As time in quarantine goes on, Distance Learning has become the new norm for students and teachers alike. Most people, through difficulty, have become accustomed to the new form of learning, as there is little hope for change in the future. 

While most students are not fans of Distance Learning, it seems that most teachers are not either. Many teachers miss the social component of physically going to school and being able to speak to and interact with their students in person. They are, however, making the best of the situation and are adapting their lessons to distance learning.

“I don’t like not getting to see anybody… the personal interaction component is out and it’s disappointing,” said Toni Kiernan, English teacher. “Things that would take minutes for me to explain before take me hours now, and I’m still trying to adjust to the amount of work I should give and expect from students. I also can’t respond as thoroughly to student work,” she adds.

Teachers find themselves missing valuable face to face interaction. The connection that in-person interactions bring to a lesson helps for both students and teachers to understand each other. 

“I don’t like being unable to interact with students as a group. I miss the laughs and absurd moments. They don’t happen as often while giving written feedback on essay outlines and drafts. I also don’t have a great sense of how easy or difficult things are for people. And my eyes kind of glaze over after hours of staring at Google docs.” says Anne Langan, English teacher. 

Some classes rely on in-person activities such as Auto. Classes that are based on hands-on activities are at a loss, and teachers are finding it difficult to transition to online learning. 

“I do not like this distance learning stuff because Automotive is supposed to be a hands-on thing like working on cars but now that we are having this pandemic, I’ve already changed my teaching style because I would never use google classroom this often and the students are not able to watch Macgyver” says Steve Hopper, Advanced Auto teacher. 

While most teachers are not happy with the current Distance Learning, they recognize that there is no logical alternative. 

“I think distance learning has its pros and its cons, but there is only one option for us right now, and that’s for us to get through this together,” says Brianne Koribanick, English teacher.