You are invited to write ideally a one page document (single-spaced, font size 12) about your personal experiences learning under lockdown. Any high school or primary school student can participate.
I encourage you to write your own story and to write from the heart. What was “learning under lockdown” like for you? Was it easy or difficult or a bit of both? Say why. What did you struggle with? What did you enjoy? Were you able to access online learning from your school or not? And if you did do online learning was that a new experience for you? How did you manage? What was unexpected or new to you in “learning under lockdown”? Did you parents also play a role in your learning during lockdown? Are you homeschooled? Were you able to reach out to other students in your class to learn together? How many hours on average did you spend learning? What did you miss most about regular school? Could you concentrate or were you distracted learning from home? Were you worried about what was going on with the pandemic and did this affect your ability to learn from home? What tips do you have for other students about how to make the most of learning under difficult circumstances?
These are only suggested questions. You can use some or all of them but definitely speak to the two underlined sentences. The idea is to have you tell YOUR story about learning and about lockdown.
If you could complete your story within two weeks and send them back to me by 29 May 2020 then I will edit and organise the 100 stories into a book and ensure that it is published as soon as possible with your name and school attached! By the way, if you wish to write under a pseudonym, simply let me know and I will ensure you identity is not revealed.
This is a great opportunity to write to be published. Imagine that: you are about to have your story in print and in a book. It is something you could also cite in your curriculum vitae as an author.
I will be responsible for editing the collection of stories to make sure they are coherent and compelling for someone to buy the book.
The planned published collection of student stories about learning under lockdown has two main objectives. One, to express in the voices of student what learning was like for students under the pandemic lockdown. Two, to share positive lessons from learning under lockdown with other students who might be struggling with their academic work.
I propose that all proceedings earned from sales of the book goes towards feeding children in poor schools in South Africa. If your story is chosen, you will be asked to nominate one school (e.g. a school near to where you live and that is in need of support) that you would like to see benefit from these funds to support their school feeding scheme.
Finally, I will work with a small team of three persons to select the 100 stories using three criteria: 1. Is the story ‘on theme’ i.e. learning experiences under lockdown? 2. Is the story interesting or unusual or exciting to read? 3. Is the story long enough (one-page, single-spaced)?
There are three prizes for the top three stories: 1st prize R5000, 2nd prize R3000 and 3rd prize R1000. Your photo and story will be published in a major newspaper with your agreement of course.
Deadline: 29 May 2020
Send to: jonathanjansen@sun.ac.za
