Last week Year 6 students were tasked with writing a news article about online schooling. After learning about article structure and reading various examples, students got to work practising their new writing skills. Year 6 Co-ordinator, Mrs Pereira, shared the stand-out work of some budding journalists, Erica Grimsey, Hannah Smith and Fallyn Kelley, with us…
Work, work, more work.
Ever wondered if people could get sick of technology? No, it’s not a trick question. People in the year 2020 are using technology so much, they actually can’t wait to go on that bike ride that their Fitbit told them to do last month.
Online learning is certainly different than anything anyone has ever seen. Students do school work at home and submit it by a due date. It is hard because of distractions such as crying babies, barking dogs and missing friends. Thousands of children are using online learning more than doubling the use of electronics. Submission dates are hard to follow so how do kids cope? Nobody knows.
Students feel lonely at home because they haven’t seen their friends in months and smaller siblings can be annoying while trying to concentrate. Some ideas from students have been announced, including having zoom meetings once a week. It will be something new, but students are counting on teachers to make the decision on whether to do it or not. Online learning definitely isn’t a piece of cake.
Everybody wants to go back to school now because they really don’t like online learning. Students are getting confused on what to do and usually, if they go on the student forum they don’t get their answers. Distractions are every student’s worst nightmare at the moment. One little distraction can cause them to forget about work and not submit it on time. Students want to do other things like play with their toys, play on other technology or eat. Distractions are evil.
Online learning has gotten easier from the start because at first, it was very difficult. Right now it is hard and students are struggling but there is no other way. Students at home wonder what students at school do. I guess that they just have a normal school day. Lucky them!
By Erica Grimsey
Mueller During the Corona-Virus Lockdown
2020 has been very different compared to the others, there have been many changes due to the new pandemic. But even though the COVID-19 has been hard to deal with, students at Mueller College can still learn and get a good education, even from home! Teachers have been working hard to keep us learning, and are doing a great job! Around halfway through term one, the Coronavirus started to raise concerns for the school, with some students spreading rumours about the school shutting down! Of course, that sounded silly, but nearing the end of the term, that’s what happened. By week eight not many students were attending, there were around 12-15 students per class attending, and there were many new rules.
First, it was the hand washing and hand sanitizer. Everyone was washing their hands every second! This wasn’t a bad thing, but I guess the school’s water bills were skyrocketing! Then it was the playtimes. Every grade has their own playtime slot, so that the students weren’t playing at the same time and so the students could social distance easily. It was weird having the handball courts to ourselves! Then the desks. Every desk was moved apart 1.5 metres from each other. By then most students were staying safe at home. In week 10 they rolled out the first online classes on ilearn! There was a few issues, but it ended up working great! Right now in term 2, I’m staying at home and doing online learning (like most kids) but there are a few still going to school. Only some kids can go if their parent(s)/guardian are working and don’t have someone to look after the students. It has been a interesting year so far, so I’m wondering what will happen next?
By Hannah Smith
School Then Dropbox
It was only another day at Mueller College when all the students and teachers pitched up ready for an amazing first day of school in 2020. Little did they know that their first term went flying by but when the second term hit, everything went in slow motion as the coronavirus came rushing in. That is when dropbox came in.
Everyone had to stay home and do online learning! Some kids have parents that are still going to work so they still went to school. Doing the school work online is easy, but uploading it to the teacher on DROPBOX isn’t! Most of the time when the students communicated it was asking how to upload something or where is the link? Eventually we all got used to it, the best way to not get stressed about anything is facetiming and talking to friends, including when you do schoolwork call them and you can maybe even help each other.
Teachers have worked very hard in these times, everyday it gets easier knowing what to do and how to do it. I felt very stressed at first but now I feel more relaxed now that I know what I’m doing.
Even though it’s getting easier, Dropbox is still a hill to climb (mount Everest).
By Fallyn Kelly
