In the interest of keeping students safe and healthy and keeping them on track with their education, Linden Hall School for Girls, like many schools, transitioned to distance learning on Monday, March 23. Linden Hall faculty and staff worked hard to make the transition as seamless as possible for the students and are doing their best to continue to help students have a successful and meaningful school year. Below are some helpful steps Linden Hall took to implement distance learning in a short period of time.
Give Teachers Time to Prepare
Teachers have always known how to adapt their teaching methods as each day can be different in the classroom. However, a little bit of preparation goes a long way. Linden Hall teachers were given a week to redesign their curriculum, test out technology, and brainstorm ideas and collaborate with one another. Teachers participated in mock classroom trials on Linden Hall’s Microsoft Teams online video platform, they attended online webinars about how best to structure and transition classes, and they restructured everything from assessments, projects, performances and lectures to be better suited to an online platform.
Give Parents and Students Time to Prepare
Just as Linden Hall teachers were given plenty of time to plan and adjust to distance learning, Linden Hall students and parents were also given a week to prepare and ask questions about the transition. Parents and students were sent multiple emails that instructed them on how to use the technology to attend and participate in online classes, and students were given an opportunity to test out the technology. Allowing parents and students a week to prepare for online learning allowed them time to ask questions and be better prepared to hit the ground running when classes resumed on Monday, March 23.
Keep It Simple
Linden Hall chose to continue to follow our normal class schedule as much as possible, including community event times, such as all-school assemblies and our coveted student speeches, which are a part of our curriculum to graduate. Adhering to the regular schedule helps students and faculty remain organized, on a schedule, and adds a bit of familiarity to an otherwise unprecedented situation.
Linden Hall is currently using its own LMS (Learning Management System) and Microscft Teams to support and provide online resources, content, and virtual classes and meetings. As Linden Hall continues its transition to distance learning we seek to be responsive to our students’ needs. Teachers meet classes in a live, synchronous format twice a week – they are dynamic, engaging, and use a variety of apps and tools to deliver additional content and allow students to practice.
Flexibility and Adaptability is Key
While Linden Hall has continued to follow our normal class schedule, we recognize that everyone is experiencing a unique situation. Linden Hall also has students attending school from all over the world, so while attendance is still taken at the beginning of each class, students who are in different time zones are able to work with their teachers to receive their lessons differently. Our teachers have provided extended hours and have shared recordings of digital class time to support our international students studying from afar. Students attending classes from home instead of in a classroom provides a different dynamic and our teachers are making sure to adapt accordingly to make sure that the education they are receiving is second to none.
Maintain Community Connections
As much as school’s purpose is learning, Linden Hall recognizes that our community and relationships are what hold us together. Our students are closely connected to their teachers and each other and our collaborative community time remains important. Students often collaborate when studying, serve on committees and clubs together, and play in sports or participate in theater performances. At Linden Hall, our students are more than each other’s peers, they are each other’s sisters. Teachers find it helpful to incorporate social time into their online classes, where they can have time to reconnect with their students and the students can have time to reconnect with one another. We’ve also implemented virtual chapel hours for our traditional chapel service, held on Wednesdays during the School year and virtual faculty hours, including tea times and Friday afternoon group chat to ensure all of our faculty and staff are staying in touch and feel the warm sense of their Linden Hall community around them. While separate, Linden Hall is remaining together through the deep-rooted traditions of our school.
The most important step to ensuring a smooth transition into distance learning is to remain flexible and adaptable while still adhering to the mission of the School and foundations of the classroom that support everyday learning. While this is a unique situation, we are all moving through this together, and now more than ever, it is important to keep community bonds strong.
