by Ethan Wolbach, reporter
OMAHA – Many classrooms have been left empty this year as teachers and students transition to online instruction.
UNO graduate and now 3rd grade teacher Heather DeDeaux never expected her first-year teaching students to be all online.
“My expectations were that COVID was going to be gone, so we might be able to have somewhat of a normal classroom,” DeDeaux said.
According to a study by Burbio, 52 percent of students are attending online school this fall, and DeDeaux soon found out the struggles her students faced with virtual learning.
“The first week was total chaos. And no one knew how to get on. No one knew what button did what. But once I got used to that, it was really quite a refreshing experience,” DeDeaux said.
Avery Hardy, a secondary education major at UNO, worries about losing the personal aspect of teaching in the classroom.
“It’s a huge thing being able to build that relationship to get to know the student, um, more than just their name but actually getting to know who they are, their interests, and that’s just a lot harder to do when online,” Hardy said.
Hardy believes that after this year, students will change and have a more positive outlook on school.
“I think you’re going to see more kids who didn’t exactly appreciate school or to start school was social hour for seven eight hours, I think you’ll see a lot more kids appreciate school more, because like okay cool I’m actually here learning I actually I’m not at home all day long,” Hardy said.
After having all of his classes switched to online instruction, Hardy knows other students must be struggling with the switch as well.
“It’s tough for me to learn virtually, it’s going to be even tougher for, you know, junior high students to learn virtually,” Hardy said.
