By Kayla Hoang
The Huntington Beach High School District announced on April 2 that school campuses would be closed for the rest of the school year due to the COVID-19 outbreak. Officials have encouraged social distancing in order to prevent further spread of the virus, and online distance learning has begu for teachers and students.
With the abrupt cancellation of the rest of the school year as well as the pressure to stay home, students as well as teachers are all spending their time differently. Teachers are using their newfound free time for pursuing new hobbies, spending time with their families, or even just working on creating a new lesson plan for distance learning.
Baron Banner asked some of your teachers and FVHS staff to find out how they’ve been using their time away from school:
What have you been doing in your break away from school?
“Obviously a lot has changed since the school closed down. Trying to figure out the distance learning for all of my classes is a bit challenging, but I’m making it work… at least I think.
With the extra time, I haven’t really started or tried any new hobbies. I have been exercising much more and I’m feeling really good about that. So I’ve been going for jogs and we just got a new treadmill for the house. One thing that I’ve done that’s been taking a long time for me to get to is that I’m now on Netflix… shocker, I know. I might be the last human on earth to sign up. So I’ve been binge watching some things also, feeling like a teenager. We’re doing a lot more cooking at home, using the new air fryer. My kids have been spoiled by having a cleaning lady and now we had to stop that temporarily. So my kids have had to learn how to clean. It’s been painful for them and for me while I’m watching them clean. Other than that, we’re just staying inside as much as possible. We’re all healthy and trying to stay that way. We’re very fortunate. [I’m] really missing my students a ton. I’ll never take each day at work for granted again,” said Health and Science teacher Jason Kols.
“The break away from school has been a dramatic change – a world turned upside down. It’s been a challenge adapting to online teaching. I love seeing my students and interacting with them and had so many fun group/pair projects for my students for that “aha” moment. So, for the first couple of weeks – trying to figure out what the most important topics are and how to teach and assign a lesson where students can learn from a screen. I do miss the students and the social interaction. Another thing that I have been doing is getting really familiar with Instagram! I find that reaching out to my students this way has been really helpful and effective. Students are connected to their phones, so I try to go where the students are! As for my household, with all the time that I have, I have been gardening – basically cleaning (weeding and pruning) up my backyard and using this time wisely. Usually, I would have to wait until the weekend to tend to the backyard. I have also tried replicating a lot of my mother’s Thai recipes. It’s been nice for the entire family to stay home and connect. We’ve played board games; Otrio is a favorite of ours – quick and easy to learn. We’ve also had backyard camping and discovered art – through chalk art on the sidewalk and walls. The doggies are spoiled though, they get at least two long walks a day! As for workouts, I was informed that the Peloton website offers 90 days free of a plethora of workouts from yoga, meditation, spin classes, bootcamp classes – live or pre-recorded, so that’s something that I’ve actually had time to do: ‘go to the gym!’ So we’re trying to make the most of it,” said Social Studies teacher Julie Chaicharee.
“Despite the circumstances of this pandemic, I feel very blessed to have this extended, special time with my family. We are doing things that we normally do (cooking together, taking the dog for walks, reading, etc.) just a lot more of it. Our dog Jet is like, “I don’t know what’s going on, but I like this new routine!” Last week we started doing yoga together twice a day and we started a puzzle. A month ago if you would have asked me if I liked puzzles, I would have laughed, but we all really enjoy sitting down chipping away at it a few times a day,” wrote English teacher Douglas Wilton.
“I miss my students, and I hope everyone is doing well. In addition to trying to stay connected with my students online and developing lessons for distance learning, I’ve been reading a lot, playing games with my family, practicing the guitar, and trying to exercise every day. I hope everyone is doing their best to stay positive and to make the most of their extra time at home. ¡Sí, se puede!” wrote Spanish teacher Jim Diecidue.
“We have been trying to stay busy by camping in the backyard, swimming and crafts!!” wrote guidance counselor Lindsey Gonzalez.
“In my house, we have created a schedule to use during the week that has time for my kids’ school work (they’re in 1st and 3rd grades), a daily walk around the neighborhood (keeping social distancing from others, of course), time for me to work on lessons for my students while my kids get some screen time (far more than I would normally allow them), a small amount of time for board games, and creative time for my kids (which is also usually spent by me getting work done). We had started the Marvel movie series shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak and we are making our way through it pretty quickly now, watching a movie pretty much every night. I hope to find time to incorporate yoga back into my life because I really need it, physically and emotionally. This is an incredibly challenging time for all of us and I’m no exception. I haven’t had the mental capacity to try any new hobbies other than the one puzzle that I worked on at the very beginning of the stay-at-home order. I’ve been doing a ton of video calls with friends after my kids go to bed. I need the social connection to keep my sanity and I think it’s so important for all of us to stay connected!” wrote Math teacher Shannon Atkins.
