Retaking Math 2
Mrs. Geddes in her E1 classroom at Maria Carrillo (Photo: Camryn Tuor, The Puma Prensa)
by Camryn Tuor, staff writer
Over the course of online learning, 62 Maria Carrillo High School sophomores and juniors failed their highly interactive Math 2 class, now having to retake a typically sophomore dominant course with math teacher Brittney Geddes. Geddes stated that 40 percent of all of her Math 2 students this year are juniors and seniors.
“As a teacher [last year] it was difficult, because the students were the ones that had to reach out if they were struggling. Without being in person, it was difficult to tell if they understood the curriculum,” said Geddes.
Geddes said she thought the main reason for students failing was because of online school in general. She said, “It is harder to engage students and help them when you cannot see them and talk to them in person. It was hard to get the point across and make sure that students actually understood and retained the information,” Geddes added.
"...hearing the teacher talk over zoom was very underwhelming" -Emma Alverez
Emma Alverez, an MCHS junior now in her second year of Math 2 said, “Going to math and hearing the teacher talk over zoom was very underwhelming.” Alvarez said many times it was hard to stay awake without being in person.
“Online school was hard and I was too unmotivated over zoom,” said Alverez. She added, “It was hard to reach out to a teacher that you have never really met to ask for help.” Alvarez thought that not reaching out and being so unengaged was the downfall of her math grade.
Similar to Alverez, a senior who shared their experience on condition of anonymity said that the hardest part of doing math online was the lack of motivation to do the work. “Online school was most definitely harder because of the difference in teaching,” the senior said, adding that was an opinion largely supported by friends’ experiences, too.
About the work expected last year in math class, the senior said, “The curriculum needed to change more in order to fit the standards of the move to online school.”