Student Voices in Remote Learning: Ashley's Story
Welcome to the first story of our "Student Voices in Remote Learning" blog series. You can find an introduction in about this series here.
Hello my name is Ashley, I'm a 6th grader hopeful soon to be 7th grader. I will be showing you how my life is with this global pandemic. In my school we are doing remote learning, which means I have to work at home and online. Some of my challenges during remote learning have been being able to concentrate on getting my work done and turning all the work in all on Friday. What I do to keep me concentrated is to listen to music. What I like to listen to is musicals. Like Alexander Hamilton, The Heathers, BeetleJucie,Dear Evan Hansen, ect. That really keeps my nerves down and helps me concentrate. Sometimes, I stay after 3:00 and do more work just to get them done before Friday.
Also, when you look at the laptop screen for a long time or just sit in your seat for too long. I suggest taking a walk or just take a 2 minute break then go back to work. During those 2 minutes you can stretch or get a snack. Remember when you are sitting down, think about your posture. But on the happy side I get things done. Some successful things I have done was do my music,art homework, and my social studies. I also like it when my class has Google meets. That might sound weird but I just feel happy knowing that my class is ok. That is my Adventure of being a six grader hopeful going to seventh grade next year in this global pandemic.
What really has me stressed out is that next year I will be having to go to a new school. I will miss my teachers and my friends. Especially my sixth grade teacher Ms. Paz, I will miss her so much. She has taught me so much this year. I will really miss so much, thank you Ms.Paz for this year : ).
During the week I will have to wake up early, but my parents have to work so I will have to wake myself up and make myself food, or both of my parents are here at my house and I will make me breakfast. What I do during that weekend is play video games, read, talk with my cousin, or I like to annoy my sister in order to try new things with me. Like one time we facetime my cousins, and she said to mash up oreos in a cup,put some milk with it , then just put in the microwave for at least a one minute. When you take it out, the oreos turn into a cake.
One thing that I also do is count how many days are there till my birthday. 50 more days until my birthday!! I told my family that, and they completely forgot :(. Well I just have to keep them aware that it is almost here. My mom and brother said they forgot because of everything that is going in this pandemic. I forgave them afterward. What my family likes to do when we have free time is watch movies, some scary or action really whatever we want to watch. I also like to play with my sister and play with dolls or video games. Yesterday me and my sister Just danced. She looked happy because I was playing Just dance with her.
When I turn on the news, all I see COVID-19/Coronavirus. Really there is nothing new, but it is weird to see the news reports separate. I think it's funny when the weather happens in the news on WGN , because the weatherperson was at their house, but I understand why they do that. Anyways, what I really like about this time is when I get to spend time with my family. Yesterday my mother bought flowers. She looked really happy that she got them, we put them in the backyard. I felt like we we're bonding. My father and my little sister help as well. Today, my mother had to work a night shift today so she was able to make my family breakfast. She doesn't like when she does that, I feel bad for her.
One thing that really stresses me out, is when my father had to go to the hospital . He had to get surgery for his gallbladder, and the doctor said that two of the rocks from his gallbladder had moved to his Bile Duct blocking his Pancreas. So that caused his pancreas to hurt a lot, but since the pancreas is close to the stomach, he thought it was that. Anyways his pancreas hurt to the point where he had to go to the hospital. That really scared me, just the thought of my dad in the hospital really made me uneasy and nervous. Luckily he got the surgery really fast, and he had to wait two days till he got the surgery. During his time in the hospital, my dad had to stay in one of the hospital beds. Since my mom and dad used to sleep in the same bed, my mom asked me and my sister to sleep with her while my dad wasn’t home. Which I enjoyed because my mother and father's bed is so comfortable, but my sister wanted to sleep on the floor, because they said the bed is too hot and uncomfortable. When my dad came back home, me, my sister, and my brother were happy. My mom was the happiest, because we couldn't go to the hospital to visit him so that made my whole family sad. Now it's almost been a week since his surgery he has been walking just fine, a little slow, but ok. : )
So, what i'm trying to say is that if you're not alone in this. I am in this as well, stuck in my house. And, if you're in school and doing remote learning like me, you probably get a lot of emails from your teachers. You probably get overwhelmed, but I also have emails like that and get overwhelmed. Stay safe, wash your hands, and only go out for things that are necessary. That is my life as a six grader hopefully going to 7th grade, during this global pandemic. : )
This is my Mom (Right) and Dad (Left), they look very happy together. Photo by Ashley Ruiz