VTVLC Student Blog
Learning: Reimagined, Reignited
As I was growing up, school was one of my favorite things. I thoroughly enjoyed learning. I was always prepared for class, my pencil case organized in the most pristine way possible. When I reached middle school, my interest in education began to dwindle. All of a sudden, school was more draining than it was entertaining. I couldn’t figure out what had gone wrong. Was there something awry with my brain? By the time freshman year rolled around, I’d lost all interest in taking school seriously.
When I started taking my classes online, I was determined to ignite my passion for school once again. I knew that I still loved to learn. That hadn’t changed. It was something about the way that the public education setting is organized. It had to be. Not everybody can process information in the same way, and learning in the traditional sense didn’t leave much room for personalization.
For me, having a proper sleep schedule is really important. I’m not the type of person that can function on four hours of rest. When I attended public school, I would often have to stay up late to work on homework. These long hours cut into the time that I needed to spend sleeping, which made me absolutely exhausted in the morning. It was a never-ending cycle, of which I couldn’t get ahead.
With online school, I can decide what time that I want to start doing work. Normally, I’ll allow myself to sleep later, which has really benefited me over the past year. I don’t need two cups of coffee to get me through the day. Since I’m not as tired anymore, I have time to do other things that I want to do. This is another advantage of taking classes from home. You can design your schedule around what you want to get done each day.
I tend to excel in English classes. That often means that I don’t need as much time to work on them. I used to find this to be a drag, because I’d always be stuck waiting for everyone else to finish. That could make class a bit boring, and would sometimes cause me to forget some of the information that I had already learned, depending on how long the rest of my classmates needed. I never have to deal with that problem during my online classes, though. I can go at a pace that is designed to fit me. This can fluctuate from class to class, or even day to day, which is even better. There’s an insane amount of flexibility.
“I can go at a pace that is designed to fit me. This can fluctuate from class to class, or even day to day, which is even better. There’s an insane amount of flexibility.”I have found that utilizing the flexible schedule in virtual school has made me much more motivated, productive and energized.
When I’m learning online, I can customize what my class process looks like, depending on how I’m feeling that day. Frequently, I like to listen to music while I’m getting work done. This wasn’t always allowed in public school, as it could distract other students. Fortunately, I don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’m also able to take breaks whenever I need to. They don’t depend on a time that my teacher has set, which is super helpful.
All of these things have helped me remember why I used to love school so much. I’m able to tap into the childlike version of myself during class. The possibilities of what I’m able to learn feel endless. I’d missed that feeling immensely, and I feel really lucky that I’ve been able to find it again.