Learning remotely can be difficult, especially for those in Years 11 and 12. Mr David Smart, Head of Senior School, asked Tom Kilmartin (Year 11) to share his experience from 2018 when he engaged in remote learning due to a sports injury.
‘To those who are struggling with online learning, let me share some tips I learnt last year. For a bit of background, last year I broke my neck playing sport and was stuck at home for roughly six months. Thankfully, CGS wanted to start trialling remote learning, and I was willing to be their guinea pig. The first few weeks were tough. The teacher-student interaction wasn’t like it was in the classroom, I also struggled to stay on task as I’m sure a lot of you are experiencing at the moment.
It’s like when you’re learning a new sport, there’s always a period of time where you feel frustrated, overwhelmed and in need of help. You have your good days and your bad, that cannot be controlled. So, on those bad days you need to think, “who am I doing this for?”, “what are my goals for this subject?”, “what things can I do to make this easier?”. I got used to it and after a while felt I wasn’t any more disadvantaged than those learning at School. For me, the difference this time is that this is a team sport and we are all doing this together.
What I found really helpful was to have a balance of school and recreation. Now I’m not saying that for every period you have, you have another period off, but make sure you take some time off to exercise, play games, build something, or watch a movie, and make sure that it is guilt-free. Usually, the next day is a better day than the last. Don’t expect anything to happen within a day, these things take time so be patient, and most of all, stay home and away from others for a while so we can get back into the game again soon.’
