The way a student learns is not objective; whether it be because of learning differences or because of COVID circumstances and a hybrid schedule, each student’s ability to process information is unique to their individual learning style. Because of the transition to the new schedule implemented this year, students at BSM are forced to adapt to learning both at home and at school; for some students with learning differences, the transition went smoothly; however, for others, it was nothing short of a catastrophe. 

BSM integrated a hybrid schedule into this school year––switching off every day, half of the students from 10th, 11th, and 12th grade attend in-person school while the other half attends live zoom meetings. However, if students felt that the hybrid system didn’t accommodate for their respective learning styles, the students could opt to do completely virtual learning; rather than attending school in-person every other day, these students log onto zoom calls for each period, every day. This variety of schedules allows for students to optimize learning in the difficult time of COVID.

With limited days of in-person school, many students struggled to find time with teachers. Students with learning differences are more inclined to ask questions or need additional help, so to have that help taken away limits students from reaching their full potential. “The hardest part of school during COVID for me was over quarantine because I couldn’t meet with teachers in person to further understand the material; it was significantly harder to learn what they were teaching when we were all online,” senior Casey Prindiville said.

If there’s one thing that has been overlooked during COVID, it has been the impact of depression on students and the mental toll of being home all the time with limited social interactions. Not only does this hinder a students ability to process information and focus on those topics, but it depreciates a students motivation to essentially nothing; this is compounded for students with learning differences in that those students will have the same struggle as others plus whatever other learning impairments they are dealing with. “Every student has their own issues and struggles. We don’t know what could be going on behind the scenes with the state of a student’s mental health given what’s going on in the world around us,” sophomore Margo Anderson said.

Many students rely on human interaction to help them learn, be it direct instructions from teachers in person or a student tutoring them in the library. Without these social interactions, it can be much harder to transition to the online schedule and learn the material than it would be if it was all in person. “Having the teacher and friend interaction at school is crucial to me because we were stuck at home for a few months and missed a lot of our high school experience. Missing these experiences can take a serious toll on the mental health of young people who rely on social interactions,” senior Jake Solomon said. 

The hybrid schedule is formatted in a way so that there are only four block periods per day, and students take the same four classes for the duration of a quarter. Because the time period to cover all of the topics is shortened, material is accelerated and students can find themselves falling behind. “It’s been harder to turn assignments in on time because of the accelerated classes; if I fall behind, we are already onto something else, so I don’t have the time to recover and make up lost information,” Solomon said.

Some students feel that teachers should offer screencasts or slideshows to students with learning differences, so they have the necessary materials to stay on top of the work: “It would be a big help if more teachers either recorded their lessons or made some kind of slideshow to show their instructions/work for us. A lot of us need to go back and look over things more than once. Students with learning disabilities may take longer to understand and finish the work than the other students,“ Anderson said.

Zooming into classes from home half the days of the week can have a very negative effect on students who struggle with focus. As hard as it already is to focus in school for many students, having all of the distractions at home while trying to work is the last thing that will help motivation and determination to get the work done. “At home, I have a harder time getting started doing things. Once I do get started, it’s way easier to get distracted; my ADHD has been noticeably worse being at home doing school,”  Prindiville said. 

This issue is not unique to BSM. “About 20% of our population at BSM has a learning difference. This is consistent with the population at large where approximately 20% of folks have a mental health or learning disability diagnosis,” learning specialist Kristin Gilbertson said. 

Every student is wired differently, so every student has a way that they learn best. “BSM needs to make sure that every student has the accessibility to whatever they need; every student is at a different spot and has a different way of learning in such a difficult time,” Solomon said.