The days of online classes in the US

One day, a friend shared an online class joke: I saw the saddest and funniest sentence this morning. Laozi spent more than 10 million to buy a school district room, and he took online classes for three years. Feeling sad, I replied: We flew around for more than 30 hours and went to the United States to take 77 zakat lessons. What did we say?

Maybe something should be said? The stone of other mountains is engraved with memory.

It’s better to hit the next day than to choose another day. Last week, Guobao just finished a week-long online class. On Friday, he received the normal class resumption notice. Taking this opportunity to recall the days of Guobao's online classes in the United States, it can be regarded as a little tail of the previous Guobao's study records.

Two years ago in early March, the boots of the epidemic fell in the United States, and Florida has not yet confirmed cases. On the 8th, Guobao accompanied Guoma to celebrate Women's Day, and went to magic kingdom to check in the third park of Disney World (previously went to Future World and Animal Kingdom). When I watched the fireworks show that night, I was secretly apprehensive while admiring the worthwhile trip. The big square at the entrance of the castle was full of heads, and every time someone coughed, they didn't know it. But in retrospect, I still regret it. I should buy a card earlier to play a few more times, or take a free Wednesday. Even if Guobao finishes his class and drives to Orlando, he can check in the Hollywood park, which is the smallest area. It's only a two-hour drive from the largest Disney World in the world, and we only went to three of them for a day. What a waste of an annual pass that Florida residents are eligible to buy. Fortunately, Disney is very generous. After closing the park, there is an option to return the card, refund the fee or extend the discount. After the reopening, we still did not have the courage to go again. We returned most of the money, and it was received by Disney's pattern NB! Comparing the two, Universal Studios has a lot of abacuses. The annual card is only extended without refunds, but it is fair to get back the money after playing once, and we went there a dozen times, which is a digression.

I vaguely remember that March 12 was the last day of classes at Kimball wiles. After that weekend, Disney announced that the park would be closed, and we didn’t dare to go there for two days. Originally, the next week after the exam was a carnival before the spring break. According to Guobao's classmates, there were various parties at school during that time, but unfortunately Guobao didn't have the chance to experience it. I have been receiving emails from the school about the suspension of classes.

Mother Guo originally wanted to take advantage of UF's spring break and carpool with friends to go to Washington, D.C. to see cherry blossoms, but she had to give up considering various risks. Responding to the call to stay at home from the 15th, because Dad Guo went out fishing on a certain day and had a big fight. Every day, news of an increase in the number of confirmed cases continues, and Dad Guo has shouldered the burden of going out shopping alone. Every time he goes to Walmart Sam and Chinese supermarkets, the refrigerator is full. At the beginning, I was very afraid of the virus. After entering the house, I would spray the fruit dad and the items with disinfectant alcohol, let him take a bath immediately, and soak his clothes with disinfectant. After a period of time, the taut strings began to relax. Although the number of confirmed cases is increasing day by day, everyone has started to go out. If they can't hold it back, they go to Cedar key, Hagans cove, Shired island, St. Augustine to fish and relax, and by the way, grab some seafood for a toothbrush.

Normally, classes will resume at the end of the spring break until the summer break starts in late May. I have to sigh that American vacations are too long and long, which makes Chinese mothers who are used to anxiety and introversion very uncomfortable. Mondays and Fridays are often closed with weekends, such as Martin Luther King Day, President's Day, and Shenma Student Day and Teacher Day. The summer vacation is almost 3 months long! No wonder Tian Jia signed up for the summer camp for the children. First, the cost is not high. Second, it allows the beasts to live a collective life and have close contact with nature. The most important thing is that parents also need to be quiet. It is a pity to write here again, and it is a pity that Guobao was not allowed to participate in American summer camp activities like Boy Scouts. Enrollment on Halloween, about 10 days of Thanksgiving holidays plus the weekends before and after, two weeks of Christmas holidays, plus the usual faire-le-pont, Guoma ticked one by one on the calendar, and finally counted that Guobao was only in serious class at school. In just 77 days (and school is usually dismissed at 1:50, and it is an hour earlier on Wednesday!) This is the biggest regret of this trip! If you experience a full year of American education, I believe that Guobao's English level will be even more impressive. After all, as long as the class is in school, no matter the main subject or the sub-subject, playing football, singing, eating, and social are all immersive learning.

After the spring break, it is still in the state of herding sheep. I received an email that the teachers are training online teaching, and they procrastinated until April to start the online class. Strictly speaking, this is not online learning, but teachers send recorded teaching videos to emails, and assign a small amount of homework. Still the main force of Mrs.Wharton, Bishop Language, Art, Math, Science, Social Studies. During the period, I went to the school to pick up the textbooks and exercise books, which were packaged in paper bags. Walking in the empty hall and seeing the names on the paper bags made me feel inexplicably sad. The children never met again later. The school break-up ceremony will go their separate ways (the fifth grade will be re-classified, with a new homeroom and teachers and classmates). The $25 extra-curricular pottery class was only attended a few times, and the teacher even sent an email to remind him to go to school to retrieve it. An Indian-style pen holder and a small dinosaur were repeatedly packaged and brought back to the pen holder after going through the security check. They were also opened for inspection. Before the start of school in August, there was an intention to consult, whether to continue studying or refund the fee. Guobao did not hesitate to choose the former, but he did not do so, which is another regret.

Before the end of May, according to the emails sent by the teacher every day, he took "online lessons", read textbooks, and handed in homework on time on the APP. Although the experience was greatly reduced, Guobao's reading ability was still obvious. The vocabulary requirement of the fourth grade science book is not lower than that of the domestic junior high school, and the words are all difficult such as carnivore, herbivore and omnivore. Start training writing, both pros and cons can be justified. It really reflects the American education's encouragement of critical thinking and free thinking. Mom is very pleased; the homework assigned in the art class is also very careful. Use leaves and stones to make works as you like, and inspire creative thinking; the teaching software for music class is also very special, and Guoma enjoys learning with it. Because the schoolwork load is not heavy, I watch imagine learning and brain pop every day in my spare time, and I browse the miscellaneous learning websites on the Internet from time to time. After reading the adapted minded story for about 2 months, I read the whole book of The Wizard of Oz in chapters, and there are other stories, all of which are very attractive to children. The trial period for the first month is free, and we only renewed it for one month. Also asked to continue watching. Mrs. Wharton shared the modern poems the children wrote on their previous field trips, and in the video each teacher proudly read aloud the works of their classmates. What impressed me most was the class about St. Augustine. There were texts and videos, and the homework included reading comprehension and writing. It’s a pity that I didn’t go to the ancient city again in the next few months, and I didn’t even go to Fort the previous time. Beginning in June, ESOL classes continued, but there were face-to-face classes with only a few children participating. The teacher is not the Hispanic he used to be, but he is still kind and tireless. From time to time, he sends meticulously recorded videos, like bedtime stories for the children. After the teacher reads the pages on the bed, he can still see the skin care products next to him. The end of the ESOL class is in late June, and we are about to start our self-driving trip to the United States. At the beginning of the new semester of the fifth grade, there is also the intention to participate in the statistical ESOL class. Naturally, I choose to continue. However, until I leave at the end of September, this extracurricular class has not yet started. Is this a pity?

I returned to Gancun from Meixi in early August. After several rounds of confirmation, I finally decided to take online classes. After all, if I was recruited and contracted the new crown, the road back to China would be a long way off. I wanted to continue using imagine learning before the school started, but I couldn't get into the account. It is said that it has to be redistributed every year. Guobao likes the American version of imaginative English very much. After returning to China, he happened to have a friend who was an agent in Wuhan. In 2000, there was no intermediate game link, and the content between different levels was repeated, and the degree of difficulty was not great. No more annual fees.

At the end of August, I went to the school to pick up the textbooks, which were several large books. There are also 2 novels for reading in the hall, one is called "Axe Boy", the plot is similar to "Desert Island Survival", and the other is about environmental protection. After reading, each class will arrange reading time and reading comprehension test. At the beginning, Guobao couldn't keep up with the speed of other students, so he had to spend extra time to read before and after class.

This semester has become a real live online class, using ZOOM, only half a day in the morning every day. The main teacher of the homeroom became Mrs. Kates, who was more severe. The most impressive one made Guobao not follow the instructions. After doing the math problems on the scratch paper, he did not take pictures and send them to Canvas, resulting in a quiz of zero. American teachers act according to the rules, which is very fair. Earlier, Mrs. Wharton found out that she had missed the composition work submitted by Guobao, and immediately changed her grades. This little bump can also be regarded as a lesson for us. After that, Guobao was more attentive and meticulous in listening to lectures and submitting homework in class. Before the start of the class, the school sent an email to emphasize classroom discipline, and photography and video recording were not allowed. We strictly abide by the rules, and we even learned about the online farewell to Guobao after the fact.

American teachers respect parents very much. Basically, every time they send an email, they will receive a reply quickly. If there is any special matter, they will be notified by email in advance. Every day after class, the content of the day's learning, the content of the homework, and the teaching plan for tomorrow will be sent. Yes, email is the instant messenger here. Once a teacher was selected to be a jury member, and he explained to his parents that he wanted to apply for a substitution as much as possible. The teacher is also strict with children and loves them. Occasionally, when I see other children listening to music and absent-minded, the teacher will immediately ask questions by name, and the classroom control ability is very strong; Once Guobao went to the bathroom with a computer while in class, the teacher quickly sent an email to remind him to avoid disappearing. Every Friday, the atmosphere of teachers and students is very harmonious, the teachers never assign homework, and they are very loving when saying goodbye to each other. The progress of the class is also relatively fast, the teaching plan is strictly implemented, and the get out of class will not be delayed when it is over. There is an I STATION software in the class. The teacher specially emphasized that it cannot be done in advance. Every Friday, a unit will be tested on it. It requires high reading speed and vocabulary. It automatically turns pages and the rhythm is very fast. It's resistance, and you get used to it later.

In this way, I will take online classes step by step. I will go to Miami and Key West at the end of September. I will leave after class on Friday, and have fun on weekends. I will take classes at the Key West B&B on Monday morning, and take classes at the beach hotel on Tuesday morning, ready for class. Before and after checking out, we were all in a hurry, and the father and mother in the middle went fishing, watching the sunrise, and hanging out, all enjoying themselves. Guobao asked with a smile: Does the teacher think it's strange that our room has changed? After another ten days, the mode of online classes while traveling will continue, and KOA is basically all along the Blue Ridge Highway. On the first day in Savannah, the teacher noticed that the class was in a tent. The teacher and the student chatted a few times after class. Mrs. Kates said that she also planned to spend a vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains in November. KOA’s internet speed is very good, Guobao’s online classes are basically not delayed, the red leaves are reflected by the lake, and the memory of the open-air class on the picnic table, I wonder if Guobao will remember it when he grows up and goes to the United States to study or travel?

On a certain day in mid-to-late October, the teacher took the initiative to send an email to inquire about returning to China, and informed all of them. The two sides were polite and expressed their reluctance. The teacher informed about the withdrawal procedures and expressed the hope that he would keep in touch in the future, and Guobao could do pen pal with the classmates. I vaguely remember that the online class ended early a few days before leaving Gancun. The teacher specially arranged a time to hold an online farewell party. Guoma secretly regretted that she did not record it as a souvenir (of course, she must respect the portrait rights of others, even if it is only a sound recording. also good). In the afternoon, I packed up all the textbooks, stationery and anti-epidemic supplies at home and sent them back to school. Guobao offered to go together. After completing the formalities, I bought a yearbook, and greeted the familiar front desk, feeling lost in the lobby. In fact, at that time, I was still fantasizing about whether I could study with the class after returning to China. Anyway, the time difference between Florida and Wuhan is 12 hours. How long can we go on from 8:00 to 12:00 in the evening, just treat us as auditors, and grinding our ears is also very good, but we have already left. Now, we can't force the teacher to cause trouble for the school, so let's just give up.

Looking back on this experience and comparing the educational models on both sides, we can only talk about it. On the surface, the biggest advantage of online classes in the United States is that there are no trivial troubles such as solitaire, punching cards, and taking pictures, and the learning process is relatively pure; teachers and students, teachers and parents are treated as equals, and they have always been respected and cherished. The relationship between teachers and students is also very pure; information is transparent, and the right to know is fully enjoyed. The school and the county will release close contact information and disposal measures in a timely manner, which not only protects the privacy of relevant personnel, but also avoids panic; does not instill anxiety, does not encourage advance, Advocates critical thinking, pays attention to study habits and methods (although he does not teach verbal and mental arithmetic, but he will draw and deduce algorithms in detail); he is a positive discipline to all children, and praises small progress. Guobao never expressed that he did not want to go to school because of academic difficulties. It even got the honor of EXCELLENCE OF THE MONTH in early December. From the beginning of B and C mostly, to A and B later, it really makes people have a sense of achievement waiting for the flowers to bloom.

In the United States for a year, because of the epidemic, I could not fully experience the normal study and life, but I also gained a different experience. It is worth mentioning that, since no longer going to school, the local ALACHUA and the school have never stopped caring for the children. They send emails to remind them that they can go to designated locations to receive free breakfast and lunch every Tuesday and Thursday. Fruits, pizza, snacks, a wide variety, and the amount is almost enough for the three of us. On the Dragon Boat Festival in June, I also received a $315 food coupon, which can be used to buy food in major supermarkets. Ring also gave us the coupon for her baby before returning to China. Thank you Florida for everything, food, friendship, unforgettable warmth and kindness, and a long vacation away from homework and introversion. During the time of online classes in China, Guobao also followed Chinese and mathematics. After all, he had been out for a year, and he always had to pay back the homework he owed. Before, I brought the study materials for the second semester of the fourth grade and the last semester of the fifth grade. In the morning, I took American-style online classes, and in the afternoon, I devoted my spare time to Chinese-style education. Maybe everything is the best arrangement of God, I only hope that we will meet again in this life!