MIDDLE SCHOOL
RESTORING COMMUNITY IN THE MIDDLE SCHOOL ADAPTING EDUCATION DURING A PANDEMIC IS A CHALLENGE UNLIKE ANY OTHER. By Kevin Boland, Sr. HEAD OF MIDDLE SCHOOL
As I was looking back recently at “A Day in the Life of a
to reconfigure and reimagine their courses and find new
Middle Schooler,” a promotional video we filmed during
ways to forge those all-important connections with their
less turbulent times, I couldn’t help but think how much
students. Restored is the atmosphere that I love, though it
things have changed in the past year. To say the current
certainly looks different.
educational landscape is something we could never have imagined is an understatement. As a teacher, coach, and
Our distance and hybrid learning programs have evolved
division head at Glenelg Country School for over 40 years,
from the tentative first steps of last March. We launched
I have always valued the personal side of what we do and
immediately into “emergency learning,” as we sought to
our teachers’ close relationships with students. The virtual
mitigate learning loss and maintain a sense of normalcy
and hybrid educational landscape of recent months has
for our students. As Brita Stewart, Middle School dean of
been the most challenging hurdle of my career precisely
students, and I began to develop plans for a more long-
because it makes building the personal connections that
term approach, we stepped back to assess the most crucial
are a mainstay of GCS so formidable.
elements of our program. We determined that active learning, academic and personal growth, student choice,
This summer, I worked on campus. Many days, a handful of
and a strong sense of community were most important.
deer near the school entrance or a flock of geese on the athletic fields greeted me. They would stare at me as if
From there, we sought to create a schedule that would
wondering why I was there, but otherwise, they paid little
effectively meet our students’ needs and could easily
attention to my movement. The empty parking lots gave me
move from virtual to hybrid to in-person with minimal
an eerie feeling, like something from a science fiction movie.
impact on the students’ daily lives. Knowing that the students, families, and faculty face an exhausting amount
On some days, I turned the silent Middle School, where
of uncertainty from day to day in every aspect of life, we
I am so used to hearing the hustle and bustle of daily
wanted to introduce a measure of predictability in this way.
activity, into an obstacle course. I sprinted up and down
Additionally, we needed to align with the Upper School to
the hallway, ran sets of stairs in the lobby, and mastered
accommodate shared faculty and families with siblings in
sit-ups and push-ups in-between. I even dusted off my
multiple divisions. The resulting program has brought out
unicycle and learned to ride again using the hall lockers as
the best in our students.
guide rails. The carpet was my savior. This summer scene was not GCS as I knew it, and I worried it would stay this
Today, we are still managing uncertainty and disruption at
way for some time. I was not happy. The atmosphere in the
every turn. We have had to be willing to bend, adjust, and
Middle School felt off without students or a specific date
do things a little differently. When music teacher MaryAnne
for their return.
James learned that singing indoors would be prohibited, she improvised. She moved her piano outdoors, spaced
20
We’ve evolved since then. We’ve found moments of joy
students 10 feet apart, and let the show go on—with half
and many opportunities to reestablish the GCS we know
of the choir propped on the piano, participating virtually.
and love. Middle School teachers have worked tirelessly
We also adapted our annual Barlow Public Speaking
SPIRIT OF THE DRAGON
