Campus Feature
Al Shorey, chairman of the math department, holds the MacBook as Geometry student Kameron Fountain (’23) receives instructions for creating his shape tiger from pre-K students via Google Meet.
Challenge Accepted Teachers, students embrace flexible learning
Choral Director Ben McVety is always up for a challenge. So when the school began planning a socially distanced version of Opening Convocation to be held at Chris Hunter Stadium, he was already thinking outside the box about what the Concert Choi r’s tr a ditiona l per for m a nc e cou ld look like. “It's not every day I get to put together a video presentation of my Concert Choir to show the entire Darlington Community,” he said. “I have COVID-19 to thank for that.” McVe t y ’s s t ud e nt s re c ord e d t he audio of Andy Beck’s “In the Dark of Midnight” four at a time, each with their own microphone, which allowed in-person and distance learners to be part of the performance. Then, he spent approximately 30 hours mixing and mastering the audio, recording the video portion with students two at a time, and synching the pre-recorded audio to the video tracks. The final product, which can be viewed at darlingtonschool.org/ choir, was broadcast on the jumbotron during Convocation and as part of the live stream. “Despite it being a bit time-intensive, we had a great time shooting this project,”
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said McVety. “I have received a ton of positive comments and my students were really happy with the outcome.” To comply w ith socia l distancing protocols, Pre-K teacher Beth (Bagby) Smith (’87, LD ’12) recently reimagined her annual shape tigers lesson. “This lesson is a great opportunity for our youngest students to interact with Upper School students and we didn’t want to miss out on that, so we gave it a go virtually,” she said. “My pre-K students have become experts at cutting different shapes, so I knew they would be able to give great instructions to the Geometry class. We ‘met up’ via Google Meet and made our shape tigers together. I am all in for working with classes across the divisions, and this showed me that we can still do it. We just have to be creative!” These are just two of many examples of the ingenuity that is happening daily as teachers and students work through challenges brought on by COVID-19. “This year has been hard with COVID-19 and the many interruptions, but Darlington’s virtual program has had few to no problems,” said Jennifer Preston, mother of Jackson (’26), who is distance learning because he has a family member who is high risk. “We are so thankful for the teachers and administrators that continue to make Jackson’s daily class time so enriching and truly done with heart. Every day, he is interacting as he normally would with teachers and students. I am only required to supervise and make sure the internet works.”
The Prestons agree that Jackson hasn’t skipped a beat – even when it comes to Orchestra. “Jackson is playing lead cello in the Orchestra via computer, which sits in his chair next to his classmates,” said Preston. “In Design Thinking, each student is creating a hole for a miniature golf course, so right now he’s building, gluing, and cutting up a storm getting his farm-themed putt putt hole ready for the pre-K to 2 students to play. We all enjoy being part of Jackson’s day and watching him continue to do amazing things thanks to the dedicated teachers that pull him in!” Darlington teachers spent a considerable amount of time over the summer preparing for the challenges that COVID-19 would bring to the 2020-21 school year. “Teaching and learning is at the heart of our college-preparatory program, and we’ve put into place a new set of course standards and lesson templates to create a more consistent and productive learning environment for students, whether they are in the classroom or not,” said Head of School Brent Bell. “Along with this, we launched a new coursework web tool that is bet ter equipped to handle f lexible learning scenarios. Words cannot express how thankful I am for the investment our teachers make each day to empower our students, no matter the circumstances.” In addition to providing teachers with iPads and Apple TVs to help engage d i s t a n c e l e a r n e r s s y n c h r o n o u s l y, Darlington’s Academic Resources Center created and delivered a five-part virtual professional development series to help with hybrid teaching strategies. “One of my greatest challenges has been redesigning the way I teach to better fit our current circumstances,” said Chandler Cryer, Upper School Spanish teacher. “My once-active and groupfocused class has become more static, but that has given me the opportunity to explore other methods I would not have previously thought of. I’ve tried to make my activities friendlier for online learners by making them more technology-focused rather than using paper or white boards. I have enjoyed using Jamboa rd on the iPad so the students online and in class can see me take notes in real time.
Darlington Magazine
