The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly caused significant amounts of stress and anxiety for many high school students across Ontario. From the difficulties of attending classes virtually to the increased hours of independent learning, it is safe to say that the pandemic has taken a considerable toll on secondary students–both physically and emotionally.
Written by Megan Liang
1. Some school districts opted for a quadmester or octomester schedule. This means that the normal school year that was formerly broken down into two semesters was split into four and eight semesters, respectively. Students would only have two subjects at a time for a quadmester schedule and one subject for an octomester schedule. Although students would have the chance to focus on fewer subjects per semester, the instructional hours and material taught may be condensed, making it difficult for students to fully grasp the material.
2. Most secondary schools in Ontario opted for a hybrid school model this year: students would complete half of their instructional work in-person with their teacher and do the other half virtually. However, the lack of teacher and peer support with online learning has made it difficult for some students to properly understand course content and retain knowledge, which could have repercussions on their future learning.
3. As many school events happening remotely this year, high school students had to adapt to a variety of online extracurricular activities. This includes joining clubs, leadership councils, and sports teams that mainly ran online. Despite this challenge, students were still able to plan amazing initiatives in their schools and gain valuable skills for their academic careers.
4. Some schools opted for primarily in-person education; however, this occurred in smaller class sizes with public health measures taken into consideration. This meant students were not in a normal classroom filled with all of their peers. This is certainly different from the previous school year and one of many aspects of learning during a pandemic that students adapted to.
Although this pandemic has brought many challenges to the table, we should be grateful for all the teachers, counsellors, and administrative staff that have made online learning possible. It is important to remember that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and hopefully, we can regain a semblance of normalcy in the education system sooner than later.
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