LIFE GOES ON | NIAMH KELLY
In case you haven’t noticed, 2020 isn’t going great. We started out with the threat of nuclear war, and then half of the world was on fire. East Africa was rampaged by a swarm of locusts and global warming has the world on its toes. We’re living through a sci-fi disaster movie, and looming over it all is Covid19. Covid has completely affected the way we go about our daily lives, and the ways in which we interact with each other. As a 5 year student, my everyday routine was hugely disrupted when quarantine hit. Distanced learning is a huge adjustment, and the lack of consideration and resources the government has shown us kind of leaves us to our own defences. th
Margaret Nolan, a secondary school teacher in Portarlington, told me about her experiences with quarantine and the issues she has faced with distanced learning. She believes distanced learning isn’t the same as being in school, and that the lack of personal interaction doesn’t support teaching and learning; but she also thinks that the independent nature of online learning encourages children to complete work and study for their own benefit rather than just to satisfy a teacher. Margaret also talked about how some teachers are finding it just as hard as their students. Teachers working from home might not have the time to teach a class while working full time on caring
42 | Making History
