Uncertainty makes study difficult A day in the life of Leah

Logged on to Microsoft Outlook. Checked for new assignments and made note of their due dates using Microsoft tasks. Zoom Class with Class Teacher, just a check in, nice to see everyone. Simple to use. Biology Class,

Power

Points and voiceovers provided through Teams, a facility on Office 365, brilliant because my teacher is talking me through them. It really works when I hear her voice

Break, walk two yards to the fridge, find nothing. Walk 10 yards to the stash of Easter Eggs, eat half an egg.

Revise English notes sent on Teams, no written work today

History revision, assignments sent with a playlist, perfect, thanks Miss.

Lunch, cook, eat, then return to the Easter Egg stash. Complete… well attempt a 15-minute workout sent by PE teacher, finished... found the sweets from the egg and ate them.

Maths, answers emailed on Teams. Answers and methodology scanned and uploaded by the teacher. Unfortunately, maths is double Dutch to me anyway but I keep trying. The solutions are presented on Power

Points and it really is step by step, it almost makes sense. Celebrate, get more chocolate

Art, working on Art History, learning essays and all the while thinking what if I can’t do my practical. I mean that’s what I’m good at. That’s why I did Art. Lose it and have a quiet meltdown, go to the press eat more chocolate.

Take a break and realise I’ve spent a full day and have only covered five of seven subjects, yes you know exactly what I did. Then I cried because I know that I’ll have to be rolled into the exam hall and they’ll probably have to find a special chair to hold my weight, scream at my mother to stop buying Easter Eggs and she tells me that they’re all for everyone else. Glad of the social isolation now really because I get to eat them all.

French interactive quiz sent by the teacher using Microsoft Forms, good laugh and I learn a lot because it corrects itself (obviously the teacher has put the answers in) and I like that.

Maths again,

I can’t escape it, have papers to do and the solutions have been provided by the teacher. The book companies also gave us free access to all the texts in case we hadn’t brought them home. Check the solutions in all the textbooks, none of them are the same as my answer. Now I know why I hate Maths.

Mam screams I’m to stop studying, I do some breathing exercises sent by the SPHE teacher, don’t feel any better, eat more chocolate.

Bed, panic because I missed a subject…. lie awake, Google LC to see has any announcement been made, nothing. Sleep, wake-up repeat.

So, are we being kept busy? Absolutely. Thanks to Office 365, our teachers are with us, we hear them, see them and interact with them. It’s nice actually and brings some sense of normality into our extraordinary reality but it’s just not quite the same.

Leah is a sixth year student at Coláiste Eoin, Hacketstown on the Carlow Wicklow border. She hopes to study English literature at UCD nexy year.