June 10, 2022
What Online Learning Taught Me
By Lisa Herforth-Hebbert
As an eighth-grade student in New York City, here’s what attending school during the pandemic was like for me.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was originally published by Youth Communications and is reposted here with permission and revisions. YC is a nonprofit publisher of teen-written stories and curriculum to help educators strengthen the social and emotional skills of youth.
I was having a wonderful week until I heard these words from my eighth-grade science teacher: “If you haven’t heard about Covid-19, cases are rising so there’s a possible chance we’ll be out of school, and if it gets worse, we might not come back.” My friends and I didn’t seem to pay attention until she gave us all a packet of homework.
It was the middle of March 2020. I was worried, but some of my classmates actually hoped for school to go online. I knew my classmates well; in two seconds they would be crying, wanting to see each other again. They didn’t know what they were wishing for, but I tried to stay optimistic. Maybe I’d just be off school for a week?
