Transitional Trauma

Sophee Sanderson @socialsophee

When COVID-19 first hit the United States and LSU announced that we would have a two week break, everyone was ecstatic. We saw it as an opportunity to finally have a break from school and to just mess around. We all expected to be back in the classrooms after a couple weeks off and after Spring Break rolled around. To our surprise, we quickly found out that we would be out of the classrooms longer than we thought.

Everyone's classes suddenly transitioned to Zoom-- something I personally had never even heard of. With that, came lots of advantages and disadvantages. At first, I thought it was so nice that I didn't have to leave my house to go on campus for anything. From March to May, school was a breeze. I didn't even have to go on Zoom for my classes because my professors just put my assignments online. I was able to go back home way more often to see my family and I felt like I had a lot more free time during the day. Everything felt so much more relaxed and I felt like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. 

When August rolled around and the fall semester started, classes were still on Zoom and strict health mandates were still in place. While it was fun and easy at first, I realized that nothing was going back to normal anytime soon. I quickly experienced burnout. I hated the fact that I was waking up and doing school in my room. I felt like there was no separation between the stress of school and the peaceful sanctuary that was my bedroom. I also got lazier and felt distracted and unmotivated. I was either waking up, opening my laptop in bed, hopping on zoom with my camera and mic off and then falling back asleep or I was multi-tasking, not listening and scrolling on social media. It was like all the stress from online learning was right there with me in my once peaceful place of rest and there was nobody there to force me to pay attention. I think that's one of the many reasons that made this transition so hard. School didn't really feel like school anymore... and life didn't really feel fun anymore. 

The transition to online school during the beginning of COVID-19 created a lot of obstacles not only for students, but for teachers too. They had to completely change lesson plans and learn how to transition to teaching online. They also had to deal with students being absent and unengaged. For older teachers, suddenly having to do everything online was a huge challenge. The redesign for teachers in such a short period of time created trauma and uncertainty.

For a lot of students, school was a safe place and a getaway from the troubles they faced at home, so being forced to stay home and learn in an abusive or toxic household had detrimental effects. 

In an article published by Columbia University, the transition to remote learning was analyzed.  The article shared the experience of a teenage girl sitting at home logged onto Zoom for class. Her mother was quick to assume that she was playing games and not doing anything because she was online. She began to yell at her to do her chores. The girl was embarrassed and ashamed that her life at home was now being exposed to her entire class.

The pandemic had huge effects on education and learning. The transition to online learning created challenges and educational inequalities. The lack of student motivation and burnout created widespread problems in social development and learning. Also, online learning felt like a form of homeschooling and limited access to technological tools and lack of resources created unfair learning experiences and emphasized the digital divide.

Now, when I wake up in the morning and feel a sense of dread thinking about going to campus and sitting through class, I check myself and remember how lucky I am to be able to sit in a classroom again. With all the troubles that COVID brought us, I know I can say it made me more appreciative that I get to learn in person.