Middle Years 

As we all know this has been a very different term and last couple of months. Many things and our everyday lives have changed, this includes students across Victoria having to make the change to remote learning. Everyone is different, therefore everyone has had their own personal experiences when it comes to remote learning.  With Year 7 to 10 students returning to school in a bit over a week we thought it would be a great opportunity for our Middle Years Captains to share their experiences of remote learning.

For me personally my remote learning experience has been positive and negative. I have found that even though it's a very big change I was able to adjust quite quickly. I have found that I am able to complete a lot more work, as I am personally a bit more slow, and find that sometimes class time isn't always enough time to finish the work to the best of my ability, therefore due to remote learning I’m able to move at my own speed and if I need a bit of extra time it's there, resulting in me feeling a lot more confident and pleased with the work that I’m submitting. But it's not all positive. I miss the social side to the learning process before remote learning. We were able to have engaged class discussions where everyone was involved and which sometimes helps me grow a better understanding. But now due to remote learning these social sides  of learning aren't the same , some teachers don't offer these opportunities, or others might, but students feel uncomfortable or nervous to turn their mic on and talk. I also miss being able to see my friends and classmates, everyday at school being a little bit different, it feels like now everyday is the same, there is nothing different or exciting to look forward to. When I come back to school I'm going to continue to work at my own speed and not rush, but not slack and muck around, just do my best. I'm most looking forward to seeing all my friends , classmates and teachers. 

Gemma Doley 

Remote learning has been a new experience for everyone including me, and to say the transition from learning face to face to remote learning was easy would be wrong. Getting comfortable whilst working and having the motivation to complete work was hard at first. However, when I found a way that was effective for me to learn and complete work, I got more done and was more focused. Using Microsoft Teams was a very large hurdle in remote learning. Some of the things that I had to adapt, and get my head around were being comfortable speaking with a microphone on, being able to complete class presentations through a video call and having all our lessons through Teams.  Learning without much interaction with peers and friends was hard as the atmosphere of learning at school was a lot different from learning by yourself at home. Throughout this time at home, I have learnt a lot, and when I get back to school, I am going to use the strategies that I have used to effectively do schoolwork, and implement that into classroom learning. I am definitely looking forward to catching up with friends and being back in the classroom for face to face learning.

Lachlan Lim

Remote Leaning has been an interesting experience to say the least. It has been challenging to stay motivated and keep in contact with friends over this difficult time but has helped build up my perseverance and resilience. As this was a big change to the routine that I am used to, it took awhile for me to adapt to this type of schooling but once I did, I found that I was able to complete a lot of my work to a higher standard in this time compared to what I could have done if we were at school. Having the learning intentions and lesson plans on compass made it easy to stay organised for all of my classes and using Teams as my main communication platform to teachers made it easy to receive feedback. I would always feel overwhelmed with the amount of homework that I received which increased my stress levels but I managed to keep a positive and growth mindset and found that I was able to talk to most of my teachers about my worries. Throughout remote learning, I have discovered that I am much more flexible than I thought I  was and started to notice that I took lots of things for granted like seeing all my friends nearly everyday. The social side of things in remote learning has been difficult. It’s been hard to keep in contact with all my friends and peers. Each teacher has their own sort of lesson and I found it difficult to adapt to each teacher’s teaching style.When school goes back, I plan on working on my communication towards my teachers and peers, focusing on the moment and not taking being able to see people for granted. Once school goes back, I am looking forward to being able to see and interact with my friends and teachers and hopefully be able to have the ensembles start rehearsals again. 

Chrystin Gosios