By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
The halls of Bowling Green High School were no longer eerily quiet on Monday. Teachers were no longer trying to communicate with students through screens. And Principal Jeff Dever breathed a sigh of relief that students were back and following the COVID rules.
“It was actually a pretty good day,” Dever said as the first day back came to a close for half of the high school students doing hybrid learning. “I was pretty happy.”
It has been more than 11 months since Bowling Green students attended in-person classes. Elementary and Middle School students head back for their first day on Tuesday.
Dever wasn’t quite sure how students would handle the need to social distance, not only in classrooms, but also hallways, the cafeteria and during study hall. Seats in the cafeteria were marked off with blue tape to make sure students kept their distance.
“It seems like the kids picked up on what we needed them to do,” Dever said.
One of those students, junior Isaiah Cook, said he was looking forward to Monday.
“I was quite excited to come back to school,” he said. “It was very exciting to see my friends and everyone.”
After learning remotely since last March, Cook said he preferred in-person classes.
“Learning is easier in person. Everything is hands on,” he said.
Freshman Paul Archer was also glad to be back in the classroom.
“Learning-wise, I like it more,” Archer said, noting that his favorite class is geometry. “It’s much easier to get help because they’re right there.”
“When we were online, it felt like it was just lecture,” said Cook, whose favorite class is forensic science.
While it’s good to be back in the classrooms, the social aspect of school isn’t quite what it used to be, Cook said. When students arrived at school this morning, they were instructed to go straight to their first period classrooms.
“No hanging out in the hallways,” Cook said.
And at lunchtime, rather than big groups of friends gathering to eat, just three people were allowed to share a table.
But one aspect of high school life hadn’t changed from the last months of learning at home. Neither Archer nor Cook agonized over what to wear their first day back. Cook donned a pair of sweatpants, and Archer grabbed some pajama pants.
“The only thing that changed was getting up early enough to get here,” Archer said.
Teachers at the high school were also excited to be joined in their classrooms by students.
“I was really happy. The kids are in good spirits,” said Adam Jarvis, who teaches freshman and sophomore English. Jarvis said he spent much of today finding out where his students were on the topics being covered – and letting them know how ecstatic he was to have them back at their desks.
“There are humans here,” not just faces on a computer screen, Jarvis said. “It wasn’t an act. I really am excited.”
Teaching writing is already a challenge, and trying to do it through a screen is that much more difficult, he explained.
“I’m a teacher who likes to get down in the mud with them,” looking over their shoulders and offering help as they write, Jarvis said. He still can’t look over their shoulders, due to social distancing rules, but he is right there ready to help.
“It takes a lot of vulnerability to unmute that screen and ask for help,” he said.
Online classes also made some topics more difficult to digest. Teaching “Romeo and Juliet” online was really more like “Shakespeare Light,” Jarvis said.
And now that they are back in person, there won’t be any tech troubles in the classroom.
“We won’t have the glitches, where we get kicked out when we move to smaller groups,” Jarvis said.
Across the hall, English teacher Tom Ross was equally happy to have students back.
“Today was great,” he said. Some kids were a little nervous, plus only half attend each day with the school’s hybrid learning model. So “they were a little quiet,” Ross said.
In just the first day back, Ross noticed that students who may have felt disconnected during online classes, were responding better to in-person instruction on Monday.
Ross also encouraged his students to talk with each other – since that socialization was another casualty of COVID.
“They’re not used to doing that,” he said. “I’m happy to have them back.”
