COVID-19 altered traditional ways of teaching and inevitably made learning different, and for some, far more difficult. Teachers and students now rely on technology as their way of interacting, and some students struggle to learn and the teachers find it hard to teach. Challenging classes such as algebra seem to become harder to understand due to the current circumstances imposed by COVID-19. 

“Online school is like rolling a pair of dice. Sometimes you‘ll get a good number, sometimes you will not. Kind of like how online school works and sometimes it does not” said NC junior Xander Blaisdell

With strictly online classes, teachers use sites such as Zoom and Microsoft Teams as their way of sitting in a classroom. NC, alongside all CCSD schools, utilizes CTLS, a website where teachers post assignments and important announcements. Multiple unforeseen challenges and technical difficulties with these sites occurred. This created difficulty when attempting to cover all content areas. Challenges including system crashes through CTLS that then lead to students’ inability to log into class and complete assigned work. Teachers fought this obstacle by creating remind accounts. Remind allows staff members to send messages to their students, so many teachers send a link to join their Zoom meeting if CTLS appears not to function correctly. 

The pandemic forced multiple classes to change numerous aspects of day to day learning. NC’s theater classes changed in significant ways, theater students do not interact in person anymore. Interaction constitutes one of the main components of Theater. Instead of face to face now the students act through computer screens. 

“I’m doing pretty well with online school. Surprisingly, the hardest classes for me right now are my elective classes but right now I’m doing good. I just hate when CTLS or Zoom crashes” said NC junior Ella Grace.

Certain art classes became canceled because there was no way of taking the course. Ceramics did not occur since not all students own the supplies needed for the class. Grading became a more daunting task for this academic school year. In ceramics, the teacher loses the ability to feel and see details of intangible pieces of art. Students struggle with losing the privilege of asking questions in a face to face, setting and receiving in-person assistance. All of these unprecedented factors contribute to the skyrocket of classroom challenges. On the other hand, other art classes did not cancel. Drawing and painting were a couple of those classes. These classes did not become canceled because students use almost anything to draw or paint. Unlike in ceramics students need things such as a kiln to bake the work of art. Students do not need anything special to perform either of those skills. Even classes such as Early Childhood Education changed in various ways. In ECE classes, a lot of movement and group-based work occurs. Students sometimes do not perform digitally the way they would face-to-face, so the group work needed while participating in an online class diminishes. In higher levels of early childhood education students work in NC’s Little Warriors Preschool. Covid-19 prevented the preschool from opening its doors this semester. This also affects the children and families that usually attend the preschool.

 “There have definitely been ups and downs with digital learning. I honestly feel like we are all coping with it as best as we can. I cope with a lot of humor and laughs,” said NC Early Childhood Education, teacher Becky Young.