STEP-UP students' reflections about online learning - application to high school classrooms

[Melissa Chessler]

STEP-UP program participants -- Please respond to the question below.

Teachers and other NJ-PTAG Google group members -- We welcome your responses to the STEP-UP participants' posts!

Consider whether the approaches/experiences that worked well or did not work well for you would be equally suitable or unsuitable for students in a high school classroom?  Why?

[Tyler Balas]

Most of the things that did work well for me would most certainly work well for most kids in high school. I've only been out of high school for a year so I feel my preferences are still pretty close to when I was a high school student myself. Most of the things that didn't work well for me or that I disliked are the same as well. I believe short and to the point lessons online will best keep students from being burned out and still motivated to learn. 

[Pierce Wickenden]

I believe that for me, what has worked has been just trying to maximize all your resources when learning new content and if you're unsure of certain things, don't be afraid to ask questions and seek additional resources so that you understand everything as best as you can. 

[Nathan Moncayo]

On the other hand, I believe that online classes should not be implemented as it did not work out for me or any of my friend's experiences as they thought it was worse than having classes on a normal basis. Online classes for high schoolers would be more inattentive rather than being motivating for them. It would be difficult for a student to aspire to be in a career if all of their experiences came from online courses, not to say that all of it would be apathetic. But the main point that I want to come across that online learning should be convenient for students and should be used as it is being used now, as the second option in case matters like these occur. 

[Elizabeth Parisi]

When teaching in a high school classroom, I believe that being in touch and checking in on your students needs to be considered in a high school classroom. I believe teachers should be aware of the different stresses their students are facing and provide a way for them to reach out. I believe that it is suitable for teachers to provide a longer, but reasonable timeline. These are suitable for students and teachers in a high school because these approaches touched upon mental health.