Hybrid Learning Students Return Safely to the Circle

HYBRID + DISTANCE LEARNING

With a monumental collective effort, we welcomed our students safely back to the Circle with synchronous Distance Learning support.

The Great Pivot

Departments across campus significantly shifted gears to support Distance and Hybrid Learning. Here’s a glimpse into their pivoting world of the last year.

TECHNOLOGY

Recounting the journey to outfit classrooms for Hybrid Learning, Terry Young, Director of Technology, shared, “the existing technology is geared towards conference rooms, not classrooms.” He and his team prototyped several cameras and microphones to find a quality, but cost effective solution to outfit classrooms with technology that would support both in-person and at-home learners.

• 2,000 feet of USB cable used • 40 hours prototyping configurations • 260 installation hours

Steve Turnbull, Technology Support Analyst

HEALTH SERVICES

Castilleja formed a COVID Command Team to lead the school’s response to the pandemic. As Director of Health Services, Jessie Surface, along with Terry Young, wrote and oversaw the safety guidelines, ensuring all departments adhered to the new school operations. Ms. Surface and our new school nurse, Anne Stewart, also planned and oversaw weekly testing for the school community.

• 6,233 COVID tests (Sept 2020–Feb 2021) • 100% mask compliance

ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY

The face behind Castilleja’s pinwheel on Zoom is none other than Dr. Jamie SullivanHA, Director of Academic Technology. Deemed our “Zoom Queen,” Dr. Sullivan has single-handedly been Castilleja’s Command Center since Distance Learning began in March 2020.

• 4,029 meetings/webinars • 39,260 participants • 1,659,850 minutes • 660 GB of Zoom meeting recordings • 15 apps for Distance and Hybrid Learning

MAINTENANCE

Name a team that pivots, moves, and smiles more than our Maintenance crew. Tasked with re-configuring every area of campus, sanitizing spaces hourly, and marking a grid on the Circle to ensure distancing, among many other roles, the Maintenance team was invaluable in making Hybrid Learning possible.

• 409 hours to update campus for Hybrid Learning (includes tents, signage, Circle grid, and furniture) • 88 HEPA air purifiers installed • 10 hours of sanitization per day

Kenny Cox, Maintenance

KITCHEN

KITCHEN

Lunch remains a favorite part of the day for students. To maintain health and safety, lunches were individually packaged, labeled, and grouped by advisory. Eating on the Circle in designated spots marked six feet apart, students relished their lunches, now ordered through an app. When not preparing meals, the Kitchen staff assisted Maintenance on various projects.

• 1,350 lunches/week • 1,500 cookies baked/week • 180 hours spent prepping lunches/week

Making Connections

TEACHING AND LEARNING AT CASTILLEJA HAVE ALWAYS BEEN GROUNDED IN RELATIONSHIPS, especially the connections between teachers and students in our small and collaborative classes. When moving to Distance Learning last spring and then Hybrid Learning in the fall, our faculty put a great deal of thought into how to translate their lessons to this new setting, which included seeking avenues to preserve and deepen existing relationships and develop new ones. The settings have changed through this unusual year, but the core goals have remained the same as faculty seek to teach their curriculum while building trust to support learning and overall wellbeing in the community.

THE PHRASE “SILVER LININGS” IS ONE THAT HAS COME UP AGAIN AND AGAIN OVER THE PAST YEAR as we all reflect on the big and small changes the pandemic has brought about. Sometimes identifying silver linings is about gratitude—urging us to remember positive elements of our daily lives that we may have taken for granted before—and other times it can become about finding new ways to live and work that we might not have considered before. In the context of the classroom, Distance and Hybrid Learning have led to many of these breakthrough moments, and some of the work we are doing to strengthen our relationships will last beyond this moment in time and improve the student experience even after we return to campus full time.

Shared Adventures

In 6th grade English class, Margaret Reges reads The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate, by Jaqueline Kelly, with her students. The novel explores one year in the life of an eleven-year-old girl in Texas at the turn of the 20th century. Ms. Reges realized that it’s not easy to start at a new school on Zoom, so in an effort to keep things interesting and create shared adventures, she partnered with Tasha Bergson-Michelson, Castilleja’s Instructional and Programming Librarian, to go on a virtual field trip to the Westbay Common School Childrens’ Museum in League City, Texas, to learn about what it would have been like to be a girl in that time and place. “Before the world became virtual, I never would have considered taking a field trip for this book; but if they continue to offer virtual tours, we will sign up. The women who led the tour were so engaging, and it was a great way to learn about the life of a young girl who wants to become a scientist during that era.”

Casual Conversations

Emily Landes, who teaches Upper School mathematics, imagined creating a low key learning center on Zoom, where students could drop in and help each other. She called it Tea Time, and it organically shifted into a space for students and teachers to engage in spontaneous, casual conversations, the type that took place in the hallways and around the Circle. “Students could drop in with questions about assignments, but soon enough we had teachers and students just talking together and catching up,” Dr. Landes explains. Sometimes they worked on crossword puzzles or talked through baking projects. Because these conversations took place outside of formal classes, they became a fun new way for students to connect across different grade levels. In a similar vein, Dr. Landes is also part of a virtual baking club with students, so the connections continue to grow.

New Channels of Communication

Lee Kerk, who teaches Upper School Chinese in the World Languages Department, began using Microsoft Teams to set up channels that allowed people to share and keep in touch anytime—whether they were in class or not. “We have different channels for different topics. There is a Daily Share, where they can talk about something in their lives, maybe favorite movies or a funny story. Then there is a Birthday channel where they share birthday wishes. And all of this is practice of conversation and interpersonal skills in Chinese, so it is great for their learning.” Ms. Kerk admitted that she loves having a way to touch base with students throughout the week. “I feel lonely for them. The teacher needs the student as much as the student needs the teacher!”

Emoji Check-Ins

In 6th Grade mathematics, Nick Jerrold has completely broken away from the white board during Distance and Hybrid Learning. “I do all of my teaching on my iPad now, using Microsoft OneNote, so that everything I annotate during a lesson is uploaded for my students to access—anytime and anywhere.” He also finds that he is connecting with students more than he ever has before. “I created an emotional temperature check-in for students to complete at the beginning of each class; the kids choose from an array of emojis to quickly and anonymously communicate how they are feeling in the moment—happy, tired, stressed, excited, etc. If I see a student who is feeling down—especially for more than a day—I send them an email to offer support and a safe space to share. I’ll keep this practice alive forever going forward. It really makes a difference as I work to help students gain confidence and nurture a growth mindset.”

Artistic Freedom

Angélica Ortiz Anguiano ’11, who teaches Middle School and 9th grade Visual Art and Upper School Photography, has seen her students develop rapidly as artists in recent months, “The creative process is really important right now because it can give you a space where you can feel free. It also helps you process your emotions in positive ways.” To prepare for Distance Learning, Ms. Ortiz Anguiano created individual supply kits for every student. Although teaching from afar can limit her capacity to offer feedback while wandering the art room, Ms. Ortiz Anguiano has found a new practice that allows for deeper reflection. “My students send me photos of their work in progress, so we have a record of a piece as it takes shape in a way that we never did before. When the works are finished, looking back at the photos helps my students see their own growth more clearly because they can trace how it developed. I have always taught my students to value their process above all else, and that is something I can highlight even more now.”

Photo by Annika Burks ’23