SBP Winter 2021 magazine Final 1_29

VOICES FROM THE MATRIX
Interviews by Sovereign Brown
and David Decker
“As a student it’s a lot harder to push myself and
keep myself accountable to stay on top of my work
because you're just on your own. It has definitely
affected my performance in a negative way. I'm
tending harder to do things that were a lot easier
before. It’s harder to motivate myself to work hard.
One thing I have taken from online learning is
that I can do it and I know that I am capable of
getting things that need to be done, done. The
big difference is that I have no routine like I did
in physical school but in online class you can do
your homework whenever you want because you
don’t have any after school activities keeping you
busy from doing your homework.”
-- White Section Leader Raphael Jaquez SY
“The number one challenge is getting the students
engaged and keeping them paying attention
because you never know when a student will be on
a personal device or texting with someone else.”
“I miss being in person and the group feeling and
online it feels like one on one work and having to
call in people with unmuting and muting overall
just (makes me) miss the in person dynamic.”
“(Teaching remotely) Forced me to get creative
especially with making sure students have read
and understand the material and to come up with
different ways to make sure everyone is on the
same page. I have also learned that we can do it
whether it be for any reason that we can all still be
together in some sort of way.”
-- English Teacher Mr. Brian Delaney ‘02
“I miss being in class and having a schedule and
having a set routine and being able to go to
practice and seeing my friends. This has impacted
my performance negatively. I feel like I am just
writing stuff and not learning anything. I'm just
submitting work. I have had to pay attention a lot
more and participate a lot more and write down
more notes. I’m not just writing down key points.
If I don’t write down key details I won’t be able to
remember anything.”
-- Jose Robles, UDII
“There are practices that I have been able to
transfer, such as having students use a dry erase
board for French class for do-nows /quick
understanding checks. I have slowed down
tremendously to allow for all the technical issues
and make sure every student is somewhat on the
same page and on the right track. I’ve adapted my
curricula and removed some of the content,
trying to focus on what is essential and what I’d
like everyone to walk away with at the end of the
term. Everything takes much longer to be done;
waiting for students to log on also takes time and
can result in having to repeat instructions, etc.
when students show up quite late. I feel that the
technology is also making students more selfconscious
about their participation, which is a
huge problem, especially in a world language
class!”
“Although I am very happy with the way things
are going in FR1, I would rather be teaching in
person. For me, teaching requires a certain level of
in person interaction. Working in groups virtually
is NOT the same as working in groups in a
classroom setting. I feel like students also have
more difficulties creating bonds with their classmates
while learning virtually. I also use a lot of
gestures/miming for French, which is difficult to
do online.”
“I’m not too technologically challenged so that
part hasn’t phased me too much but the constant
connection problems do wear on me, mostly
because it is completely out of my control. The
most frustrating part is to wait for students to
unmute/unfreeze/type in the chat because their
microphones do not work…In a classroom, none
of that would be an issue! Creating a safe space/
environment is also more difficult online because
everyone is on camera at all times; you cannot
take a student aside and ask how they are doing/
address their behavior sometimes.
-- English and French Teacher
Mrs. Benedicte Thieberger-Kittinger
5 The Benedict News Vol. 3 Issue 1 Winter 2020-2021