Learning to Learn Again: Lack of motivation as a lasting result of online school can be mended by implementing a student’s learning style

After almost 11 years of brushing my teeth, doing my hair, grabbing some coffee, eating a granola bar and arriving at school all before 8 a.m., the “extended spring break” hit. Everyone knows what came next. When SMSD sent out the email that school was optional, I decided to spend my fourth quarter with lake days instead of pre-calculus — after all, I had all A’s and didn’t think it would affect me that much. 

But I was wrong. It did affect me that much. Six months of laying in the sun without a single educational thought  led me down a path of slacking off in school and later using remote learning as a way to coast through my junior year, barely taking the time to actually retain what I was learning. Then senior year hit. Now, I barely remember how I most effectively studied “back in the day,” or what my learning style even was freshman and sophomore year.

Don’t get me wrong, I have academic integrity — I wasn’t just cheating left and right through online school. But if we’re being real, students and teachers both knew online school was a totally alien experience that nobody knew how to handle.

All of my motivation was gone.

And it seemed like everyone I turned to was feeling like they no longer knew how to study or learn. Cut to senior year and we’re back in person — having only experienced three months semi-in-person last year. Waking up early to sit in a bland classroom every morning again, getting “back to normal” didn’t feel right. 

But after that year, what is normal? 

Sitting in a classroom was actually far from normal. Getting to ask a teacher a question in person, getting to say hi to my friends in passing, a packed journalism room — all no longer normal. I was sitting in a classroom but I didn’t remember how to learn. Should I take notes or just listen? Do I like Quizlet or paper note cards better? I couldn’t remember anymore, but I didn’t feel alone because all my peers seemed to be feeling the same. 

So what did this amount to? Confusion. Loss of motivation. Stress. Anxiety. 

Every student that had a hard time coming back from online school should take a learning style quiz in order to promote healthy, effective learning and combat the issues that online school caused.

I didn’t even know how to study for a test anymore, so I resulted to dropping classes — highly unlike my Type-A self. I didn’t figure this was much of an issue, and I’m only going to be in these columbia blue-filled halls for a few more months. 

The first step for us students is to find our learning style again. Online tests can differentiate between visual, kinesthetic, reading/writing and auditory learners. Maybe your learning style evolved over quarantine. According to bau.edu, visual learners learn best with maps, graphs, diagrams and charts; kinesthetic with hands-on activities; reading/writing with words whether that be writing or reading them and auditory when the curriculum is heard or spoken. 

After finding learning styles, students should take the time to talk with each of their teachers in order to implement these in the classroom as well as self-reflection on their learning styles to apply them to their studying. 

The only reason I could find any motivation to work hard again was for my future. I’m going to college, I have to know how to do this again. And college or not, everyone else does too. 

Whether it be to pass high school classes, join the workforce, take a gap year or anything else, everyone needs to have an active learning mindset. Learning isn’t going to stop just because I’m not in high school anymore, and it won’t stop for any other student either. Whether it be the practicing of social skills we went without or the work ethic we began to lack, we need those skills on an everyday basis, and we must utilize our time in in-person school to get back on track. 

High school flies by, everyone says it, and senioritis makes it that much worse, but we can’t let our last years before adulthood leave us unmotivated and confused.