Guest Blog

Zoe is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and an 8th grader at the Lyndon K-8 School in Boston.

April 27, 2020 // It’s the sixth week of quarantine and so much has changed. On Tuesday, I found out that my school is closing for the rest of the year. It may seem pretty silly to be sad about a school closing when so many people are dying, but it means a lot to me. I was homeschooled until seventh grade, and I’ve learned so much about myself since I started public school. I’ve made friends that I can’t talk to online, so I may never see them again, and that makes me really sad.

It also shows how serious this is because everything is closing for at least two more months. I feel like if we had taken COVID-19 more seriously when it first started spreading to Europe and the U.S., things would have been calming down by now. We didn’t and now we have to double down. I am trying to make the most of my time because I know that this may never happen again. So I’m trying to spend a lot of time with my family, learn new things, appreciate my friends, and just try to be the best me that I can. I’ve been distancing myself from people that aren’t great for me, studying extra, and changing things about myself that I think could be better.

I think it’s wise to look at this time as room to grow rather than feeling like you’re in a prison. It’s really good to look back on all the little things that we took for granted because when we get them back we’ll appreciate it way more. I’m trying to stay optimistic and focus on the good things. For example, I’m starting high school next year and schools closing gives me more time to prepare for that, or I can use this time to think about some of the things I want in life and what I have to do to get there. I think that if we stay positive, and take all of the precautions to stop the spread of COVID-19, it won’t seem as bad, and we’ll be better off.

Caleb is an Editor for Teens in Print and a senior at Boston Latin Academy. Read his other work for TiP here.

April 27, 2020 // Recently, Boston Public School students like myself have been notified that the rest of our school year has been cancelled. While not all of us were surprised, none of us were really prepared for the prospect of never seeing many of our school friends again.

Many of us have known each other throughout the hellish experience that is high school, and this cancellation eliminates many of the chances we would have had to say goodbye. The end of our school year was not certain, and social distancing discourages us from meeting up with school friends outside of school even if we have their contact information. This uncertain and unplanned abrupt ending to our high school lives lacks the catharsis that a prom or graduation ceremony would.

In terms of a solution to this problem, unfortunately, there aren’t many options. BPS officials don’t really have set times when social distancing can end, so it is difficult to set up student meet-ups or know if there will be an opportunity for any at all. However, I would encourage any BPS officials reading this to make reasonable attempts to reschedule proms and graduation ceremonies. These things mean a lot to students, especially seniors. I would also encourage any students like myself reading this to maintain their connections with friends they have made in the past four to six years. Meet up with people this summer if you can, or connect with them virtually if face-to-face communication is still out of the question. The last thing we want is to lose the little closure we stood to gain when it came to our high school experiences.

Angela is a teacher at The Trotter K-8 School in Boston. This is her first year working with her WriteBoston instructional coach, Scarlett. They’ve continued to work together during the shutdown. 

What has been the largest challenge of pivoting to a virtual classroom?

The pivoting challenge for me has been seeing the students that were much more productive in the classroom struggling in a virtual setting. I believe this is caused by the mere fact that due to uncertainty our world is experiencing, families have abandoned what our children need the most, which are routines, structures and schedules. Families are afraid. Yet, each day when 16-20 out of my 23 students join our virtual session, I am reminded of the sacred learning environment we created physically, which has shifted so nicely into our virtual space. In this new space, there is lots of engagement in our meetings and my students and I are enjoying learning together, how to manage different virtual platforms as we go along. The emotional and basic needs of all, students, families, and my colleagues are noted and acknowledged each time we meet, because we can still see and speak to one another and inherently know that somehow we will get through this new normal together. 

How has the WriteBoston coach been supporting you during the school closure?

Additionally, in the past few weeks, my WriteBoston coach Scarlett Tannetta continues to play a critical role supporting Ms. Gordon’s Fabulous Fifth Grade, on our second piece of writing.  Ms. Scarlett provides continuous support of mine and my students writing ideas, giving feedback on my exemplar examples for students, as well as joining and assisting zoom breakout room sessions with students. I truly value this teaching and learning opportunity that promotes my students’ ability to grasp the importance of the written word.

Samiir is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and a 12th Grader at Boston International Newcomers Academy. 

April 14, 2020 // School has been closed for four weeks. Undergraduates and high school students are taking classes online and other people are working. While you work on your homework, you can listen to music, or if you don’t understand words very clearly you can open a dictionary to help you retain what you are doing. To be honest, I listen to a lot of music to keep going and sometimes I look at a dictionary to make my work more professional. For me, online classes are fun and great because my school schedule has not changed. The expectations are still the same.

A huge advantage of online classes is forcing you to have self-discipline. You don’t have a teacher or someone to push you to do work. You have to actually log-in to your computer to participate in the discussion to get participation credit. Being lazy or undisciplined causes you to fall behind. Another reason I like online classes is that you don’t have to dress up. If you want, you can do your work in your pajamas or you can lay in your bed or on your couch while you listen to a lecture.

Of course, I do miss the physical classroom, my teachers and my classmates. It was nice to have classmates who were always joking and trying to help each other. Right now it is just you and the screen and there is no one beside you who might be able to explain the work to you in your native language or eat a snack with you. However, it is not always easy to focus in class. Sometimes you are tired and studying in a loud or noisy environment makes it much more difficult to concentrate.

Online classes might not work for everybody because in different situations some people might need a traditional classroom to learn, but online classes offer me some unique benefits like self-discipline. These benefits allow me to push myself to graduate from high school.

Malia is an Editor for Teens in Print and a senior at Boston Collegiate Charter School. Read Malia’s full archive of TiP articles here.

April 14, 2020 // If the apocalypse has done anything for me, it has proven that my brain is incapable of learning through a computer.

For most of my life, my routine has been to show up to school, sit at a desk, ask questions, listen to lectures, raise my hand and repeat. This has always been my key to success in terms of completing work. I have found that I’m most successful when sitting in a building that is not my house in complete silence.

But with this national shut down, classrooms became Zoom meetings, everything is now on Google Classroom and I’ve found myself waking up at 11 in the morning even though my Zoom class started at 10. The structure and familiarity of school have been completely stripped away from me and that has impacted my work tremendously. Two teachers have already emailed my parents scolding me for not doing an assignment that has been buried in my email amongst other projects that I forgot it existed.

Being motivated is harder now that all of my AP exams are only 45 minutes long and open-note. I have enough credits as a senior to simply stop taking the classes. School seems like such a joke now that I can take lecture notes in my bathrobe and the faculty have to send emails telling kids to stop inviting random people that yell cuss words into the Zoom classes and refrain from FaceTime-ing in the bathroom.

My advice: set an alarm, shower, take off your pajamas, put on real clothes and set up a space to work so it feels as much like the normal routine as it possibly can.

Hopefully, I can follow my own advice. Senior year is looking slow.

Cristian is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and a Senior at the John D. O’Bryant School of Mathematics and Science in Boston. Read more of Cristian’s work for TiP here.

March 28, 2020 // Since schools are closed, students have no choice but to self-quarantine. Boredom slowly crept its way into my life and I was running out of entertainment, but then I realized something: I have a family.

Well, obviously, but it never occurred to me that I can have fun with them. Before the outbreak, I was rarely free to spend any quality time with my own family because of schoolwork, college applications, etc … I was by no means a stranger to having fun with my family, but I’ve never truly hung out with them. So I grabbed my deck of playing cards and asked my little sisters if they wanted to play some card games, and they agreed.

Before playing, my sisters admitted they didn’t know any card games, so I decided to teach them some. It was very humorous trying to teach little kids to play games because they often forgot numerous times what each card did, to the point that I wanted to draw them a detailed diagram about each card.

Eventually, they got the hang of it, and we started to really enjoy ourselves. We always like to poke fun at one another when someone makes a move that completely sabotages the other. When we were playing a game (that I am going to call sugarhead because its actual name is a swear word), I remember playing an ace, the highest value card, and the oldest couldn’t beat it so she had to pick up a 20-card pile. She was not happy, but the others and I couldn’t stop laughing because she swore she was going to win — Don’t you just love karma?

It was one of the most entertaining and funny nights of the week and we hope to do it more often. This was one of those genuine quality bonding moments that I’ve never really experienced with my sisters. This gave me hope that we can all get over these seemingly miserable times if we just find and explore the good things in life.

April 14, 2020 // Two weeks into quarantine and the boredom is once again creeping up on me. I went over a list of options in my head to waste time. I thought about starting a new hobby or watching reruns of my favorite childhood shows. Eventually, my sister gave me the opportunity to do something else. She wanted help with her homework, a mix of packets and online assignments. Being bored as I was, I completely obliged.

I never really helped my sisters with their homework in the past, for the most part, because they never asked so I just assumed they didn’t need any help. I’ve also never paid attention to what they were learning in school. As far as I knew, they could have been learning quantum physics and I would have never guessed.

Luckily for me, my sister wasn’t learning quantum physics so I sat on the bed with her stack of papers all scattered and started working through each individual problem. They were simple questions for the most part since I was four grade levels above the material, but I knew my sister may not understand so I made sure to always ask “Why/How do you know?” at the end of each problem.

If you know any middle schoolers, you always get the same reaction when you ask that question. They just think it’s a torture mechanism intended to trick them, and so you always get the “I don’t know” or “Because…” as the response. So each time either of these was an answer, I made sure to explain the topic.

I never expected to enjoy helping my sister as much as I did. We made jokes in between questions, played guessing games and we even made a snack after a job well done. In addition, I also got to see how bright my little sister is. She’s a smart cookie even though all I ever see her do is fool around with her other sisters.

Hopefully, in the near future, she asks me to help more often; I really enjoyed getting to bond and learn together.

Photo by Max Strainchamps

Mike is a Computer Programming and Web Development Teacher at Madison Park Technical Vocational High School in Boston. He’s been working with a WriteBoston instructional coach during the school shutdown.

What has been the largest challenge of pivoting to a virtual classroom?

Pivoting to an online classroom has been the hardest teaching issue I have faced because I do not get any kind of feedback from students (because I can’t see them), nor can I encourage, prompt, cajole or ask students, except when they are online with me. Without feedback, I don’t know engagement, comprehension, interest, confusion, etc. This puts the total burden on the students to communicate everything.

I will take back to my classroom the joy of actually knowing what my students are thinking, feeling and doing. I will emphasize self-advocacy, communication, and independent learning skills. I thought these were important skills before the quarantine; now I realize these are THE critical skills teens need to learn.

How has your WriteBoston coach been supporting you during the school closure? 

My WriteBoston coach, Kelly Knopf-Goldner, has been an amazing mentor throughout my teaching experience. She has encouraged rigor, quality and scaffolding. The first question out of her mouth is always “What is your goal?”

As we switched to online-learning, she emphasized that same thinking. We jointly came to understand that Maslow is correct: until our students have food, shelter and feel safe, they cannot learn. Our first goal must be to make them feel safe and supported. Only once they feel safe and relatively comfortable can they begin to tackle content. 

One thing Kelly helped me put together was a set of learning criteria I would try to measure as the students work online. We hope to measure these attributes to see what actually works and to change my curriculum to fit my student’s needs.

The other amazing thing Kelly did for me was gather and distill the wisdom of other teachers she works with and expert teaching advice from around the country. One of the most important things she told me was that I was not alone: All teachers are having problems with students’ lack of engagement and feedback. Her reassurance allowed me to step back, breathe, and look at the bigger picture.

I don’t have enough space (or time) to say all the good things I want to say about WriteBoston and Kelly. Without them I would be foundering and so would my students.

Daniel is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and a 9th Grader at Boston College High School. 

April 14, 2020 // COVID-19 has caused a worldwide panic making everyone fear the virus. To start I see this on the internet and through my parents constantly telling me to wash my hands. Their panic is also very contagious to my little sister and me, though we usually take what happens in the news with a grain of salt. The caution my parents have in washing hands and social distancing causes me to worry along with them. This panic over death changed our mindset and emotions.

So far, nearly my whole family has been able to maintain self-quarantine, with my sister and I taking online classes and my dad working from home. However, this is not the case with my mom, who still works outside of our home as a house cleaner. This causes me and my family to worry about my mother because she could catch the virus much easier than the rest of us. Moreover, if she were to have the virus and came home with it, my family could catch it along with my mother. Thankfully, that has not been the case, yet it still makes me worry about the safety of my family.

My family also fears for the safety of my father. He is the main person who pays the bills, mortgage, and other necessities. I’m afraid that if he catches the virus, my family will have to find other ways to pay for the necessities he was paying in the first place.

I’m also afraid of the virus taking away my grandparents because of their older age and how the virus can easily get into contact with older people. The fact that death could be close to anyone of my family members does not bring ease, especially since all we can do is wash our hands, distance ourselves from society and hope that no one will contract the virus.

Although my family is experiencing fear and panic caused by the circumstances, we have found strength and comfort in each other through prayer and laughter. My family and I pray for not only our own safety but also the safety of other families who may be in a worse position than I am. I pray to God that other families who may be dealing with financial issues due to the virus find a way to overcome that obstacle along with the families who have lost loved ones to the virus. I pray that everyone stays safe and healthy.

Jacob is an Editor for Teens in Print and a senior at Boston Arts Academy. Read Jacob’s full archive of TiP articles here and listen to the student-produced podcast here.

March 28, 2020 // On a drab Monday morning, I, already fed up with my lukewarm McDonald’s sandwich, entered school to be herded into a room of no more than 20-odd people — half of whom were typical jaded high school students, and the other half doing Tik-Tok dances.

It was after an hour or so that they explained, “We’re shutting down the schools to flatten the curve of the COVID-19 virus.”

Wow, I get to not be around all these people AND graduate from the comfort of my Charlie Brown-sheeted bed!? How could I refuse? Well 10 days in, I’m here having watched almost all of “Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure,” won two campaigns of Empire at War and done a fair bit of reading, granted intermittent breaks to gaze into the void and debate my own mortality.

And as much as one is to gaze into the void, so does the void gaze back into you. So, if I am to break the shroud I’ve built of these past few years as a relatively-chill-if-not-cynical-intellectual-type, he said most definitely tooting his own horn, I’m so miserable these days.

As someone whose headspace isn’t particularly ideal on the best of days, being locked up in my room with the apocalypse on the horizon hasn’t been my idea of a good time.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m uber excited for my post-apocalyptic biker gang — theme pending — but the uncertainty and commotion is scary. I’ve found it hard to sleep most nights, my mind racing between questions like how will the economy fare in a post-COVID-19 world? How am I even going to graduate without going to school for at least another month? Was it really a good idea to text my ex? While I can only answer the last question with a resounding no, no, it wasn’t, I’m doing my best to keep myself okay. It’s easier said than done, but I’m managing best I can. I’m taking it one day at a time, trying to stay productive, I even considered exercising! Which is the first step to actually exercising, so, boom! Product-heckin’-tivity!

While I fight my urge to overshare with the unsuspecting public the details of my descent into insanity, I urge you to take care of each other in these times of isolation. The only thing keeping me going is the support system provided by my boys. Check-in on your friends, make sure they’re doing okay, and we’ll all get through this no more freaked than before.

Bethany is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and student at MATCH Charter Public School. Read more of Bethany’s work for TiP here.

March 28, 2020 // Self-quarantine. Isolation. The current state that the entire world is facing right now has caused many changes. We are going through a global pandemic. People have been on lockdown in their own homes. On top of that people are going into panic mode. People are dying every day.

Places like Italy have been on lockdown for longer. They’ve made this time more enjoyable with live bands playing outside the windows and balconies, but through all this, I feel like we are all taking the situation seriously. However, the panic that people feel, which is understandable, is not helping anything.

Self-quarantine, although scary, is the only thing we can do to prevent the spread. If you stay home you won’t be helping in the spread, and you won’t get it. Although it’s not as easy as it sounds, because of the necessities of grocery shopping, quarantine itself is the safest we can be from this virus.

I have been given three weeks of self-quarantine from school. Even my city is going on lockdown, which for me is much scarier. Boston has shut down all the stores and public gatherings to keep social distance. All the decisions that are being made seem to have been very sudden and last minute. I only found out that school was closing on the last day before it closed. All of these quick decisions really play into putting people into panic mode.

Kids everywhere saw this as a vacation. We all thought we would be able to go to each other’s houses and go out every day like you would on other vacations. But, when the streams of online work began we were definitely in for a surprise.

Now, kids everywhere are spending a lot of these days on school, and the rest of it is stuck in the house forced to social distance. Even the weekends are dreaded. The weekdays and weekends feel the same now.

The isolation has given everyone time to think. For many, it has not been good for them, as the average human needs to socially interact with others often. But, I think that for a lot of us, this time was much needed. For me, I don’t feel like I need to socialize often. I’ve gotten a lot of social anxiety from the smallest things ever since I was little. Even during lunch, I’ve completely stopped going into the cafeteria at all unless I’m forced to go.

Recently, I’ve received some medical news that has required me to make a serious lifestyle change that I was just not ready for. I did not have the motivation for myself to start. But this isolation has given me the time I needed to start, and it has given me plenty of time to focus on my health.

The things you see on the news and on social media can make you feel nothing but fear, but seeing the good can sometimes be the only thing that makes you feel sane through the panic.

Bendu is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and a senior at Boston Latin Academy. Read more of Bendu’s work for TiP here.

March 28, 2020 // After the number of cases of COVID-19 in Massachusetts doubled overnight on March 10th, the number of cases in Boston went from zero to 19, I grew increasingly concerned about what this meant for myself and my family. I paid close attention to the news and to articles covering the coronavirus to make sure I was up to date with everything going on. Boston schools were still open, and I was still going to work at this time.

Then the number of cases doubled again. I began watching the news more closely as cases in other states soared and it quickly became clear that we were not safe from this disease.

I stopped going to school days before the official announcement of closure was announced, with concern for my mother at the forefront of my mind. After learning that the disease targeted those with pre-existing health conditions and compromised immune systems and that young people can be carriers of the disease themselves, I spoke to her about staying home for her own safety.

My quarantine time has been longer than others, and in this time I have not only been left with figuring out how to best manage my time and my days, but I have been able to see just how this time home is affecting my mental health.

Though personally, this doesn’t come as a surprise, my anxiety has decreased tremendously as I’m no longer running on 10+ hour days from school to work and then home again, on less than five hours of sleep. However, I have found that with my lack of a proper sleep schedule, I haven’t been feeling as great as I could.

I have also decided that I am using this time to do things and accomplish goals I hadn’t had the time to do while in school, and I am practicing new ways to manage my time. Our five weeks of time in quarantine has now become six weeks, and that’s a long time. Two goals I have had for a long time now are to learn how to play the ukulele and to begin writing a short story from an idea I’ve had. On my fourth day or so of being home, I decided on a whim to pick up my instrument and finally learn how to play it, and as of last Friday, I’ve started my short story.

With all this time, especially for those who are not leaving their homes unless they absolutely have to, I think it’s really important to make use of this newfound time outside of online learning and school work.

I’m not going into work at Hyde Square anymore so I have been slacking on dancing and stretching every day, but I have made myself two schedules to follow to the best of my ability for this time we have a home.

I have had to figure out ways to not fall into a pit of sadness because my mind and body are so used to having multiple things to do a day, so I find when I’m not doing much one day, I beat myself up for it and become really sad. And it doesn’t help that right now there is a lot to be sad about. This quarantine time has exposed to me important lessons as well, about time, health and family and friends.

David is a Staff Writer for Teens in Print and a freshman at the Boston Latin School. Read more of David’s work for TiP here.

March 28, 2020 // Considering the month-long closing of Boston Public Schools, this past week has given me a lot to get used to. There are no live classes, so I’ve had to teach myself the content through textbooks. It’s been going well so far, but I don’t feel too confident about the new material. It’s hard to grasp new concepts without a teacher or someone explaining it to me but so far, Khan Academy has been my best friend. I’m scared though, as we have weekly assessments every Friday.

Regardless, that isn’t the worst thing that has been affecting my personal life ever since the pandemic started. My parents are my biggest concern; COVID-19 affects older people more, as the immune system in the human body gets worse as we age. COVID-19 also affects the respiratory system. The highest-risk person in my family is my dad, as he is the oldest and he smokes. This is sad because he is still being forced to work through all of this. Even though he does all the necessary precautions, such as wearing a mask and gloves, the risk is always there. It worries me how every day he is put at risk by going to work.

My parents have been super paranoid, and I haven’t been able to go over to my friends’ house or do something as simple as going for a walk. COVID-19 is very serious, and sometimes it’s scary to think that symptoms might not show for 11–12 days. I’ve been using all of this extra time to study more on past material, as well as catching up with a lot of shows I haven’t seen yet. I’ve also been trying to get rid of bad habits, such as sleeping in, staying awake for too long, over-eating, etc.

Overall, the coronavirus has been very new to me, as I’m sure it is to you as well. Try to get used to it, as it’ll all be over sometime. Always remember to stay safe, wash your hands, use gloves when going outside and stay inside if you feel sick.