MIDDLE SCHOOL

IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL

By Kevin Boland

HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL

This spring, the Middle School was presented with unexpected challenges due to the rapidly evolving COVID-19 pandemic. In the weeks leading up to the closure, we saw what was happening on the West Coast and began planning for a potential shutdown.

This meant meeting with the leaders at the other schools, conducting research, meeting with faculty, and reaching out to other educators. When Maryland Governor Larry Hogan announced state-wide school closures, our virtual learning plan was already in place, and students had taken all their belongings for spring break. We used the day before our break for faculty training and reviewed our extended closure protocol with the faculty. At the time, we anticipated a closure of between two weeks to a month. Our objectives for that time was to maintain a sense of normalcy for students and mitigate academic backsliding. Faculty worked through spring break to overhaul course pages and prepare for launch.

We soon realized that our distance learning might go longer than initially anticipated. We learned much about how students dealt with the loss of routine, normalcy, seeing friends, sports, and school activities. Teachers navigated that loss and made small changes from week to week as we became familiar with our students’ needs. While live instruction is vital for teacher/student engagement, we saw the benefits of a balance between synchronous and asynchronous instruction. Having unique, teacher-created content needed to be a priority.

This page: Nikhil Krishna ‘27 Facing page, clockwise from left: Riley Easter-Kenner ’27; Bryce Fox ’25; Ella Madhok ’26

In the summer, teachers will receive additional professional development in distance learning techniques. Our Academic Technology Integration committee continues to meet weekly to identify the best practices to streamline content delivery and identify further professional development opportunities.

Moving into the fall, our plan for Digital Dragons will improve upon the approaches that worked for our students this spring. We will have a set schedule to enable teachers to see students more frequently with a clear schedule. Upon return to our pre-pandemic school routine, many of the methods that benefitted our students will continue. We will look for opportunities to meaningfully incorporate advisory meetings, full middle school meetings, and enrichment into our weekly schedule while incorporating our Specials classes into the program.

If health department guidelines allow us to return to school in person, and we feel it is safe for our students, we will move in that direction. Discussions are underway as to how and when this would take place, but again, we want to make sure it is the right decision. If for some reason a student could not return they would have access to our distance learning program and return at a time they felt appropriate.

We are proud of our students, faculty, staff, and families in making the best of a never-before-seen situation this past spring. We are confident that every Dragon will put their best foot forward come fall.

WE ARE LUCKY TO BE DRAGONS!