Teaching a visual class, like art, via camera and computer is a new challenge for East’s art teachers — especially when they don’t know if students are doing the work.  

According to Edutopia, “The Show Must Go Online”: Arts Teachers Adapt to At-Home Instruction. Currently, over the country, they are teachers of drama, music, visual art, and dance trying to make the right decisions on the fly. Art classes are necessary to be in school to be involved physically for the reason that they need materials, group activities, and audiences are required but are not easy to archive in a digital environment. Until now, students are not only creating art, they’re also sharing the process of creation. In some high schoolers, lives have a lot of urgent time, especially adapting to the new style of remote learning. It is critical for students and teachers during covid-19 closures.

“…the challenge of teaching art this is Visual and my students don’t turn their cameras on and they are relocked to share with me what they’re with a drawing in what they’re doing and I can’t help them because I can’t see what they’re doing and it’s very frustrating really very frustrating because I feel like I’m alone I feel like I’m alone and there’s nobody out there I have maybe two or three kids and every class that can instantly talk to me and sends me pictures and the others go back to the challenge of teaching remotely because I can’t see students and I don’t know if they’re playing video games or if they’re just messing around with their friends I can’t redirect them and get them to go back to work like I can in the regular classroom so I feel so powerless some days that’s the biggest challenge,” AP Art teacher  Lisa Dure said.

Students agree. Not all high schoolers are used to being at home all-time the, isolated from the world. Some art students get inspired and get ideas for new drawings during the walk to school and back home. 

“Soy estudiante, el reto de aprender arte en remoto es difícil para mi. Ya que en la escuela me inspiraba, y mi mente trabajaba más. Durante la caminata de la escuela y regreso a casa me inspiraba para crear nuevos dibujos, mi mente se la pasaba más ocupada. Ahora que las escuelas hicieron las clases remotas, no tengo inspiración para crear nuevos dibujos. Ahora por la pandemia me he desanimado mucho al punto de dejar hacer mis trabajos y pasar mucho tiempo dormida,” junior Yurixhy Hurtado said. 

But some students disagree.

“I’m an art student, I love how the pandemic changed everything including school. I love the remote learning thing. I have gotten inspired by being in my room almost the entire time than being at school. I have been able to create more drawings at home than in a normal school. I was failing all my classes in a normal school. For me, it was difficult to get good grades because some teachers don’t know how to explain the assignment, but now in remote learning, I have the best grades I have ever gotten in my life,” sophomore Mathew Martinez said. 

Numerous high schooler, college students are happier because they managed to get through school without stressing about good grades.

“Remote learning has made school easier for me. Some of my classes are easier but I struggle a little bit with art, I struggle with art because I get lazy when I am at home. I think the best thing that ever happened to all the students is to have remote learning, it’s easy to take the test knowing you can use notes without the teachers knowing,” college Federico Romero said.