Keeping Up with Quarantine

By Lucy Robinson, Student Life Editor

On the sixth day of school, senior Eleanor Frank woke up with a headache, a cough, and a runny nose. As her symptoms worsened, she got a Covid-19 test and it came back positive. Frank watched as the assignments piled up while quarantining and home sick over the next 10 days. “I’m in a Ceramics class and a Painting class,” Frank said. “ Those were hard to catch up on because I didn’t have the materials for the longest time. I had to cram hours worth of work into one hour. And then Calculus, it was hard to just relearn the basics that everyone already knew.” Gone are the days of Zooming into class while quarantined. Students are expected to keep up with school work through Canvas or otherwise working with teachers to get class materials. Art teacher Brenda Jalaie has noticed two types of quarantined students, those “who are proactive and want to stay connected and then students who aren’t.” “I’ve had a few return and tell me they were too busy to look at the Calendar and even see what we were doing in Drawing class,” Jalaie said. For those students who are symptom-less but still at home, the best way to stay motivated and up to date, according to Christie Clark, English teacher, is treating the day at home like a school day. “When you’re supposed to be in a class, check the Canvas calendar and do the work the class is doing,” Clark said. “If you feel genuinely lost about an assignment or new concept being taught, then reach out to your teacher via email immediately!” While at home it’s easy to slip into a vacation mindset and be distracted by the at-home environment. Sam Ruffer, senior, was quarantined after his sister was showing symptoms in early September. “Every day I was fighting the urge to get on my laptop and start playing video games instead of working,” Ruffer said. Clark said it’s important to stay connected and focused, even though it’s easy to slip into this mindset. “Don’t allow yourself to use quarantine as an excuse to take a day (or more) off from work, unless you’re quarantined and legit-sick,” Clark said. “If the latter is the case, you should rest up, communicate with teachers, and try to come to an arrangement with them about your pile of missed work once you’re feeling better.” For those out sick it can be quite stressful knowing how much content is being missed. “I fell really behind really fast, because I was home so early on in the year,” Frank said. “Especially since I was actually sick, I wasn’t just contact-traced. Trying to catch back up and get all that work done took a lot longer because there was no Zoom or anything.” Clark has set up her Canvas calendar to accommodate quarantined students. “My students have been very mindful about letting me know they’ve been quarantined and checking on classwork and homework, which are always posted on the

Calendar,” Clark said. “That’s been really helpful. I try to make sure my calendar directions are set up so that an absent student can follow along from home and understand the activities. I’ve also been available to Zoom after school with students to provide instruction that’s new to them.” Some assignments however aren’t easily translated online, and can mean missing important in-class activities, which was the case for Ruffer during his quarantine.. “I really don’t want to get behind because it’s a lot of work to catch up and I’d rather get the work over One of teacher Brenda Jalaie’s Canvas calendar pages. submitted by Jalaie with,” Ruffer said. “In a lot of my classes we were doing in class discussions and stuff that I couldn’t participate in anyways, so I just did what I could.” For Jalaie’s art classes, where staying up to date on assignments is harder with all the materials needed, she created a “Quarantined Student” section at the bottom of her Canvas calendar. “Most students did not check into the Calendar,” Jalaie said. “Some students were out for whole projects.” Jalaie gives quarantined students instructions and materials lists to “MacGyver” projects at home. “They returned to look at me like I was an alien when I asked if they even started working on something at home,” Jalaie said. Anyone can get contact-traced from lunch, a band class, or any other unmasked environment along with the possibility of actually getting sick. Staying ahead on school work is a way, according to Frank, to combat the stress. “That’s what I was planning on doing,” Frank said. “But I didn’t plan on getting sick that early. I think just try to stay ahead while you are well, and then sort of have an understanding with your teacher that when you’re not well, you’re going to fall behind a little bit.”