--- title: "Tips for Remote Learning: By Students, For Students" description: Tampa Prep students provide tips for staying sane while learning remotely. image: https://blog.tampaprep.org/hubfs/ansleigh%20for%20blog-1.jpg --- [![Tampa Preparatory School](https://tampaprep.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/TampaLogo.png)](https://tampaprep.org) - [About](https://tampaprep.org/about) - [About](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/) - [Alumni](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/alumni/) - [Alumni Events](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/alumni/alumni-events/) - [Alumni Resources](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/alumni/alumni-resources/) - [Career Opportunities](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/career-opportunities/) - [Contact Us](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/contact-us/) - [History & Traditions](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/history-tradition/) - [25 Things to Do Before You Graduate](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/history-tradition/25-things-to-do-before-you-graduate/) - 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[Gala](https://tampaprep.org/support/special-events/gala/) - [Events](https://tampaprep.org/support) - [Calendar](https://tampaprep.org/parent-portal-welcome/calendar/) - [Special Events](https://tampaprep.org/parent-portal-welcome/special-events/) - [Alumni Events](https://tampaprep.org/about-tampa-preparatory-school/alumni/alumni-events/) - [Parent Portal](https://tampaprep.org/parent-portal-welcome/) [Academics](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/academics), [Life Lessons](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/life-lessons), [Academic Counseling](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/academic-counseling), [Being Earnest](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/being-earnest) # Tips for Remote Learning: By Students, For Students By [Sarah Johnson, Academic Support Counselor](https://blog.tampaprep.org/author/sarah-johnson-academic-support-counselor) May 13, 2021 [No Comments](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tips-for-remote-learning#comments-listing) ![Sarah Johnson, Academic Support Counselor](https://blog.tampaprep.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Sarah%20Johnson.png?width=80&height=80&name=Sarah%20Johnson.png) ### [Sarah Johnson, Academic Support Counselor](https://blog.tampaprep.org/author/sarah-johnson-academic-support-counselor) As an academic counselor at Tampa Prep, I’m often called upon to [give advice](https://blog.tampaprep.org/counseling-from-a-distance?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=95182200&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_sXWi3fglWFOLDhJHogZ8hFF8rktqOoZbjQ8yxtI40sZJTUqzsXFkj5FkFXCychwGFMpY1y44HLSTVSy0jyuSPQjySRA&utm_content=95182200&utm_source=hs_email). And as vain as it may sound, I really like giving advice. This year, of course, has thrown all of us [advice-givers](https://vimeo.com/473052303/de8475fbaa?utm_campaign=COVID-19&utm_medium=email&_hsmi=99023481&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_WUPFYas2zB_9ow50q5PFkBWcmf3Ig54tnVUD6Bn72A4bHr0cD4GuB3zJg9bSYDBlZmfOZROzHhQIger7NOAM0VO03Ew&utm_content=99023481&utm_source=hs_email) for a loop.  How do we do school during a global pandemic?  How do we stay motivated? And focused?  How do we organize our time and routines?  How do we thrive with these new circumstances- or just get by?  How do we persevere or make hard decisions when all options carry risk?  I don’t have universal answers to these questions. I don’t think anyone does. On the phone, I asked my 94-year-old grandmother and Tampa Prep faculty emeritus, Patricia Riggs what it was like to grow up during the Great Depression. Or to go to work in 1942-1945 to support the war effort, as brothers, fathers, husbands, and boyfriends left for Europe and the Pacific. How did she stay focused or motivated with all the unknowns? “Oh I don’t know,” she replied. “We were all in those things together.”  One thing I know for sure is that the [Tampa Prep](https://www.google.com/maps/place/Tampa+Preparatory+School/@27.9511688,-82.4670933,15z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0xbe1a1e4911ee9d22?sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwizmraX78bwAhVD8HMBHSaTBGMQ_BIwH3oECFwQBQ)community is in this thing together, and the students, in particular, often have the best advice for each other. I heard from one [middle school](https://tampaprep.org/) boy how he loads up his family’s slow cooker on the days he’s at home doing remote/asynchronous learning so that a hot meal is ready when his parents get home. Brilliant! And that got me thinking . . . what other tips might we have to share with each other?   **TAMPA PREP STUDENT TIPS FOR REMOTE LEARNING:** ![Middle School boy attends class remotely via Zoom](https://blog.tampaprep.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Being%20Earnest%20Blog/Images/image3%20(1).jpg?width=300&name=image3%20(1).jpg)One thing I do for at-home days is **set two wake-up alarms**. One of them gets me awake, but not quite up. The other actually wakes me up to not be as sleepy. It works better than one might think! **Check the \[teacher’s PSL\] Wayfinders every day** after you think you’ve finished all your homework just in case you missed something. Don’t wait to check it at 10 pm like I did last night!  What helps me stay focused, is **being in an area next to my mother.** It helps me stay focused because my mother works from home, and whenever I feel like not working I look over to my left and see my mother hard at work and it makes me want to keep persevering. Some tips for “At Home Days”:  **Take your phone, and put it in the room farthest away from you.** DO NOT FALL INTO THE FOLLOWING TRAPS YOU MAY TRY TO CONVINCE YOURSELF OF “But I need it for my school work. But I need it for music. But I need two screens.”  Don’t do it. Once you put your phone in another room you gradually will forget about it, I promise. One more tip to make your work more enjoyable is to get your favorite drink whether it’s tea, soda, coffee, kombucha or even water. I recommend **taking some downtime. Especially during lunch** on your at-home days. Since you’re at your home, you probably want to do a lot of things you otherwise couldn’t do on campus (like pet your dog or go on a walk). So I recommend using the entire hour to your advantage. Play some video games, play with your pets, go on a walk, get some exercise. Lunch is supposed to be a break and with this schedule, we can enhance our experience. What I have learned about myself this year so far is that **I can do a lot of work. It takes a lot of planning, time-management and sacrifices,** but there’s no feeling like the feeling of you sitting on the couch watching a movie with a smile on your face because you finished all your work. I will **plan a fun activity during the week to do that weekend** like going to my favorite ice cream store, or going shopping or just watching that movie that everyone keeps saying is really good. Whenever I am stressed out during the week I just think, this weekend, in X amount of days, I’m going to go do that fun activity. It keeps me hopeful. The little things that cause me to smile these days are **doing funny things with my family**. An example:  today after school I took a little break and got the full-sized skeleton out of the garage and put it into my father’s work closet with a sign in the skeleton’s hands that said “Got any skeletons in the closet?”. My father luckily found it when I was in his office and seeing him laugh and smile made me happier and smile. Little things like that.  **One junior sums it up: ** All I can say is **I’ve learned just how truly adaptable and resilient we are.** This community is so mature and our care for each other and ourselves has gone above and beyond. **We are so capable, despite how hard this has been. ** Search ### Categories - [Academic Counseling (6)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/academic-counseling) - [Academics (15)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/academics) - [Alumni (5)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/alumni) - [Arts (1)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/arts) - [Athletics (3)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/athletics) - [Being Earnest (12)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/being-earnest) - [Community Service (8)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/community-service) - [History & Traditions (2)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/history-traditions) - [Life Lessons (24)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/life-lessons) - [Middle School (11)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/middle-school) - [Parenting (3)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/parenting) - [Special Events (1)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/special-events) - [STEM / Virtual Reality (3)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/stem-virtual-reality) - [Summer (2)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/summer) - [TPPA (2)](https://blog.tampaprep.org/tag/tppa) - ### Previous PostThe Library in the Time of COVID - ### Next PostTHE COVID EXPERIENCE: A Head of School's Perspective - - - - - © 2022 Tampa Preparatory School 727 W. 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