Preparing For the School Opening

August 12

In a few days, the classes for the school year 2022-2023 will start. This week the teachers are busy preparing the school for the opening. Unlike in the last two years that we held our classes online, we are preparing for face-to-face classes this year. Thus, aside from the academic preparations, we need to prepare the school physically.

Greetings once again my wonderful readers, sponsors, and supporters. I have been quite preoccupied in the past few days. The truth is, I started writing this article three days ago.

Just as I have mentioned in my previous post, this month is going to be incredibly busy, especially for teachers. Especially in the next two weeks.

Looking Back

The face of education changed when the covid-19 pandemic hit. We had to hold our classes online. Those who can't connect, have to learn by themselves via the learning modules that we provided.

Not the best way to deliver the lessons to every learner. Some still excelled, some lost interest and just went through the process.

Going Back To Normal

With the threat of the covid-19 virus reduced. The new Secretary for Education and Vice President ordered that the classes should return face-to-face with decreased number of learners per class starting in November.

For the first quarter though, we will have limited face-to-face classes. In our school, the subjects per grade level are divided into two sets. Let's say a grade level has eight subjects. For the first month, they will have only four subjects to study and will have the other half the following month. It's almost the same setup during the online/modular learning during the height of the pandemic. Except that we will do it face-to-face this year. The purpose is to limit the total number of students on the campus.

However, since the threat of covid-19 seems to have diminished already, the full face-to-face classes will be implemented starting in November. The only difference is, is the reduced maximum number of students in a classroom. I think parents still have the option if they prefer an online or learn-from-home setup.

Physical Preparation

I don't mean "human body" when I mentioned "physical". What I meant is the physical aspect of the campus. That's what keeps the teachers busy these days. Of course, that is coupled with the preparations for the lessons.

As for me, I have another assignment aside from teaching part-time. I was also appointed as a part-time IT tech guy. And one of the major for me this month is to improve the wi-fi connectivity on the campus.

During the school break, I had been doing some research for an affordable yet reliable mesh-network system.

In my experience, the common wifi router or access point is good only for home use. Having two or more of them in one location is not an ideal solution. The fact is, having several independent wifi routers or access points in one location will cause more problems.

Fortunately, the brand that I preferred is already available in our city.

For the past two days, I was preoccupied with looking for the ideal location for each access point. I thought it will quick. However, since it's a three-story building, it took longer than I thought. I will share more about this in a day or two.

In Closing,

Are we going back to the "old normal"? Or this is another stage of the "new normal"?

In any case, I believe learning in a classroom is more advantageous to the learners.

I hope that the threat of the covid-19 will be truly gone for good.

Thanks For Reading.

Date Posted: August 12

Article No. 5 for August