((PKG))  6th GRADERS VIRTUAL LEARNING  
((TRT:  5:42)) 
((Topic Banner:  Offline Talk About Online School)) 
((Reporter/Camera:  Lisa Vohra)) 
((Map:  Vienna, Virginia))  
((Main Characters:  2 female;  2 male)) 
((Popup Banner:  Virtual Learning, A Conversation))  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Hi, I’m Leighton and I’m 11 years old.  
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
Hi, I’m Claire and I’m also 11 years old. 
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
Hi, my name is Omar and I am 11 years old. 
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
Hi, my name’s Karim and I’m 11 years old. 
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  Real Talk))   
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
How is virtual learning has been for you guys? 
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
It’s been pretty good.  It’s hard to like look at a screen for so 
long.   
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
And focus.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
Yeah. 
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
They take like too many directions on things.  A lot. 
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
Like you have to turn on your camera.  And if you don’t want 
to turn on your camera, you don’t have to.   
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Sometimes my lighting is like very, very bad and I look like a 
greasy egg, so. 
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
It’s way too long for looking at a screen.  I know we have 
breaks, but still.   
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
It’s very easy to get distracted too.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
Yeah. 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Because like you have like your phone or there’s like 
YouTube on your computer.  And there’s like no way to block 
that.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
The other thing is, a lot of times, the WiFi or the internet will 
like go down and like that’s another thing I dislike.   
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
That happened to be on Thursday, a couple of days ago.   
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  The Pros)) 
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
The thing I like about virtual learning, you can see a lot of 
people on their cameras.  Then you can like meet up with 
friends on like Gmail.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
Breakout rooms are like really fun because you could talk to 
your friends and it’s like away from your teacher.    
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
Yeah.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
And it’s just a lot more enjoyable because you can, you 
know, you don’t have to do exactly what the teacher is 
saying.  You can still like have, enjoy your time learning.  But 
you’re like, you’re with your friends.  
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Some of the teachers, when you’re in the classroom, when 
you ask to go to the bathroom, they're like, “No, you can 
wait.”  But now, you can just turn your camera off and like go 
to the bathroom.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
Yeah, you definitely have more freedom.  You’re working a 
lot more independently.   
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  The Changes)) 
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
If you were in school, you can think of more excuses to, you 
know, 
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
get out.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
No, not get out.  But, like say you lost your work or whatever.  
But when you’re in virtual learning, then all your assignments 
are there.  You can’t just like lose an assignment.  You just 
have to get it done, because it’s right there for you.   
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  Grading the Teacher)) 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Some of the teachers are actually like, like on top of breaks, 
like on top of work.  
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
Our teacher is doing really well and she’s like one of the best 
teachers I've ever had.  She’s so nice.  And she’s like hasn’t 
got mad or yelled at the class once.  She also like shows her 
baby sometimes, you know, like. 
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
My teacher’s great.  She’s a nice teacher.   
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  Reversing Roles)) 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
So, if I was the head of district like the principal or whatever, 
I would probably make the breaks, definitely like some of the 
breaks should be longer like, maybe, like 15-minute breaks.   
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
I would have just like 20 minutes of school, because all you 
need is 20 minutes of school or like an hour of school.  
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
If I was a leader, I would go back to school.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  Results)) 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Guys, do you think we’re like actually like learning new stuff, 
or is it just like a review from last year?  
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
I think, I’m definitely learning a little bit.  It’s like from school 
to actually like technology as well.  I’m learning a lot because 
like I used to be really bad at using computers, but like, since 
we’re on the computer so much, I’ve been learning how to 
do a lot on there.   
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
I know like they’re kind of going like over a lot of review.  I’m 
not really learning anything.  But like it’s hard for me to learn 
because I don’t move.  I just keep.  I don’t keep still.  I move.  
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
You think you’re learning stuff? 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
Yeah, definitely in science, I mean social studies.  Last year, 
I was just like we were learning about like Virginia, like only 
one state.   
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  Reminiscing)) 
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
What I miss the most about school, it’s just like, even when I 
like go back to school, it won’t be the same.  You’ll be 
wearing a mask.  Like I would always give my teacher a hug 
when I go into school.  I’m just that kind of person.  I’m like 
really kind and stuff.   
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
So, I miss like hanging out with my friends.  Like that’s what I 
miss.  But like now, it’s just like the screen and you only see 
their tiles.   
((Karim Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
I miss most about school, a tad on that, I miss my friends a 
lot.  
((MUSIC/NATS)) 
((Popup Banner:  Funny Stories)) 
((Leighton Marashlian, 6th Grader)) 
One time, when I was talking like when I was like trying to 
present or something, my mom kept on walking into my 
room when she’s like, “Are you good?”  Girl, I’m trying to 
present right here.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
My like funny/embarrassing moment is, sometimes in the 
beginning of, in the beginning of class, I just wait for it to 
start and I’m like watching TikTok or whatever.  I said like ‘hi’ 
to my teacher.  I was like ‘hi’.  And then I thought I turned my 
microphone off, but I didn’t, and the TikTok was playing.  
And then I was so embarrassed, and I was like, wanted to 
cry because I was just so embarrassed.  
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
The funniest thing was when my brother, Sami, he was 
running around, he was like this.  And then he slipped on his 
sock and then, he’s like that.  And then, I was just laughing 
so hard.  And then, it’s like.   
((Claire Nitowski, 6th Grader)) 
If it was on recording.  
((Omar Roberts, 6th Grader)) 
It was on recording, yeah. 
((NATS/MUSIC))