Online School: Tips and Tricks

I think most of us can agree that online school was not exactly part of our plans. Having to adapt ourselves to this new reality can be difficult for most. Personally, as a person who has a hard time concentrating at home when it comes to school work, I’ve developed a few tricks to keep myself motivated. 

The first part of having a clear mind and staying concentrated is to have a designated workplace for school. I can’t deny that I used to  stay in bed during my Zoom classes. I quickly realized that this caused many problems. I had a hard time paying attention to teachers because I stayed in bed, which made me tired and unmotivated. I also had a hard time falling asleep at night because I could not separate my relaxing space with my workspace. To change these bad habits I had developed, I decided to get myself a desk to have a place to separate myself from school and my personal space. It helped me stay focused when I was in class.

 

Another trick that has helped me stay organized was to give myself a daily schedule. Giving myself set times for certain tasks wasn’t easy at first. All I wanted to do was get school over with and then watch some Netflix or do anything else but school-related things. However, giving myself a daily schedule to follow every day was a big help. For example, if I had school on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I would concentrate on school-related things for about 3 to 5 hours each of those days. Tuesdays and Thursdays were my days off to also give myself some time to rest, which is  extremely important. It was almost like rewarding myself after having spent an entire day dedicated to school. 

Exercise, as cliche as it may sound, is also really important. When quarantine started, I completely stopped participating in any physical activity. Whether that meant going to work or even walking to school from the train station, I had no more physical activity in my daily routine. However, this caused me to have a surplus of energy, which did not help when it came to online school. So, I started taking walks every day. I slowly got back into my original routine, but it wasn’t easy. It could only be a walk, five minutes of yoga, or even just walking around the house for a few minutes. It is essential to get and move once in a while to use all of that bottled up energy.

 

Another trick that has helped put my phone away during the day when I have classes. Having all of this freedom because we are all at home, we don’t necessarily have the guilt of being on our phones than when we would be in class in person. I noticed that I was far more distracted than I usually was. So, I started putting my phone away during classes and later found myself leaving it for the entire day. This new habit of putting my phone away has helped me tremendously, and I could not recommend it enough. 

The last tip I have that has helped me a lot in keeping my camera on during classes. Of course, this depends on the teacher, but not only will this force you to stay concentrated, but it will also help the teacher. They are going through so much at the moment, and it helps them connect with you when they see your face.

In all, online school is not something I love. However, that probably won’t happen for a while. Therefore, having these little tricks will hopefully help you to stay motivated during class and have an easier time during the semester. 

 

 

• motivation
• online school
• pandemic
• Perseverance
• school