I am a person who likes social interaction, I rely on talking to other people throughout the day just to keep me sane. I am a person who likes to get to know everyone in my class, whether they become one of my good friends in that class or just on a first name basis. I am having a very tough time with this because of remote learning. When you can hear other people talking during class you not only get a different perspective on the lesson but you also aren’t hearing the same voice over a screen for forty minutes. 

Not every class is a drag, I have one class where we have a class greeter and it definitely makes the class more interesting. We actually have conversations with other kids in the class rather than just the teacher.  We talk about anything and everything under the sun. We have talked about video games, what we did over the weekend and even if we mix corn and mashed potatoes. 

This has created a sense of social interaction and community. The greeter is really great at asking questions and getting people engaged. I feel like I know the other students in this class way more than any of my other classes.

In a normal class, you get to see everyone and how they learn and all the nuances that go on in the classroom. You miss the body language, mannerisms, and nonverbal communications. I have had a few times in one of my classes that the teacher has tried to connect to the class and ask a question and he doesn’t get a response except for the three kids who participate.

It’s not that my other classes don’t participate, it lacks interaction. The teacher may ask a question and someone may respond, and in a normal classroom, this may be ok. However, in virtual learning, this poses problems. You may not know who the answer came from and you can’t feel the environment. When you get to know your classmates there can be a real sense of community and bonding. This helps with the social-emotional aspects of being human.

As we slowly move back to the classroom, I hope this helps to broaden our ability for that social interaction we all desperately need and are looking for from our high school experience.