A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A 10TH GRADE COBB COUNTY STUDENT PARTICIPATING IN THE VIRTUAL LEARNING PROGRAM: TUESDAY

Natalie’s virtual school day starts with a healthy breakfast and proper hygiene. She may not be meeting live synchronously with her teacher and classmates, but she still wants to look presentable on camera and ready to learn! Today is Tuesday, so last night, she reviewed her calendar in CTLS to see her assignments for the week and when they are due. She has questions about her Geometry homework, so she plans on attending Ms. Olson’s office hours at 9:00 a.m. for extra help. 

At 8:55 a.m., Natalie logs on to CTLS and launches the office hours for her math teacher. Ms. Olson gives her a chance to explain her questions, walks her through a few examples using the virtual white board, and shares additional resources that might help Natalie with the concept. 

It’s now 9:30 a.m. and Natalie has about two hours before she meets with some of her classmates for a small group session in Mr. Teers’ 2nd period Spanish  II class. He has broken the class into 3 small groups that he meets with synchronously on Tuesdays for 15 minutes each as a way of assessing language skills. Her group meets from 11:30-11:45 a.m., so she takes this time to continue working on her math assignment that is due tomorrow. She has a test over this unit on Monday, so she also reviews her past assignments and assessments to see if she needs help in any other areas. Her friends are planning a study group on Thursday and she wants to attend that as well. If for some reason she still has questions after that, she can always attend Ms. Olson’s office hours on Friday. 

After about an hour working on and reviewing her math, she stops to take a break. She moves away from the computer to rest her eyes, and for the next 30 minutes, she decides to do a few exercises like jumping jacks, toe touches, and stretches to get her blood pumping and her brain reenergized, and she grabs a quick snack and some water to hold her over until lunch. It’s now 11:00 a.m. so she decides to practice for her Spanish assessment by using her phone to record herself speaking the language and then listens for errors. 

At 11:30 a.m., Natalie and her group members launch their session with Mr. Teers. He shares a document in CTLS that includes a role-playing scenario in Spanish. Each student in the group is assigned a part to read so that the teacher can assess their progress. When finished, Mr. Teers provides feedback and shares areas to continue practicing. Natalie logs off and pulls out her Spanish book to finish her homework for tomorrow.

Natalie breaks for lunch at 12:15 p.m. She eats, checks in with her family, and spends some time outside. At 1:00 p.m., she heads back in to start her English assignment. 

Her 3rd period American Lit  class  is  working  on group projects and her team  meets  at  1:45  p.m. They were each responsible for completing a piece   of the project, so Natalie revisits her part which includes creating a visual representation of the main character’s mood as portrayed in the novel they are reading. She continues to apply some finishing touches to her work before joining the group online. 

Her group shares their work and completes the next steps of the project until 2:30 p.m. They will have to update the class on their progress tomorrow, and they decide who will present and what will be said. Natalie receives positive feedback on  her  artwork, and a couple of suggestions were made for changes. She plans on making those changes after school today. She needs to work on her 4th period Chemistry assignment first. 

Natalie’s science class is working on an investigation to calculate the amount of heat absorbed or released by chemical or physical processes. She reviews her field notes on the subject, watches the videos that her teacher, Ms. Young, posted in CTLS, and references her digital textbook. She finds that she’s still confused about some of the concepts, so she plans on attending the coaching hours at 3:15 p.m. this afternoon. After logging on and speaking with Ms. Young, she discovers what her mistake was and thanks her teacher for the assistance. After that, Natalie completes her assignment just in time to leave for her recreational (outside of school) activities.