At-home learning begins
North Penn High School begins at-home learning this week, and it will be a new experience for everybody involved.
“I think the school is trying to keep it as simple as possible,” North Penn senior Julia Smeltzer said, “while still having the students continue with their classes and curriculum.”
Per an order from Gov. Tom Wolf, all public and nonpublic Montgomery County schools, including North Penn, are closed until at least April 6. This in
cludes all school and district offices.
As a result, all school activities, field trips, meetings and use of the facilities are canceled.
But students can get back to learning, using their computers, laptops or iPads from home.
Teachers are advised to post material or assignments before 8 a.m., and students can complete those assignments on their own time.
There is a bit more flexibility, as it’s not mandatory that the students log in at 7:21 a.m. — when they would usually start their day at school. For some of the classes, students will use a Group FaceTime and talk through there,but for the most part, it’s on their own time. DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE » Smeltzer, headed to The University of Pittsburgh next year, will have some variety in her home-learning experience.
“My classes are a little different. For instance, two of my classes are The Knight Crier (School Newspaper) and the Yearbook, so for those courses, it’s a little different to do online learning,” she said. “For the newspaper, we work at our own pace to publish articles at home, and being online doesn’t impact us too much.
“For yearbook, we had to submit the whole book without spring sports last week, and there’s no course or curriculum with that class so there’s some flexibility with that. My only other classes that I would expect online work would be for my Pre Calc math class and my British Literature class. Both are required
to graduate, so I expect them to be the only two classes which I will have work online.” MOVING FORWARD » North Penn starts its last marking period today.
The school changed the grading outline in that it counts for only 10% of the final grade. If there is no return to school this year, then there will be no final exams, no tests, no quizzes.
“Teachers are grading us based on participation on a zero-, one- or two-point system,” Smeltzer said. “So if we participate, we get our grade. Obviously if we go back to school, things will return to normal policy.”
North Penn Principal Pete Nicholson announced Friday that graduation will be June 11, but how graduation will take place is still up in the air.
MIXED FEELINGS » At-home learning will be a different feel for teachers and students.
“Part of me is kind of nervous,” Smeltzer said. “I’m a hands-on learner, and I need to be in the classroom. Especially with math, I need to see problems on the board to fully understand, so having to do this on my own is kind of scary.
“But then it’s also nice to have flexibility in my day to do assignments, which is kind of different.”
Just as it has been tough for everyone to get used to being stuck at home so much in recent days, learning from home will provide a challenge in that the camaraderie with fellow students — and teachers — is now absent.
“Seeing my teachers and classmates is my favorite part of the day,” Smeltzer said. “I have such great relationships with my teachers, and I have built them
over the past three years so the chance that I may not get to say goodbye or thank them in person is definitely sad to think about.
“I also have a lot of classes with my friends, since senior year, we have more flexibility in what classes we take, so not seeing them every day in class is hard.”
The shutdown has been an unexpected challenge, creating a whole lot of uncertainty moving forward.
“It is really hard to stay positive,” Smeltzer said. “We want to have the best mindset and just hope that a miracle can happen, but it’s easy to start thinking of everything we are missing out on. All my friends and I are going to different colleges next year and this was our last chance to be in school together.
“As of now, the prom and graduation haven’t been touched yet but it’s sad to think about all the things I won’t get to experience. Seniors have Reflections, Class Night, Senior Awards, and we may not get to do that. Everything is a big “what if” and it’s not how I imagined my senior year to go.”
Smeltzer, the seniors and the entire school push forward.
Smeltzer spends her time painting — a lot — and has been redecorating her room and doing a lot of writing.
She also meets up with friends a couple of times a week, just sitting in a parking lot and talking from their cars.
She looks forward to college but would like to get back to North Penn before that.
“I have a couple majors floating around in my head,” she said. “Leaning towards something with media but want to see what I’m really passionate about when I’m on campus.”