Issue link: https://trevordayschool.uberflip.com/i/1295455
Sixth-Grade Reflections: Thoughts from March–June by Jacqueline Monteleone's 6th-grade History Students The Duration: Jacqueline Monteleone, Grades 6–8 History Teacher, assigned a journal project to her students as soon as Trevor started distance learning. Of this time, she says, "When I asked kids to use their journals to reflect on this historic time, I had no idea how much things would change." Nor could she have anticipated the power of their words and images. Evie L. wrote, "I used to be extremely stubborn, but I have learned more responsibility, and I am definitely a lot more flexible due to virtual learning. In my eyes, it is a benefit that I get to live through this hard time and just have the knowledge that I am playing a part. It is a privilege to see how this world would handle something as difficult as COVID-19." Juliet W. wrote that "Coronavirus got worse every day, starting from March till now, and unrest and anger built up in the American public, partly because our president politicized the virus, and partly because nobody likes being quarantined. As soon as the virus numbers started to drop, that translated to some as a cue to resume normal life. Of course, it was just evidence that our masks—both our literal masks and our figurative ones—were working, and to stop wearing our masks would only make the pandemic worse. Back in March, the talk of the town was coronavirus: What was it? Who did it affect? Where did it originate? Now, when you say current events, our minds jump to something else. When news broke that a white police officer killed a black man in Minneapolis—sadly adding to a long, horrific record of such incidents—our nation couldn't take the events of 2020 anymore. There were protests in the daytime, demonstrations whose goal was to bring justice for George Floyd, and to bring about change in law enforcement. Those peaceful protests fought for a beer future, a fairer one." Luke G. wrote, "Some artistic benefits throughout quarantine were the ability to get beer at Photoshop, video editing, drawing, and writing stories.… Since one of my goals was to not get distracted, staying on the computer without any distractions from classmates or the environment, really helped me focus, especially in math and Mandarin." Jacqueline Monteleone joined Trevor in September 1996.