Brianna Bellinghieri ’22
Photo courtesy of Susan McLaughlin
After shutting down campus on March 19th, EA has put forth great effort in continuing the education of its students by transitioning to online learning, which will continue through the year after Governor’s Wolf’s shutdown of schools for the remainder of the year. Not only has this taken the form of online classes, but EA is providing Chapel services, mental health resources, and technological help.
One service that EA offers is “Online Chapel”. Regarding this resource, Vestry member Rachel Letts ‘22 says, “There is definitely a lot of confusion going on right now considering everything that’s changed, but I think the Vestry’s main concern is making sure that we can continue to share the messages and support we usually receive in Chapel. Unfortunately, we’re missing many amazing chapels while we’re away, but luckily, we have been able to set up a program for online chapel reflections to spread these messages during such a difficult time. Like many things right now, there’s no real way to fully compensate for our usual Chapel experience, but for now, I think the Vestry is just trying to be available and supportive for the student body.” The programs are accessible by clicking on the link found on EA’s Remote Learning Page in the Veracross Portal. In addition to this, Father Gavin is available on-call to chat.
As for mental health resources, EA has a list of contacts, such as school psychologist Dr. Chaikin, and links to various websites and articles that may be able to provide assistance.
There is also a tech support sheet accessible through Veracross that provides contact information for individuals facing technology issues. It includes links to several videos for additional assistance as well.
Although the EA community probably has diverse opinions and beliefs about online learning, many people are trying to make the best of it and embrace the change as much as they can. For example, Upper School Mandarin teacher Ya-yi Weng states, “’I am truly enjoying online teaching. While there are some obstacles to overcome and changes that need to get used to, I think this change offers some new motivations for both myself and some of the students. It is also a great way to really help students have more freedom in their learning as assessments become more formative than summative, and to work on self-discipline, organization, and time management skills. I hope we can consider incorporating this style of learning into our regular school schedule when we go back to ‘normal.’ Perhaps every Friday can be remote learning day and allow students to have one afternoon to catch up on work, meet for group projects, or meet with teachers, etc. In short, I think that, even though remote learning might make class time shorter and therefore cut down the amount of each course’s content, it creates an environment for students to learn some essential life skills to become successful lifelong learners, and to me, that’s more of the reason why I became an educator.”
Photo courtesy of Cristina Dermengian
Ashley Tang ‘22 is also trying to remain positive while acknowledging some of the drawbacks of digital education: “The teachers made the transition to online learning really smooth and easy because we were made aware of and prepared for this change before we closed school. This really helped with the transition. However, I feel that I’ve gotten more work with online school than work with regular school.”
While many teachers are using Zoom or the Canvas platform to conduct online conferences and teaching sessions, others are turning to alternative resources, such as Google Meets when the systems get overwhelmed. In addition, educators have had to create new lesson plans, assessments, and assignments that are compatible with online learning. Some teachers are declared that they will not likely test students during this period, while others are assigning essays or timed quizzes on lockdown browser. Although the methods of education greatly differ among teachers, everyone in the EA community is trying to be flexible and adapt to the ever-changing situations brought upon by the Coronavirus pandemic.
With each day passing, it seems that the COVID-19 is increasingly wreaking havoc on everyday lives across the globe. More and more restrictions are being enforced as luxuries people haven taken for granted, such as travel, sports, and milestone celebrations, are disappearing with no upcoming return in sight. For many students, the ability to attend school and interact with their friends is a privilege dearly missed.
Unlike many schools across the nation, EA, fortunately, has the resources and technology to provide students with some alternate learning, even if it is not ideal. While there may be several issues, such as technical difficulties and increasing uncertainty that students, teachers, and staff have to overcome, the EA community is making sure to support one another and work together while humanity fights this fatal virus together.
With everything in flux it is understandable and quite common for individuals to be anxious or struggling right now, so feel free to take advantage of EA’s sources of support.