Hybrid Learning

Our Campus-Based Hybrid program prioritizes face-to-face instruction. Students learn about the various digital platforms and use these in this model to support their in-class learning and prepare them in the event that we need to return to online learning. Students enjoy an increased emphasis on individual projects and explorations to allow for flexibility in instruction based on social distancing guidelines. Cameras directed towards teacher instruction are used to allow for synchronous and interactive learning for those students participating from home. Wellness is a key component of this learning scenario, and students enjoy an expanded advisory program, increased teacher check-ins, workshops, and collaborative connections for shared opportunities for socializing, collaborating, and fun.

Our Hybrid Learning Model includes the option for students to engage in learning from home, either voluntarily, or, in the case of Grades K-8, on an assigned rotation for one day each week.  Curriculum changes made over the summer allows teachers and students to easily pivot between campus-based and remote instruction.  The schedule for each grade has been developed around an age-appropriate philosophy regarding screen time and learning needs.

All classes use Zoom for any synchronous learning experiences that do not occur face-to-face. This platform allows for flexibility in whole-group and small-group instruction via the use of breakout rooms. The breakout room feature can also be used for facilitated socialization opportunities, particularly in the younger grades.

 

Students in Upper Elementary and Middle School use Google Classroom as the method for receiving and submitting assignments in all classes. Each class has its own Google Classroom. In the Elementary grades, we are exploring adding parental access.

 

Students in Early Childhood and Lower Elementary use Seesaw to access all class materials and submit all work. This platform is a digital portfolio, allowing teachers, students, and parents to all actively engage in the learning and feedback process.

 

August 2020

As we begin this historic school year together, I am filled with a sense of gratitude and appreciation for our wonderful community.

 

Teachers and staff have worked hard and with great heart all summer so that we are ready to provide our students with a rich and rewarding year - no matter whether we are on campus or online.

 

We worked diligently to identify and design the Hybrid Learning Model most appropriate for our community.  It is designed to serve as a resource to parents throughout the year and contains all of the policies that have been created as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As we have learned over the past six months, these policies will likely need to be adjusted to reflect the shifting landscape.

 

These plans will only work if everyone does their part. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.”

 

This is our time to concern ourselves with the whole of our community - to keep each other safe, to help each other stay well, and, as the closing words of our vision statement express so beautifully, “to honor the enduring truth that we are all one.”

 

Finally, I wish to thank our school’s Board of Trustees, Leadership Team, and entire Faculty and Staff for their dedicated service on our various task forces. We are indeed a blessed community.

 

I look forward to continuing this unexpected journey together!

 

Jill Singleton