Breakout Room to Classroom: d.tech’s Transition Back to the Building

Lydia Rak | lrak25@dtechhs.org

Isabella Zarzar | izarzar25@dtechhs.org

For many people, the transition from zoom was harder than expected. As we all know, last year was very unique. Zoom was hard for most students, but it did have its perks: sleeping in, school from bed, and more free time were just some of the pros of online school. 

Matteo Farinacci, an 11th grader, says, “Zoom was a nice vacation from school for a week, but I didn’t want it to last so long.” 

Online school had some pros, but many students believe being in person is much better. Parisa Mahamedia, another 11th grader adds, “Being in person, I feel more energized and engaged.” Other 11th graders came to the same conclusion: your peers motivate you to succeed. That's why being in-person makes it so much easier to learn. Without other students by your side it is easy to feel apathetic.  

Yellowdig.co confirms this when saying “There can be a lack of engagement in virtual classrooms. This is mainly because teacher/student or student/student relationships are hard to maintain virtually. It’s difficult to get to know people through video calls, and without a palpable connection, students tend to lose focus during online classes because it doesn’t matter to them.” 

Still, even though there was a lot of excitement coming back in person, many students found they were exhausted at the end of the first day of school and had forgotten just how long and tiring school really is. 

The New York Times recently interviewed students from all grade levels over the country on this subject. Many of them talked about how overwhelming it was coming back.

Teachers from d.tech have also had a tricky transition from zoom. Chemistry teacher Greg Fenner says  “Having to think outside the box, having to develop lab activities to be done at home forced me to discover a whole new way to learn about things I had done in the past.” However, when talking about going back in person, Fenner says, “I think it is really fun to cultivate a positive energy with science”. He has kept many of the zoom lesson plans, and says he’s been inspired by zoom to continue to use many of the lesson ideas in his class this year. “One thing I will miss, though, is having my kitchen 10 feet away,” Fenner adds.