At the beginning of the 2020-2021 school year, Pleasant Valley students faced a hard decision: join the every other day hybrid model or jump into an all-online school experience.
Most Pleasant Valley students chose the hybrid model. In this system, students with the last names A-L would attend on Mondays and Wednesdays, M-Z students would attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays and each group attended alternating Fridays. However, there were a handful of students who chose the all-online option and are now facing the challenges of not being in the classroom.
One challenge faced by these students is communication with teachers. Junior Ryan Saddler says, “One thing that sucks for me is that my teachers and I won’t communicate or the communication gets lost in all the emails we get on a day to day basis.”
This is also a very different year for teachers because they have to keep up with a large number of students. While it is easier for teachers to reach out to hybrid students since they see them twice a week, the all online students are often forced into the craziness of this school system due to the heavy schoolwork.
Online students also struggle with the different ways of turning in assignments. Senior Stiles Walker was affected by this. “It’s confusing trying to keep up with all the platforms that teachers use,” said Walker. “It’d be nice if they could all use the same one.”
Although the online experience has its negatives, it has its benefits as well. “Some of the benefits are being able to do your work at your own pace,” said Saddler. “There are no distractions and I can work on my own time.”
But the benefit of doing work on your own time does have negative effects. “A lot of my work is due on Sundays which is something I’m not used to,” Walker noted. “It took some getting used to for sure.”
While most students are not experiencing the 100% online method, the handful of people who do participate reap both the benefits and negatives. Both learning methods have their pros and cons, but at the end of the day, Pleasant Valley teachers are committed to giving all students a quality education.
