Students Reflections as Part of the Global Project “A Day In My Life Living Under Covid – 19”

Global Engagement is one of Xavier College’s 7 Pillars-what does it mean when we discuss Global Engagement and why is it important?  Global Engagement for us as educators and our students, it means we internationalize our teaching and learning in and outside of the classroom.  Global Engagement is important because we and our students are Global Citizens. By using technology, we are able to make connections by crossing borders, by crossing mountains and by travelling across oceans. Global engagement enhances our understanding of what is happening in the world, how people are feeling in another part of the world and what are people’s need and wants in another part of the world.

On the return to Burke Hall Campus, Year Five students were asked to reflect on their experience whilst at home in isolation and remote learning. Some students wrote their thoughts and others used a Visible Thinking Routine called Colour, Symbol, Image.

For our Year 5 students, who had just recently transitioned from many other schools, had all of a sudden found themselves experiencing remote teaching and learning when they had just started to form friendships, form relationships with their teachers and appreciate the sense of belonging to the Xavier Community. This period of Isolation is a historic moment for all of us, but especially for our students.

The reflections and Visible Thinking Routine – Colour, Symbol, Image reflect their story. We are delighted to share these reflections as part of the Global Student Stories Project « A Day in my Life: living under the Covid-19 Pandemic ». We look forward to reading students’ reflections from other Jesuit schools around the world.

 

A Day in my Life: Sebastian, 11, Burke Hall – Xavier College, Australia

Life is hard at the moment, but in Australia, I think the worst is behind us. We have started to get back to a normal life, but it will never be the same. Learning from home was hard but I got to spend some time with my family. I was able to sing, play music and talk to my friends. I actually got to bond and learn a lot more about my friends while on-line. I am very grateful for my country Australia. We have managed to stay safe from this virus. I have gotten to spend this time doing the things I love while being safe at home. I am so grateful for my life because there are people in the world that are suffering more than I am. I love my family and I feel very privileged.

 

A Day in my Life: Charlie, 11, Burke Hall – Xavier College, Australia

When coronavirus started, we were all sent home very suddenly. This affected me because I was sent away from my friends and I didn’t know what was going to happen next. The thing that challenged me the most was being lonely at times and feeling locked up. That made me feel pushed away like no one cared. In the future, I hope that no other pandemics like this one ever happen again, or at least none as big as this.

 

A Day in my Life: Hugo, 11, Burke Hall – Xavier College, Australia

For me, some of the challenges included not being connected to my friends and not being able to keep fit playing sport. I was able to spend more time with my family, learning how to cook different recipes, reading much more, and having more time do things. I am concerned that the virus could get worse and that our school could close down again, but what we have to do is Look to the Good. I hope that we can stay healthy and stay at school. I have learnt that it is so important to wash hands regularly and to take care of our hygiene.

 

A Day in my Life: Will, 11, Burke Hall – Xavier College, Australia

My daily routine during COVID-19 was wake up, eat breakfast, shower and log on to my laptop. The routine has changed because I didn’t have to log on for school before and now I do. I hope for a scientist to find a cure for COVID-19. The challenges of the situation have made me unhappy as my cousin in England caught it and my aunt was really scared. These challenges are making me paranoid and COVID is stressing me because my grandparents now have to live with us, and they survived the polio epidemic.

 

A Day in my Life: Cade, 11, Burke Hall – Xavier College, Australia

The Corona virus affected Australia, children didn’t go to school and adults worked from home. This has affected my daily routine because now I have to wake up, shower and I CAN BARELY HAVE BREAKFAST as I have to do online learning! The challenge in this situation is loneliness for me and a lot of people. My concern is that this will go on forever and we will all get sick. My hope is that the virus will end, and we will never have to do online learning again. I also hope that there will never be a virus outbreak again.

 

A Day in my Life: Joshua, 11, Burke Hall – Xavier College, Australia

In Australia, we are really lucky because only 103 people have died during this Covid-19 pandemic. When my school went into lockdown and started online learning, things changed.  I actually loved it because I really got to know my teachers because we had great Microsoft Teams sessions every school day and there was no one who was “home sick”.  I loved having  joke time with Mr. Vlahos and it was good to see Ms. Caneva have a crack at making a joke.  I don’t think I’ll forget when Mr. Vlahos kept crying every time he mentioned Josh Prestney.  This was meaningful because I really care about Mr. Vlahos and I saw how much he cared about our school family.  I enjoyed being with my teachers in a very unusual but special way.

It was great that I got to jump on my trampoline every recess and lunchtime.

I am wondering when we might be able to handshake again and my Mum wonders when we will be able to go to the chapel for mass again. We say a decade of the Rosary each night and we pray for Mary to find a vaccine and a cure for coronavirus so that the world can learn from this terrible pandemic and never let this happen again. There are many things we just took for granted like being able to see people we love who live in other countries. I really miss going to Grill’d  ( an eatery) and licking my fingers after eating chips.

However, many good things have happened during this time. I have learnt so much and have really enjoyed my learning. My teachers have been so much fun. I’ve kept super fit and my best friend Will and I have got to play Minecraft on our PS4’s every day. Who knows what this coronavirus is going to do, but I know we’ll all be OK if we just manage to Look to the Good First. By this I mean that even if things don’t turn out how we expect, if we try, we can usually manage to get some good out of a challenging situation.