Studying At Home During The Pandemic

April 20, 2020 | Miami, Florida, United States | By: Faye Patterson, Inter-American Division

It was 5:30 am when Arturo’s alarm clock went off, telling the young boy it was time to get out of bed to get ready, take part in the family devotional, have breakfast, and take the bus to school. Arturo is in third grade at the Limón Adventist School in Limón, Costa Rica, and that was his and many other students’ daily routine. Everything suddenly changed, however, with the arrival of COVID-19, which forced the closure of schools and almost every regular activity across society.

According to UNESCO, the closing of educational institutions has affected more than 850 million students such as Arturo, putting a stop to the traditional management for the delivery of knowledge. Accordingly, leaders have had to explore alternative arrangements to provide ongoing instruction. Seventh-day Adventist schools are not exempt from current challenges. Across Inter-America, 613 primary schools and 342 secondary schools had to look for strategies that allow teachers to keep providing instruction to their students, using technological tools which allow them to keep the educational process alive from their own homes.

This strategy of educational assistance is a novel one for both the teachers and the students’ parents. It is forcing them to venture into a landscape they know little or nothing about, all with the hope of successfully making it to the end of the school year. With the goal of keeping the educational quality under this new format up to par, they have found it necessary to make changes to the students’ learning and care strategies. Thus, it is suggested that they take the following strategies into account, which could make the shelter-in-place period a more active, productive, and enjoyable one.

1. Even though students are not in the classroom, they should keep focused in a specific activity, in the same way they did when on a regular class day before the quarantine.
2. It is recommended that students follow the same routine they had for a regular class day, including eating times, personal hygiene, and school outfit.
3. Parents should try to include children and young people in family worship and provide them with a good healthy breakfast before the start of their school day.
4. Teachers should follow the same class timetable they initially had, including time for recess and a 10-minute break every 50 minutes.
5. Class times should be well defined, and play times well specified, so students can enjoy their learning process and learn through those two channels.

We are facing an environment that demands reviewing our strategies. We must create new strategies that will help us to offer a meaningful learning process. Some of these could include the organization of drawing, writing, or reading contests, and the creation of a gratitude diary. This diary could be shared with the other students at the end of the week, to keep them constantly in touch with the Lord. It is highly important that parents, teachers, and leaders join efforts, so that young people and children can benefit from an education that helps them to grow as outstanding people who may then make meaningful contributions to society.

6. Previously, parents didn’t have time to help their children because they had to work outside their homes for more than eight hours a day. Now that children are at home, however, it is important they do not overlook the quality of food for their families. Now more than ever, it is important to teach children to eat healthy, and we should never forget daily physical and family recreation activities. (Adapted from Sapos y Princesas, España 2020 and other sources).

As parents and teachers, we should be highly aware of the importance of the opportunity the Lord is offering us to get closer as families, to offer our children and students an education that may prepare them for this world and the world to come. The education and training of our children and young people should not be taken lightly. It is the reason Ellen G. White, one of the pioneers of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, reminds parents and tutors in her book Testimony Treasures, Vol. 2, p. 460: “Parents must reach a higher standard, keeping the way of the Lord…[and] co-operate with the teacher for the salvation of their children.”

Faye Patterson is associate director of the Education Department in the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists.

Translation by: Marcos Paseggi