‘I Like To Meet the Big Giraffey’: Little Kids Explain Why They Love Zoom
They’re doing better than we are
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As grown-ups everywhere scramble to shift their lives online, kids are logging on and going to school.
Millions of Americans have been asked to stay home to curb the accelerating spread of the coronavirus, and children are no exception. In an attempt to maintain some semblance of a curriculum, high schools, middle schools, elementary, and even preschools have started hosting classes on video conferencing platforms like Zoom.
Offscreen, teachers and parents are hard at work trying to ease the transition to remote learning. “It’s important for the kids to stay connected,” says Monica Shire, a preschool teacher at the University of Delaware Lab School. “I hear a lot of kids are really sad right now.”
As children struggle to understand what’s happening around them, remote learning “provides a little bit of consistency in their world,” says one parent from Maryland, whose four-year-old attends Zoom class. Parents who spoke to OneZero requested anonymity. Another parent from Delaware, whose four-year-old also meets with his class online, says that “it’s not a replacement for school.”
“Dang, they’re savage!”
Eman Haggag, a Bay Area instructional innovation coach who helps teachers adopt online classroom technology, says that as some educators struggle to use Zoom, kids are discovering how to mute each other and even kick their teachers off the call. “Dang, they’re savage!” Haggag says. “Kids respond in the most hilarious ways because they’re kids.”
But what’s it really like for the youngest Zoomers out there? OneZero reached out to eight preschool and elementary school students to find out how they felt about their classes moving online. They mostly told us they were happy to see their friends.
Eni, 6, Maine
Eni meets with her Zoom classes three times a day — the longest is about an hour — with assignments to complete in between. Each day, the class tunes into live sketching with celebrated childrens’ book author Mo Willems.
OneZero: What do you like best about Zoom classes?
Eni: I like to see my friends…
