With the chaos of the Coronavirus Epidemic, Centennial High School started “Distance Learning” in early April, 2020. 

Students get work from their teachers through Google Classroom every week and are usually expected to have it turned in by that Friday. 

Teachers often have regular Zoom meetings weekly to catch up with students and offer help. 

Distance Learning is completely different than actually going to school and everyone has mixed feelings about it. 

Here are a few Pros and Cons of distance learning from the students and teachers of CHS. 

Freshmen

Hayden Boyd

“Pro, I can sleep in as much as I want, and do the work on my own time. Con, It’s a lot harder to get the teachers’ help.”

Janet Carrera Espinoza 

“I’d say a pro is just having your own learning space and being able to learn at your own pace and a con is that it can be challenging to learn without the teacher face-to-face. Furthermore, it’s pretty lonely and I just overall miss being social.” 

Tatum Regimbal

“Pro, it’s easier to work at your own pace. You can also work around your schedule. Con, It can sometimes be harder to understand new learning online. We also get no in person contact which for me is an easier way to learn.”

Alex Hernandez 

“Pro is that you can do it whenever and a con is that some people need teachers to be able to learn and understand.” 

Sophomores

 Ryleigh Green 

“Pro, you can focus better with no distractions from other kids. Con, it’s super easy to slack off and fall behind.”

Mateo Medina

 “I think a pro is we decide when we do are work and a con is less hands-on learning”

Sami Rykken

“Some pros for online learning for us kids is we can do online work whenever we want. We get better sleep so we do better for school. Cons, we struggle with what the teachers are asking us to do rather than when in person we had contact and hands-on work, and we also never see our friends anymore because school is closed.

Evan Thomson said

“A pro for me is that I get to spend more time with family and a con is that there is no motivation to do any school work.” 

Juniors

Trinity Miller

“The pros for me is being able to do things on my own time, it leaves time for me to be able to work and make more money.  The cons are that it’s harder to learn and ask questions.  It takes more self-motivation to do online work.”

Edwin Miranda 

“Pro, I can do it whenever I want, and a con is it’s harder to get in contact with teachers to get help.”

Angie Torrez 

“Pro would probably be that you are able to do it in your own environment and not have a bunch of other people there for distraction. I personally feel that it doesn’t really work since there is no real motivation to do it without getting actual grades to contribute to GPA  and that students aren’t learning anything, they’re just quickly doing the work so they can turn it in on time” 

Kobe Hein

 “Well pros, I get to sleep in and be at home where I can eat and wear what I want plus it’s less school work. Cons, it’s very difficult to get into touch with teachers and know exactly what’s going on and you can’t see friends.”

Teachers 

Eli Nolde, English Teacher 

“Pro, being close to my wife and daughter all day and not having to rush through lunch! Con I feel motivated and charged by being around my students. I miss those daily connections and conversations.” 

Philip Clarke, Social Studies and Computer Science Teacher 

“Pros, some kids are able to manage their time and learn at the pace they want to learn. Cons, there no human connection, no immediate feedback, and no discussion.”

Emma Wood, English Teacher 

 “Pros, I’ve been having super productive writing conferences over the phone with students who are struggling on essays. It’s great to have the time to do that! Normally, my teaching job is kind of three jobs wrapped into one: Managing my classroom, planning and grading. Now it’s almost manageable to do all of those things. Almost as importantly, now we get to meet everybody’s cute dogs and cats that they’re not allowed to bring to school. Cons, The best part of my job is building connections with other teachers and students. We can do that over video, but I miss hugging my coworkers! I miss saying “hi” to my students and laughing together. Screens just aren’t as fun. It really shows you that learning is a social process.”

Jeff Stanek, Journalism Teacher 

“The pros are we are trying to fill in for the missed opportunity of regular school; it’s not the same and kids are missing a lot of activities and teachers are working outside their comfort zone, but it’s better than nothing. The cons are the participation is low, and it doesn’t seem like school.”