Pretend are a voter (after-all you will be in a couple years). You tend to vote independently: you have voted for more conservative candidates as well as more liberal candidates. It is early in the pandemic and there are a few cases of the virus in your state, one in the neighboring town. Your government at the local, state, and federal levels have taken some steps to control the spread of the virus, but the numbers of infected people are rising every day.

In your response, convince the different levels of government to take appropriate steps to control the spread of the virus. Include some measures that should be taking place to slow the spread that maybe were not taken in the early days of the pandemic.

Although this question does have a political element to it, the focus is on the health and well-being of the population, not the electability of the politicians. The goal is to reduced the number of sick and infected. Based on current research, there are better and worse answers. Please answer accurately and appropriately considering the advice of health and medical professionals. Consider researching some articles from reputable and reliable sources when crafting your response.

Remember, when responding (clicking Comments):

• Enter your student ID for Name
• Enter your name for Email
• Leave Website empty
• Enter your response in the Comments box. Please review for spelling and grammatical mistakes before submitting.

Pretend you are the COVID-19 virus. All you want to do is infect, replicate, and spread from one person to the next. If you don't know how viruses work, consider watching THIS VIDEO, THIS VIDEO, or THIS VIDEO. If you don't know how pandemics occur, watch THIS VIDEO or THIS VIDEO. You want to trick the public into creating the conditions that allowing you to spread.

Convince the public to create the conditions that allow you to spread quickly from one person to the next. Also include some lies people are using to downplay the severity of you, the disease causing virus.

​Based on current research, there are right and wrong answers. Please answer accurately and appropriately considering the advice of health and medical professionals. Consider researching some articles from reputable and reliable sources when crafting your response.

Remember, when responding (clicking Comments):

• Enter your student ID for Name
• Enter your name for Email
• Leave Website empty
• Enter your response in the Comments box. Please review for spelling and grammatical mistakes before submitting.

Pretend you are an adult in your mid 70's. You are generally healthy now but suffered a mild heart attack 5 years ago. You go on a daily walk and like to go golfing a couple times a week, although you have noticed it's not as easy as it once was. You live at home by yourself and are still rather independent. You know that you are in the vulnerable population and are becoming quite concerned, especially since you are reading that people younger than you and in better health than you are losing their lives to the virus.

In your response, convince others why it is so important to socially distance themselves and stay at home as much as possible. Also, include some steps local businesses can commit to that would make you safer as you still are an independent adult who has to run occasional errands.

​Based on current research, there are right and wrong answers. Please answer accurately and appropriately considering the advice of health and medical professionals. Consider researching some articles from reputable and reliable sources when crafting your response.

Remember, when responding (clicking Comments):

• Enter your student ID for Name
• Enter your name for Email
• Leave Website empty
• Enter your response in the Comments box. Please review for spelling and grammatical mistakes before submitting.

Pretend you are a doctor in the urgent care and emergency wing of a hospital. Now is a very, very busy and strenuous time for you. Your state has not mandated that people stay at home, but strongly recommends that people social distance, stay away from large crowds, and only leave home for essential activities like grocery shopping, going to the pharmacy, and medical visits. You drive home after a long shift and still see people congregating at local restaurants and gathering together, even if the crowds aren't as big as they usually are this time of year.

In your response, convince the public to follow social distancing and stay-at-home recommendations and explain why their choice to still gather in public places is making your very critical job more and more demanding.

​Based on current research, there are right and wrong answers. Please answer accurately and appropriately considering the advice of health and medical professionals. Consider researching some articles from reputable and reliable sources when crafting your response.

Remember, when responding (clicking Comments):

• Enter your student ID for Name
• Enter your name for Email
• Leave Website empty
• Enter your response in the Comments box. Please review for spelling and grammatical mistakes before submitting.

Pretend you are the parent of a 21 year old college student. Your child is a junior in college and was forced to leave school early and come home. They are expected to finish their classwork online. Your child is a good student with a 3.0 GPA, but being in their early 20's, they also enjoy going out to restaurants, bars, parties, and clubs and seeing friends. They have read in many places that people their age, if they are infected with COVID-19, generally show mild symptoms if they show symptoms at all.

In your response, convince your 21 year-old child that staying home is the responsible thing to do.

Based on current research, there are right and wrong answers. Please answer accurately and appropriately considering the advice of health and medical professionals. Consider researching some articles from reputable and reliable sources when crafting your response.

Remember, when responding (clicking Comments):

• Enter your student ID for Name
• Enter your name for Email
• Leave Website empty
• Enter your response in the Comments box. Please review for spelling and grammatical mistakes before submitting.

What has been hardest for you in this environment of social distancing and staying at home? What do you miss most? What has surprised you? Are you learning anything new about yourself and your potential? What have you had to change about your lifestyle to still feel productive? Do you think we are doing what is right? Not enough? Too much? Provide the perspective from you, a teenager.

Be honest (but appropriate). Nothing you say is wrong.

Spend about 10 minutes casually reading some of the advice left to you from my Biology students 2 years ago in the previous blog post. You can also read their advice HERE.

Don't just read the first ones. Read some at the beginning, read some in the middle, read some at the end. Read some long ones. Read some short ones. They are all valuable.

Once you have spent about 10 minutes reading through their advice. Answer the prompts below. 

​With their first year of high school almost completed, I asked my students last year to leave advice for you, my students this year. When providing advice, I asked them to  consider both their successes as well as their struggles.

They were asked to provide advice regarding any the following:

• Study habits
• Maturity
• Responsibility
• Organization
• Time management
• Participation
• Reactions to setbacks
• Anything else they felt was relevant

Focusing mostly on their experience in my Biology class, they were asked to give their advice regarding my quizzes/quizlets, homework, class participation, MCAS prep, or anything else that they felt is important and relevant, again, for my class in particular.

Schools is not all about academics. They were also asked to provide advice regarding participation in the school's community outside the academic realm (i.e. extracurriculars, clubs, athletics, etc.)

Since maintaining a healthy social life is also a part of a high school student's experience, my students were also asked to provide appropriate advice regarding such. As well,  they may have left advice regarding the high school experience as a whole, even the experience outside of school itself. It is a confusing time for most kids and can be an overwhelming transition from junior high. Please consider the value of their advice.

Many of them put a lot of thought and effort into this. Their advice can be very powerful and should be very much appreciated... I know it is from me.

Click the Bio Blog post heading or click Comments to read their entries.