Many students this year are still going to school virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. While virtual students may feel more isolated now that a lot of their peers are back in the classroom, they are not alone. For those students still on Zoom every day, here are some tips and tricks to stay involved and organized.

It may be hard to find the courage to speak up on zoom, but this is one of the most important things to do. It is crucial for students to ask questions if they do not understand the material and to participate as much as possible. Sometimes, it may feel like the teacher or class cannot hear you when you speak either due to a problem with your computer settings or not speaking loud enough.

The Zoom Help Center website explains how to test your audio and video before joining a meeting. To make sure that your zoom audio and video is working, it’s a good idea to have a test zoom with a sibling or parent to make sure everything is up and running.

Starting high school virtually is very difficult for everyone, but especially for freshmen. The freshmen class’s workload grows dramatically between the eighth and the ninth grades. Also, making new friends and meeting teachers is hard enough in person, let alone virtually.

Chiara Ricotta ’24, a Group C student, suggests that all students “write all assignments in their planner and do not procrastinate.”

There are also plenty of tricks for staying organized on Schoology, such as by rearranging your courses in the order of your schedule, organizing your the calendar, and staying on top of Elearning updates.

This Schoology Help Page will explain the exact steps to do these things. Also in case of a Schoology malfunction, copy and paste the zoom links for all your classes into a Google Doc or in your Notes app on your computer to make sure you can always get to class.

Julia Krass ’24, strongly recommends for students to “stay in touch with their teachers.”

Since online learners cannot talk to their teachers in person or after class easily, it is important to get to know them via email or Zoom Extra Help Sessions whenever there is a concept you are unsure about or when you just need to review. All of the teachers understand and are more than happy to assist students in any way possible.

Most importantly, everyone needs to remember that we are all in this together, and we will get through this. Good luck Panthers!

Sources:

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362283-Testing-computer-or-device-audio

https://kb.swtc.edu/page.php?id=87536