The End of the First Year of High School: Freshmen Share their Opinions

The end of the school year is very close. This year was very different from what everyone was used to because of all the COVID19 regulations. For this reason, I wanted to ask 9th graders what their experience of the first year of high school was like and if the Coronavirus got in their way of thoroughly enjoying this year.

Firstly, I wanted to see how difficult this year was, compared to junior high, in the eyes of freshmen. The majority of the students said that their first year of high school was easier than the previous one in Junior High because they got used to the new system. Last year, the virus and the new regulations hit everyone unexpectedly. Students said that at first, they didn't really know what they were doing. But, as they had already spent the second half of the previous year learning online, the first year of high school didn't appear as challenging. "I got used to the learning techniques and realized what teachers expected from me. And therefore I adapted" says one of the students. They also told me that this year's curriculum was much more manageable. We had only four lessons a day, which caused the amount of our homework to decrease.

But there also were students who thought that this year was harder. They said that they'd get easily distracted in class because they had to learn from home and couldn't pay enough attention. This difficulty was definitely one of the most significant downsides of online learning. Even though the lessons from our own bedroom give us comfort, sometimes we would forget the real purpose of why we were in class.

One student also mentioned that this year felt different because the new teachers took us more seriously: they didn't look at us as kids anymore. But this factor also made the year more difficult because now everyone expected more from us.

I also had another question: if the students liked the online lessons or not and wished to continue learning in this format. The majority of students simply answered "no." They said that going to school was much more motivating, engaging, and fun. But others told me that they enjoyed the year because it was easier and more relaxing. One of the students said: "Online learning is cool. There is not much difference between discussing in class or in zoom. (by the way, I have never had the opportunity to visit school and experience the Harkness table method) but the worst thing for me this year was that most of my classmates were in class while I had to attend lessons from zoom, which of course was not as pleasant as normal zoom classes." So the main difficulty for students was to participate from home when the majority of the class was in school.

Because we had separate blocks last year, we didn't really get to know most of our classmates. This year was supposed to change that since there is a different class in every subject. But because of the virus, it was impossible. So I decided to ask the 9th grade if they struggled with getting to know their classmates and new teachers. Surprisingly, many of the students said that they didn't have a problem getting to know their teachers. However, they struggled with socializing with their classmates. Hopefully, this will not be a struggle for the students in the future when we return.

In the end, even though this year we mostly spent at home, I wanted to ask freshmen if they enjoyed the first year of high school and if there's anything they wish to be different next year. The majority of my classmates said that this year was not what they expected their first year of high school to be. But it wasn't unenjoyable."Even though my first year of high school was different than it was supposed to be, the small amount of time I got to spend inside the school was a hundred times better than the majority of the time spent online. Obviously, I'd like next year to be in-person at school if COVID cases go down." A lot of the students also said that they hope to have PE lessons and lunch next year to socialize with their classmates better. They also wish to experience the traditional high school events such as AAT day, Christmas party, and generally to get to know the whole school, not only the classmates, to feel that sense of community that GZAAT always supported.

Edited by Mashiko Lortkipanidze