Dear Canterbury Community, As you know from my previous email, Canterbury School will resume online instruction on April 6, and will continue with this method of instruction until May 1. Our current plan is to resume face-to-face instruction on Monday, May 4.
I want to thank you all so much for your support and flexibility as we have unexpectedly entered the realm of remote learning. I am particularly grateful for the willingness of our faculty members to "dive in" to these new tools, and to explore their possibilities with our students. I wanted to allow a bit of time for our teachers to have used – and for you all to have experienced – this remote platform this week before providing an update on our efforts, as well as the conversations we will continue to have during our two week Spring Break to refine our approaches to online instruction.
Thus far, we have received several communications from parents and students about the overall positive experience they are having with the transition to remote learning. Again, my thanks to our faculty members, whose dedication to their students and whose diligent efforts have led to such experiences – it has been a lot of work to make this shift, and the faculty has approached the situation with a "What can we do?" attitude that bodes very well for our continued ability to manage this challenge successfully.
I have also received a lot of comments regarding just how wonderfully upbeat and positive our students have been in the face of this transition. This has certainly made the overall learning atmosphere in our virtual classrooms as productive as possible.
There have been a few areas that have emerged as points of focus for continued conversation, as we look toward a period of extended remote learning: - A common area of suggestion, particularly from our students, is that they want to find ways to capture the community spirit of their experience through Canterbury, and so we will work to consider ways to integrate circle time and advisory time into our routine to provide students with the vital opportunity to connect with their friends and peers – this is probably the most challenging aspect of the current situation for them, and we want to find ways to address this concern with the tools that we currently have.
- Faculty members have been keeping in close contact with each other to share ideas and helpful experiences they have had this past week. They are also very curious about other tools that might be available to them to enhance their lessons even more. In fact, I participated in the Early Childhood and Lower School faculty meetings this morning, which were focused on demonstrating and discussing the use of various video-instructional and organizational tools, such as Google Meet, Google Classroom, See Saw, and YouTube, that will bring new dimensions to the student experience. Faculty are also considering a variety of options for how students can document their learning, as well. Teachers were eager for this information, and absolutely willing to consider each other's ideas and suggestions, collaborating very effectively on behalf of your children.
- The Middle School is discussing ways of incorporating online video conferencing into their instructional experiences, as well as the challenges that these types of communication might present with this age group. The High School is likewise considering ways to expand their video capabilities beyond Google Meet, which presents some limitations with providing opportunities for breakout groups, and can be overwhelming – for students and teachers – in a larger class setting. Given that these two discussions overlap, there will be some coordination between Fraser Coffeen and Ben Ottenweller to arrive at a solution that works across both divisions.
- We have also received some feedback that the amount of communication related to classes has been a bit overwhelming for parents. We will explore methods of streamlining this communication in a way that provides you with the information you need in a format that is a bit easier to navigate.
- Finally, there may be some consideration of the daily instructional schedule, including how best to incorporate Specials into the school day (EC, LS, and MS, particularly). Expectations of students for homework may also be revisited, as appropriate.
Of course, we will need some time to consider, discuss, and incorporate such refinements, and a good amount of that activity will occur during the time allotted for Spring Break – which we will, of course, observe. (There will be no online classes held during this two-week period.) The Division Directors will reach out to you with more specific information over the break regarding any refinements they have made to pivot to a longer period of remote instruction.
Again, thank you for your flexibility. I think that our success in navigating this challenging period has been helped immeasurably by the wonderful sense of community that permeates Canterbury. We are all in this together, and in times of difficulty, we always come together in the most supportive ways possible. It is a wonderful quality of which we should be quite proud.
Sincerely, Bill Ennist Head of School Canterbury School |