Timeline (September Post)
- September and October: Reach out to my manager to figure out which faculties at my school that I can reach out to (faculties with children of age 4-8ish) / Prepare interview questions and think about what I would be most looking for in the interviews / Research and find evidence on the social and educational impact of COVID on children.
- November: Finish interviews/surveys and continue on research
- December: start creating guidance for adults / during break - try to gather information from my siblings and their friends
- January and February - continue blog posts and working on the guidance and produce a portfolio or a brochure
- March and April - receive feedback and improve on the posts and the final product / finish up the project
- November: Finish interviews/surveys and continue on research
- December: start creating guidance for adults / during break - try to gather information from my siblings and their friends
- January and February - continue blog posts and working on the guidance and produce a portfolio or a brochure
- March and April - receive feedback and improve on the posts and the final product / finish up the project
First October Post - Poster |
Second October Post |
This month, I focused on gathering information about my topic and crafting interview questions. I am planning to interview the faculty members that have children of ages about four to eight. My initial plan is to interview both parents and the children, if possible, to get different points of views on the same issue. However, this might change due to the covid situation at the time of the actual interview. The challenges I faced in drafting the interview questions is that what I should do in order to make the questions clear and precise but detailed enough so that the interviewees can understand the them. Also, I considered how my questions and my tone or nuance would change when asking the parents and asking the children.
Here is the first draft of my questions: 1. How old is your child? 2. Which school does your child go to? - public or private / homeschooling? How many students in the school? In one class? 3. Is your child going to school currently? How are their schools responding to covid now? 4. How did your child react to covid? - how are your child dealing with having to wear masks all the time / not being able to socialize / not being able to go to school / things changing so dramatically 5. Do you think your child has been going through struggles due to covid? (maybe rephrase it) 6. What is the biggest struggle your child has been going through? for example, children of young age had educational issues such as not being able to get enough help from teachers, learning how to do homework, not knowing what a normal school day is like, getting into school day schedule; social issues such as having trouble getting to know their teachers or friends, not being able to socialize (always staying home?); emotional issues such as “i don’t want to go to school” “I want to go to school why do I have to stay home” “I want to make friends ; i am sad because i don’t have any friends” “why do we have to wear masks After rereading my questions, I thought that I definitely should add more questions about how the parent attempted to deal the stress that their children is receiving, and what struggles they faced themselves, in trying to support their children. Also, since this is a draft form, I should focus more on clearing up the questions and rephrasing them. |
First November Post
This month, to be honest, I was very busy due to other coursework and college process as a senior. Due to this reason, I was not able to do much work and spend more time communicating with my manager to work on my project. However, I spent some time learning the current COVID situation in New York state and the Rensselaer County. An update is that on November 2, the CDC recommended Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for children, ages 5-11, in the United States. Other than this, I worked on making a draft of interview questions for children. Here is the draft:
1. Do you know what covid is?
2. What is most difficult to do because of covid? (Going to school? Playing with friends? Doing homework?)
3. Are you comfortable with wearing masks all the time?
4. Are you stressed due to covid?
This month, I will try to work on revising the questions for both parents and children, and start the work for finding families that I can interview.
1. Do you know what covid is?
2. What is most difficult to do because of covid? (Going to school? Playing with friends? Doing homework?)
3. Are you comfortable with wearing masks all the time?
4. Are you stressed due to covid?
This month, I will try to work on revising the questions for both parents and children, and start the work for finding families that I can interview.
Second November Post - Annotated Bibliography
Question: What are the different types of struggles that children might face due to COVID-19?
1. Moyer, M. (2022). The COVID generation: how is the pandemic affecting kids’ brains?. Retrieved 16 November 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00027-4
- Dani Dumitriu and her team at NewYork–Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City used more than two years of data on infant development which had been analyzed since late 2017 about the communication and motor skills of babies up to six month old. The team worked with Morgan Firestein to compare the results from babies born before and during the pandemic. Preliminary research shows that pandemic-related stress during pregnancy could be negatively affecting fetal brain development in some children, and the difference in the amount of interaction between children and parents or carers also could affect a child’s physical and mental abilities. The article mentions more detailed possible reasons of precipitous drop in play, interacting with people with masks on, and mother’s stress affecting the baby in the womb.
2. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2022). Retrieved 22 November 2021, from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/covid-19-and-education-the-lingering-effects-of-unfinished-learning
- The article states that as the 2020–21 school year began, schools oscillated among virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning as they balanced the need to keep students and staff safe with the need to provide an effective learning environment. Students faced multiple schedule changes, were assigned new teachers midyear, and struggled with glitchy internet connections and Zoom fatigue. The authors used the term “unfinished learning” to describe how students were not given the opportunity this year to complete all the learning they would have completed in a typical year. There are reports that remote learning was more challenging for early elementary students, but this article believes that the impact was just as meaningful for older elementary students. The article also reports that the disparity in education hit hard as students of color and low-income students suffered most.
3. Campbell, L. (2022). Impact Of Covid-19 On Children’s Social Skills. Retrieved 22 November 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahcampbell/2021/10/31/impact-of-covid-19-on-childrens-social-skills/?sh=3a0c1f12a548
- Lots of kids have been deprived of regular social interactions and the opportunity to grow the skills typically acquired in the younger years. Child and adolescent psychologist Sophie Pierce said that while some kids have been eager to return, others have struggled with a significant amount of anxiety when it comes to going back to regular school settings. Some kids experienced increased separation anxiety as they had grown accustomed to being around their family more frequently. Pierce also mentioned how parents should deal with their children’s struggles: “The best thing you can do is continue to help your kids foster and grow those skills at home.”
1. Moyer, M. (2022). The COVID generation: how is the pandemic affecting kids’ brains?. Retrieved 16 November 2021, from https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-00027-4
- Dani Dumitriu and her team at NewYork–Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in New York City used more than two years of data on infant development which had been analyzed since late 2017 about the communication and motor skills of babies up to six month old. The team worked with Morgan Firestein to compare the results from babies born before and during the pandemic. Preliminary research shows that pandemic-related stress during pregnancy could be negatively affecting fetal brain development in some children, and the difference in the amount of interaction between children and parents or carers also could affect a child’s physical and mental abilities. The article mentions more detailed possible reasons of precipitous drop in play, interacting with people with masks on, and mother’s stress affecting the baby in the womb.
2. Dorn, E., Hancock, B., Sarakatsannis, J., & Viruleg, E. (2022). Retrieved 22 November 2021, from https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/education/our-insights/covid-19-and-education-the-lingering-effects-of-unfinished-learning
- The article states that as the 2020–21 school year began, schools oscillated among virtual, hybrid, and in-person learning as they balanced the need to keep students and staff safe with the need to provide an effective learning environment. Students faced multiple schedule changes, were assigned new teachers midyear, and struggled with glitchy internet connections and Zoom fatigue. The authors used the term “unfinished learning” to describe how students were not given the opportunity this year to complete all the learning they would have completed in a typical year. There are reports that remote learning was more challenging for early elementary students, but this article believes that the impact was just as meaningful for older elementary students. The article also reports that the disparity in education hit hard as students of color and low-income students suffered most.
3. Campbell, L. (2022). Impact Of Covid-19 On Children’s Social Skills. Retrieved 22 November 2022, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahcampbell/2021/10/31/impact-of-covid-19-on-childrens-social-skills/?sh=3a0c1f12a548
- Lots of kids have been deprived of regular social interactions and the opportunity to grow the skills typically acquired in the younger years. Child and adolescent psychologist Sophie Pierce said that while some kids have been eager to return, others have struggled with a significant amount of anxiety when it comes to going back to regular school settings. Some kids experienced increased separation anxiety as they had grown accustomed to being around their family more frequently. Pierce also mentioned how parents should deal with their children’s struggles: “The best thing you can do is continue to help your kids foster and grow those skills at home.”
December Post
This month, I worked on revising the drafts of my interview questions and prepare the final version of my questions.
Parents’ questions:
1. How old is your child?
2. Which school does your child go to? - public or private / homeschooling? How many students in total? In one class?
3. Is your child going to school these days?
4. What are the covid protocols at your child’s school?”
5. How did your child react to covid?
6. On a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. 1 = little effect), how much do you think your child is affected by covid?
7. What do you think is (or was) the biggest struggle due to covid for your child?
(additional question - if the child is very young and learning how to speak or learning a new language) - Do you think it is harder for children to acquire that new language skills because of covid? (due to wearing masks)
8. How are your children dealing with stress due to covid? Do they directly mention it to you?
9. How have you responded to the struggles that your child is going through?
10. Did you ever struggle to help your child’s struggles?
Children's Questions:
1. Do you know what covid is?
2. What is most difficult to do because of covid? (Going to school? Playing with friends? Doing homework?)
3. Are you comfortable with wearing masks all the time?
4. Are you stressed due to covid?
Due to Revels, which is a tradition at my school that seniors participate, I had a shorter December. My goal for the next month is to contact the families and reach out to them for the interview. I am also working on drafting the email that I will send to the parents.
Parents’ questions:
1. How old is your child?
2. Which school does your child go to? - public or private / homeschooling? How many students in total? In one class?
3. Is your child going to school these days?
4. What are the covid protocols at your child’s school?”
5. How did your child react to covid?
6. On a scale of 1 to 10 (ex. 1 = little effect), how much do you think your child is affected by covid?
7. What do you think is (or was) the biggest struggle due to covid for your child?
(additional question - if the child is very young and learning how to speak or learning a new language) - Do you think it is harder for children to acquire that new language skills because of covid? (due to wearing masks)
8. How are your children dealing with stress due to covid? Do they directly mention it to you?
9. How have you responded to the struggles that your child is going through?
10. Did you ever struggle to help your child’s struggles?
Children's Questions:
1. Do you know what covid is?
2. What is most difficult to do because of covid? (Going to school? Playing with friends? Doing homework?)
3. Are you comfortable with wearing masks all the time?
4. Are you stressed due to covid?
Due to Revels, which is a tradition at my school that seniors participate, I had a shorter December. My goal for the next month is to contact the families and reach out to them for the interview. I am also working on drafting the email that I will send to the parents.
First January Post |
Second January Post |
After I came back from winter break, I spent time catching up the work that I missed for the first semester. First of all, I drafted an email that will be sent out to families about the interview that I will be doing. Then, I reviewed the questions again and made some revisions. I think the next step for me is to prepare the list of families that I will be interviewing and actually send the emails out to them. Also, I would need to prepare for the interviews and run several rounds of practice interviews.
|
An update for the end of January is that I started reaching out to faculties on campus for the interview, and I am hoping to successfully conduct one interview with one family by the end of the first week of February. After my first interview, my next step is to reflect on what worked well and what I can improve for the next interviews. At this point, I am most worried about having interviews with the children because of the current COVID situation. I am trying to request the faculties to spend time with their children to ask my questions, so that I can also get children’s opinions without having to meet them in person. Another thing I need to consider is how I can effectively present and share the interviews on my blog website.
|
February First Post |
February Second Post |
Updated Timeline :
Before Spring Break (Second week of March) : Finish up the interviews During Spring Break (March) : (if possible) Gather information from the interviews and decide what I will share through posts or brochure / Research what activities children can do and make a brief list By the end of April : Finish up the blog posts and make a brochure about what families can do (and also share on the website) Before the presentation: make sure everything is in place and update everything on the website. |
An update for this month is that I have finished my first interview with Dr. Katharine Holt, the history department chair at Emma Willard School. She has two boys, 8 and 5, attending a private school in Troy, NY. She told me that her children were luckily able to attend school 5 days a week since September 2020, with the school's COVID protocols of limiting the numbers of kids in one classroom and ensuring daily temperature check. The biggest struggle for Dr. Holt was from March 2020 to September 2020, when her children had to stay home and do virtual learning. Especially her younger son, who was in pre-kindergarten when COVID started, struggled with virtual lessons, which were mostly asynchronous. The school suggested activities that can be done at home, like crafts, and had asynchronous activities such as virtual field trip to a museum. But other than the virtual learning they had to do in the beginning of the pandemic, Dr. Holt thinks her children luckily did not have any significant stress or trauma due to COVID. "Even though they still have small struggles such as not being able to have birthday parties, I think they are generally enjoying spending more time with mom and dad. I think children are adjusting better to the situation."
Personally, I was surprised to find out that she did not really face significant struggles in dealing with her children's struggles due to the pandemic. I think showing the diversity of different families would be an interesting aspect of the interviews that I can add to my project. For my next step forward, I am planning to change or adjust some of the questions for my next interviews. |
March First Post |
March Second Post |
On March 2, I completed another interview with Mr. Drew Levy, a history instructor at Emma Willard School. He has two children, Daniel who is 12 and Ginny who is 10. Daniels attends a public middle school in Albany, and Ginny attends a magnet elementary school in Albany. They both had to take virtual classes starting from the beginning of the pandemic and until last school year, but this year, they are both going to school in person every day. The virtual learning was not that challenging for Daniel as he is very self-directed with his school work. He did not enjoy virtual school, but it wasn't challenging for him to follow the instructions. However, for Ginny, faced some challenges as they did not have the same motivation as Daniel did. They were easily distracted and really depended on highly structured environment. Even though in person classes were an option for the last school year, since Ginny faced a high level of anxiety for COVID and going back to school last year, their family decided to virtual learning for both Ginny and Daniel. In this process, Mr. Levy had to go on a leave for the fall to assist Ginny with their virtual learning. Now, Ginny's anxiety has been much better and both Ginny and Daniel are attending schools in person. After this interview, I learned that communication played a big role for the parents to best assist their children. I want to focus more on how parents should communicate with their children about learning and the pandemic for the future blog posts.
|
For the rest of March, I went back to Korea for my spring break. Over the break, I was able to spend time with my families. I especially had a chance to spend time with my younger sister, who is currently in 4th grade in Korea. Even though she enjoys going to school in person these days, she says the biggest struggle for her is to find more time to hang out with her friends. In order to continue learning, Korean schools (with some exceptions) have been continuing in person learning, but it seems that children are still facing social issues. Since the two interviews that I completed focused mostly on the education part, I hope to learn more about the social and emotional impacts for my future interviews.
|
April First Post |
April Second Post (+May) |
On April 12, I did my third interview with Ms. Halfi, the Associate Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion at Emma Willard School. She has a daughter who is 9. She goes to a private school, where there are multi-grade classrooms. So she is currently in a classroom of 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students. During the 2020-2021 school year, she homeschooled because the family felt uneasy about sending her back to school. Ms. Halfi said that homeschooling was very tricky for her family because both of the parents were working full time. She said they were not that worried about the academic part but more worried about the social part. Since she had online classes the year before, she had much more access to the Internet. The family was unprepared for this sudden challenge of not fully introducing her to the online world - not educating her about online safety or setting limits on screen time. She also added that during the pandemic, she realized that her daughter really buckles on her stress.
|
I was attempting to finish up my last two interviews with Dr. Grimm (Science Instructor at Emma) and Dr. Legg (Assistant Head of School at Emma) in April, but scheduling was a challenge. Dr. Grimm had to go on maternity leave, so I had to interview her through email and I was able to meet Dr. Legg in May.
Dr. Grimm, has three children: 5, 3, and a newborn. She told me that her children did not go through a lot of struggles because they had the advantage of being so young. They did not know what was going on with the world and they were just happy to be able to spend more time at home with their parents. However, Dr. Grimm mentioned that she struggled with a few things: having unexpected daycare closures, having her children being very attached to her, and having herself not get too overwhelmed. The children's daycare center had unexpected closures due to covid, and this conflicted with the parents' work hours. Also, her middle child got very attached to her since they spent a lot of time at home. Dr. Legg has two children, 8 and 5. They are currently going to a private school. She said that she was quite surprised that her children adjusted so quickly to the new situation of having to be quarantined at home and having to wear masks all the time. They never complained about anything. However, she mentioned small struggles such as getting a sensitive skin as they had to wash their hands all the time. She said her older child had more knowledge about covid, and she would come to the parents and talk about her anxieties. |
Final Reflection
Take a moment to reflect on your entire year. Write about at least one positive experience, one surprise, and anything else that you would like to include.
I am so proud of myself for finishing all the work for signature. I was nervous for the interviews that I had to do, but I was able to successfully finish 5 and use them for my project. I was surprised at how diverse the experience was for different families, according to their unique situation or setting. Even though my project at Emma Willard ended here, I would like to continue learning more about this topic and do another research since the pandemic is still an ongoing issue.
I am so proud of myself for finishing all the work for signature. I was nervous for the interviews that I had to do, but I was able to successfully finish 5 and use them for my project. I was surprised at how diverse the experience was for different families, according to their unique situation or setting. Even though my project at Emma Willard ended here, I would like to continue learning more about this topic and do another research since the pandemic is still an ongoing issue.