Andralyn Low
Editor-in-Chief, VOICES
BA Year 3
As an English major, I pay more attention than the average person to new words that are suddenly used everywhere. The trendiest new adjective is unprecedented, an understatement when describing the current pandemic that has literally thrown the world “into the unknown”, as Elsa sang in Frozen 2. It’s funny how everything she sings becomes relatable for everyone around the world.
No adjective can fully describe the impact of COVID-19 - except maybe indescribable - but many have tried to process it, which is perhaps the best balm for a shaken people. Here’s my attempt at crystallising what I’ve learnt through conversations about COVID-19.
It has hit me - although it really should have sunk in earlier - that tech truly is the way forward. I’m someone who enjoys scrolling through Instagram and texting friends as much as the next person, but I also love digital detox. Life just seems fuller and better when devices are out of the way. Now that devices are the only way to do so many things, I find myself even more glued. As much as I want to put my device down, I can’t - unless I’m not attending class, doing work, meeting friends, watching the news, ordering delivery, or entertaining myself online. It’s undeniable that tech helps us in so many ways.
But my screen time has hit the roof. We have found the line between study or work and downtime to have blurred. I join many who ask - at what expense? We know excessive usage of devices harm us, physically, mentally and emotionally. Teachers have found that online lessons aren’t as effective. As student teachers, we’re on the receiving end of online lessons, and also gearing ourselves up to one day deliver these lessons. Every time I clicked on a window outside my online lesson, or used my phone to do things other than pay attention, I wondered, what if my students do that too? I worry about having to engage young students who might not have the discipline to stay focused for hours on end on the computer. To be honest, I don’t either! But if tech is the only way forward, then we should turn from asking our students (and ourselves) to just put away our phones and pick up books, and instead teach them to manage device usage wisely. Teachers will always be the role models.
Also, more than ever, the general public is learning that teachers have lives outside their students and the school. Common knowledge often invites critique. We see the forum letters in the Straits Times and discussions on Facebook that demand to know why teachers haven’t done this and that for their students. Before HBL, teachers were role models in class and in public, but had sort of a sense of privacy in the safe confines of home - which is why we dread getting posted to schools too near our homes for Practicum. With HBL, the line between “where I’m a teacher” and “where I’m not a teacher” is blurred. If online lessons are the lessons of the future, it demands that teachers be authentic, since it would really be draining to step in and out of the performance that teaching is.
In that vein, our lives need to reflect the good values and beliefs we uphold. How we teach, and increasingly, how we live, will continue to be judged by students, parents and the general public alike. COVID-19 has tested how teachers respond in times of crises. I am heartened that, in spite of forum letters and Facebook posts demanding teachers do a better job, we are reading news about how teachers worldwide have stepped up to go the extra mile for their students. As a future teacher, I can only hope that when trying periods like HBL come, I will be able to connect effectively with my students, be a good role model, and carry on the good work that those in service have exemplified.
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