On Nov. 3, hybrid teachers and Team 1 hybrid Barons returned to school for the first day of in-person hybrid instruction. With social distancing guidelines in place and just a fraction of students at school, the hybrid learning model varied significantly from traditional learning.
Here are Barons’ thoughts on hybrid learning.
All photos are provided.
“Since this is only the third day of hybrid, there are some growing things for transitioning to hybrid teaching. There is a little bit of awkwardness in the class since the teachers are still learning who the students are that are coming to class. I think it’s going well overall. I’m pretty good at using technology, so translating from online to in class has been relatively easy but I can see the struggle at times where technology doesn’t work. There’s that lag time and I think that’s where the awkwardness comes from, to try to get the technology to work, and going on the next activity. Students are learning how to use technology that they wouldn’t have used before and I think that’s super important in the 21st century when everything is so deeply integrated with technology. But at the same time students lose out on the social interactions that you normally get in-person, so you kind of have to look at it both ways, and especially for students these days, you guys are still developing and for me, that’s social time, and there’s nothing like in-person school,” Spanish teacher Gemno Casabar said.
I think we are continuing to do a lot of things digitally still, but I think the biggest benefit that I saw from transitioning from 100% online to hybrid was being able to have more conversions with my students in-person and being able to connect more. Getting to see faces was really nice. There were students that I saw for the very first time. I do think hybrid as opposed to 100% online, gives students some structure and even though it’s not the typical schedule we would have for regular school, having to have a routine of getting up in the morning and coming to school, is a helpful structure for students.
“My first day back on campus as a hybrid student went really well. Even with significantly less students on campus and in my classes, I felt like everyone who was there was excited to be back. Having the desks distanced and separated so [that] no two students would sit in the same desk on the same day made me feel more comfortable. It was a nice change to be back in a classroom with other students and a teacher after so many months of only online classes, and I feel like many of the other returning students were grateful to be back. The safety precautions taken by the school helped me feel secure and comfortable in the hybrid environment, and the return to school was overall a really good experience,” senior Juliette Bokor said.
“The first day of hybrid was what I would expect, teachers unready to handle both online and hybrid students at the same time due to no experience in teaching this way. To be honest, I thought that hybrid was a waste of time, especially [if] your teacher wasn’t present in the classroom. Not to mention they had you do the same stuff that you were already doing online. I do have to say that some teachers made more of an effort to teach than others, even though they weren’t there. Being at school was refreshing, it was amazing to see people who I haven’t seen in almost a year it feels like. Fountain Valley High School staff is doing their best to help students stay socially distant. Staff [members] were outside of classrooms, making sure students maintained their six feet of distance [and] engaging with students by greeting students and asking about their day,” junior John Klug said.
“I was really excited for today and I thought [hybrid learning] was really good… We were all safe [and] distanced, but I got to talk to the people in my classes, and our teachers talked to us. We were interacting with [the virtual students]… I really liked it because we did a lot of activities [and] went over a ton of material, which I think would have taken us at least one or two days to go over with distance learning. [Instead], it went really fast. I feel like everyone benefited from [hybrid learning]… It was really good for me personally because that’s how I learn—doing something physically and talking to [my classmates],” freshman Riley Bridges said.
“I expected the first day of school to be like all the other first days of school I’ve experienced so far; wearing my favorite clothes, having that nervous feeling in your stomach, meeting up with all your friends before class starts. I definitely knew that this year was going to be different in some ways, but I was just excited to head back to school for the first time in 8 months. This first day of hybrid learning was definitely an interesting experience. It was pretty different and awkward from how I imagined it to be. Seeing everyone and all the different halls brought back great memories. Two of my teachers chose to teach from their homes, so it wasn’t super different from distance learning. It was definitely weird being in a small class with a few other kids that were all in the same Zoom class as you. I was happy to see my history teacher in person though, and being in class became familiar to me once again. Overall, it was an interesting experience and one that I will probably remember for the rest of my life,” junior Shahhed Abuhamdeh said.
“As I was going into hybrid learning, I expected it was going to be difficult. I knew we had to social distance, and that was going to be difficult because I love being close to my friends [when] I talk to them. My first day of hybrid was very well organized. I know the school is trying their hardest to keep all of us safe and I believe they’re doing a great job [with hybrid learning],” sophomore Penny Steadman said.
“It was kind of awkward at first, but overall it was nice to meet teachers in person even though we sort of already have. For classes where teachers were either online or just gave us independent work, I did not feel that much of a difference. However, for classes that had a lesson, I was able to absorb more of what the teacher said because I was in person. As I expected, I learned better when in the same room as the teacher rather than on zoom. In addition, I thought that the passing periods were awfully quiet. I [liked] how [travel becomes easier] with less crowded space,” junior Dylan Do said.
(Photo taken by Anneliese Duong) “I think I was just missing a lot of the connections that you make with students, trying to get out of the house, and learning in a new environment, and somewhat of a return to normalcy in a safe way. I’m still trying it out, I might switch back to online, but so far I’ve been here. I was at school yesterday and I really enjoyed it, being in class with the teachers. It definitely felt like something was missing before. I think the school has done a great job towards mapping out lanes, one way paths, and exits. I think that students have been really awesome about wearing their masks as well as teachers, so as far as that standpoint, I think it’s as safe as it can be. I think it’s really cool that we get to learn in a smaller environment, when there’s only about five other kids in my class and we are all spaced out, so I feel really safe,” senior Cielo Chavarria said.
(Photo by Anneliese Duong) “As a team, we all prepared for the students coming back, we came back in August, we’re very excited to have students back. It’s unlike anything anyone has everyone done before, there are things that we are adjusting and learning cause they come up. I think it’s great also for the staff and teachers to have interaction with the students, we get to see you guys and make an impact on your daily lives,” attendance clerk Kristin Campbell said.
