Election Day, which has traditionally been a day off, has now become an online learning day.
On Tuesday, November 5th, the 2024 election day, the Wheatley Students had an Online Learning Day. We had a glimpse of the past, sitting on our computers all day and meeting our teachers on Google Meet. It felt like 2020 all over again. Since we started school at 5 years old, we have had election day off every four years. Due to our lack of days off this year, the school board decided to make this day an online learning day.
Contrasting to 2020, the teachers and students were significantly more experienced due to our understanding of the technology. We started the day at the usual start time of 8:25 a.m. To be marked, we were required to keep our cameras on and be actively in front of the camera. The normal periods are 39 minutes long, but they sometimes last a little longer because there is no bell to indicate when the periods end.
Wheatley was one of the only schools that did not have today off, which caused some confusion and frustration. The online learning day is because Christmas Break is two weeks this year, leaving very few other days off and because Election Day only occurs once every four years, we did not have the days to take it off.
Overall, this day was productive, with a short break from active participation in school. I enjoyed the online learning day; while I preferred the day off, I could be productive and have a more relaxed day than usual.