MORTON, Ill. — The end of the school year is fast approaching and times of reflection have hit some students and teachers.
Teachers from Morton High School discussed the transition to online learning.
Courtney Eddleman, Head of the English Department and teacher, said the spur of the moment change to online learning showed they had a good infrastructure in place.
“It’s not a change anybody expected to make at that time, and there certainty has been adjustments and a learning curve,” Eddleman said. “They all have an iPad, we use Google Classroom as our platform.”
Eddleman had her senior students do some reflective writing to express their feelings.
“There was a lot of emotions from them. Certainly the jarring of their school year. But, also really the mourning of the loss of a lot of things they were counting on. I think not even really realizing or having the time to sit and ponder what those things would mean to their senior year,” Eddleman said.
The iconic senior events such as prom, senior week, and graduation have been changed due to COVID-19.
Eddleman said that even though the seniors are sad with the loss of the events they were looking forward to, they are coping.
“They’re looking forward to next year,” Eddleman said.
Some Morton students dressed up in their prom attire over the weekend and took pictures as they would have on prom night.
Mary Holmgren, a science teacher at Morton High, said the first Google Meet video conference with her students was emotional.
“It was just nice to see people, and interact with one another, a couple of them cried,” Holmgren said. “It was just good for our souls to see each other after that first week.”
The first few weeks were socially and emotionally rough on her seniors as well.
Holmgren said it is a mixed bag of emotions, and some students are looking at the bright side of the situation.
“There are those kids that are just getting through it, they talk about it and they are sad,” Holmgren said. “And there are definitely those kids that feel robbed of those experiences.”
Holmgren said it is still important to make those moments special for seniors and show that the teachers care.
“My husband and I, and my son, we went and drove around and delivered treat bags to my seniors with just a little note, a graduation card, and stuff like that. Some would see me and wave out the window,” Holmgren said.
After making those deliveries, Holmgren received positive messages from her students.
Both teachers agreed that they are very proud of their students.
“We’ve missed out on some of that reflection but I think this circumstance has made them by large, a lot more reflective of life right now,” Eddleman said.
Holmgren said she encourages her students to be kind.
“I want them to be thoughtful, critical thinkers. I always try to instill in them a kindness,” Holmgren said. “And, reflect on just being a good person who is smart and helpful to others.”
