By MARGARET CAPIZZI and SAMUEL TREPP For The Catholic Week “Reading can bring people together in many ways; we can be brought together as friends through common, shared experiences.” — Little Flower Catholic School eighth-grader Asia Smith
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The past several months have been trying and universally students have felt the loss of natural, social interactions with peers inside and outside of school. The loss of sports in the fall season has left many students with fewer activities and connections outside of school.
At the beginning of the year, as teachers welcomed students back into the classroom, there was a need from students for more connection and interaction.
The initial transition into full-time masks at school was challenging — no one was familiar with this way of socializing with peers. As the year progressed, students became more comfortable with themselves and their own thoughts and questions about the corresponding events in the world. Discussions in the classroom were fruitful and all wanted to share thoughts. Although universally we have been distant this year, more than ever, Little Flower and Heart of Mary Catholic schools sought out a way to connect in the midst of this separation.
Speaking with some students, there was a hunger for friendship and learning outside of the classroom.
Thanks to Zoom and Flipgrid, Little Flower Catholic School teacher Margaret Capizzi and Heart of Mary teacher Samuel Trepp launched a virtual cross-school library. Many students expressed interest in being a part of the “Virtual Book Club,” and the teachers provided students with leisure reading which they would take home and read on their own terms.
Once they finished the book they would record a short book review video on Flipgrid to share with the students in the club at the other school.
Reading enables people to “have better conversations,” said Heart of Mary seventh-grader Douglas Jackson.
Little Flower seventh-grader Shiloh Watson added that books and reading “can help us make a better world (especially with everything going on right now) and see a better world.”
Both students have been active participants in the virtual library and weekly Zoom book club meetings.
For the past two months Heart of Mary and Little Flower book club members have joined Zoom on Thursday afternoons in their respective classrooms and have discussed questions, themes and ideas stemming from works read throughout the week in preparation for club meetings.
The club began with “Locomotion,” a story told in poems, which sparked much thought about the expression of emotions, struggling through tragedy, and the honest and raw feelings of a parentless middle school student.
These poems also inspired some students to write their own works modeled after different styles present in the work.
The students have been blessed to connect during this time and anticipate many more successful sessions and hope to one day meet in person.