Tanuja Gunapooti

“The best thing about lockdown for me would be the fact that I can do school work at my own pace. [At] school, I finish my work really quickly, and I end up watching videos on my laptop while waiting for everyone else to finish and move on. I get bored really easily, and [because] I get [done] with work faster than others, I end up not focusing in class that much.

With distance learning, I can finish what I want to, when I want to. Usually, that means doing a lot of work on Mondays and Tuesdays, but having the ability to rest on Fridays. I usually follow the schedule that my teachers give [as a guide]. I end up getting really bored, so I do work that is assigned for the next day. I start off with the things that I can get done quickly and move on from there. [In my free time,] I usually watch TV. Sometimes I workout or play [board] games with my mom. I’ve been baking a lot, too. The 22nd was my friend’s birthday, and I made her red velvet cupcakes and dropped them off at her house. I have so much more free time now than when we were in school. I prefer [online school], honestly, because I can wake up when I want to and eat whenever. The first few weeks of e-learning were challenging, because I wasn’t able to fall asleep, but everything is fine now. I really like e-learning, but [it] would be better if some of my teachers could communicate…better. I think [they should] make it very clear as to what they want us to do for the week and when things are due. …It would also be nice if teachers could remind us of when zoom meetings are going to happen. [They could] post [a message] on Google Classroom saying, “Hey! There’s [going to] be a zoom meeting in 10 minutes,” [with] the links….”