By Violeta Panayotova
In the past few weeks a lot has changed. My favorite store, Ross, closed, people are no longer allowed to stand less than 6 feet apart and, worst of all, it appears that all the pasta in every store has magically disappeared.
Along with all of the changes that are happening in the world right now, Tempe Prep quickly made a big change to online learning. Of course, using Zoom is probably one of the last things that students at the school have ever thought they would use to keep “going” to school. As we have been using this magical program since our extended spring break ended, students and teachers are still trying to adjust to the big change.
One of the great aspects of the Tempe Prep academic goal is to keep students engaged in class and to teach them something new, and luckily for everyone this continues to be the case with using online platforms such as Zoom. Junior Grace McQuaid states that “I am still learning despite the circumstances. There is still that funny energy in the classroom when you are with all of your peers.”
Teachers are continuing to have discussions in class about the books and concepts they are teaching. It was definitely a learning process but the steps are taking in a very positive way. But of course nothing can compare to the real experience that is school. Some troubles that many face are the lack of internet or some of our siblings interrupting their classes and many students cannot focus as much during these Zoom calls.
But everyone is making the most of it whether that is to set a specific schedule that specifically outlines each day like Grace does or even making the call fun by creating different themes for each class and dressing in that theme with dress-code appropriate items just like what the juniors are doing. Themes such as the ‘80s or Hawaiian are making the new experience a lot more fun and entertaining and definitely memorable.
Many of the classes have also created group chat that everyone is part of which helps them keep track of what they have to do for each class and what quizzes and deadlines are coming up next. This also is getting the students closer and keeping the TPA goal of creating a community still alive. As Grace puts it, “Sudden change is hard to adapt to, but I think TPA did an excellent job focusing on the needs of education.”