Buses, bells and uniforms -- that’s the high school experience for most people. However, there’s a new kind of student emerging, the kind, like me, who takes classes online.
I'm a sophomore in high school and this semester, I started taking an online psychology course on top of my regular workload. There are assignments due every day by midnight -- like reading an article by a psychologist, or watching a TED talk and then making a comment on the video. I participate in Skype chats, discussing lessons with the other 15 or so students, who live all around the globe -- from Beijing to Pennsylvania.
I have attention difficulties, so it's easy to assume that taking classes online would be challenging for me. And it does present a new set of distractions. Like, whenever my crush posts something on Twitter, a notification pops up at the corner of my laptop screen. I'll glance at the first few words but when it disappears my fingers itch to check it...
However, life in the "real world" also poses its own set of challenges, and for me, that's Honors U.S. History.
At my school, the history classrooms are positioned right above a patio, where students hang out during their free periods. When it gets hot, all the windows are open, the fans are blowing, and I can hear conversations and laughter from the kids outside. If you compare this to timelines, memorizing dates, and analyzing primary sources, you can understand why I often find my mind wandering.