got from them. One of the teachers Jenna had come across and figured could be her favorite, was her Literature teacher. She found him quite amusing with his jokes and his brief introduction, and she couldn’t help but laugh at every joke her teacher- sir Layton, had in store. “Well, this online class norm wouldn’t be so bad after all,” thought Jenna, as she does not realize that she is not ready for what her teachers have ready for her and her fellow classmates.
As time flew by, Jenna got the gist of this online class norm. She didn’t mind showing her face in Zoom meetings, she got used to it. With the regular use of the applications Zoom, Google Classroom, and a lot more, it simply got accustomed to her. “This isn’t such a big deal, after all. What was I so worried about, anyway?” Questions Jenna, as she looks back to her first few days of classes. She then carries on to what she was doing, she ticked off a task in her list. “And finally, done! Now, I can do this next task,” exclaimed Jenna. Well, online classes aren’t as crazy as said by most people, but rather, you have to manage your time well in order to have a good time in the long run.