Cannelton HiLife staff member Jhett Garrett.
The Pandemic Diaries: Jhett
As Cannelton City Schools temporarily goes virtual for two weeks, our HiLife Staff documents their experiences.
This quarantine has been a whole lot different from the first quarantine, and it isn’t even close. The first quarantine that we experienced was not only new to us, but new to the teachers and staff at our school and every school across the country. However now, we were more prepared for something like this, and with a lot of people knowing this day was coming, we were all just waiting for it to happen. However, I feel like we lasted longer than what many people expected us to last.
For me, this quarantine has been better, and runs smoother. It almost feels like how I would imagine colleges are doing right now with virtual learning. It isn’t to get your assignments and have them turned in by Friday, it is actually to go to class (kind of) and still connect with peers and teachers. I wouldn’t be too opposed to doing this more often to be perfectly honest. It gives the students time to sort of recover, and have a week where we can kind of relax, but we are still getting an education every single day from home.
You can also look on the teaching side of it. The situation for the teachers right now that aren’t quarantined and can actually go to school seems great. From the outside looking in, it almost seems as if they are able to get a lot of work done, while still being able to teach their classes and get caught up.
While I was pondering it, I came up with the idea that this can be done multiple times a year. The week after Fall Break, the week after Thanksgiving Break, the week after Winter Break, and the Week after Spring Break. Honestly, if you even wanted to take out the one after Thanksgiving Break you could so it’s more spaced out and even. Four a year though seems perfect, and it’s still giving the kids and education while being able to take an extra week and recover mentally. You can still have your extra curricular activities such as sports and after school activities, you just aren’t going to school for those days. You could also move it to where it is the week before so teachers can take that time to get final grades in, as these breaks usually come right as it’s the end of the six weeks, and Winter Break is the end of the semester.
From a students perspective, it seems like a good idea because I truly feel better mentally and I’m still getting my high school education.