A Journey Through Hybrid Learning

By: Erica Zhang 

Covid strikes! 

Hybrid learning has been a special time for us all. In my own learning experience, there have been lots of difficulties and problems. Needless to say, everyone has those. What I wanted to share was how I overcame them.   

When COVID-19 struck the globe first, most people were unprepared. I was among them. When the school announced the start of online learning, I was shocked. This pandemic couldn’t be that bad right? How wrong I was.  

When online learning started, there were plenty of things to get used to. Students had to be flexible. I was in the second semester of 5th grade then, and we were just introduced to seesaw. Not a lot of people had used it a lot, so there was a lot of figuring things out and waiting for things to load. 

Zoom conferences 

Sometimes we had zoom conferences, and the whole family would crowd around an iPad or MacBook and figure things out together. Teachers had different times for Zoom conferences, different times for uploading work, and each person had to create and improvise their own schedule. It was hard, for everyone, because sometimes teachers and students had to get up in 2 in the morning to attend conferences. Teachers and students were all around the globe, and it was hard to find times that worked for everyone.  

But everyone figured out how to navigate Zoom, at the end. Once I was really frustrated that I couldn’t join a very important zoom meeting with my PYP exhibition mentor, Ms. Barga. I just couldn’t get in no matter what. But then my mom came over and told me “It’s ok if you can’t get in every single meeting, but you have to try right?” I was confused. I was trying, very hard, in fact.  

Thinking in a different point of view 

Then my mom asked me some questions: What was the meeting time? What Wi-Fi are you on? Is the Wi-Fi connected? That made me realize that sometimes when you are in an intense situation, you should take a step back and look at things from a different point of view.  

I think everyone’s experiences were different. But I’m sure of one thing. Everyone has learned valuable things on this journey.