Spring
EXPERIMENTAL
BY Christine Coyle | PHOTOS BY Jessica Ravenelle
Forced by the pandemic to teach remotely this spring, Loomis Chaffee’s faculty rose to the challenge by adapting, collaborating, and innovating. Their discoveries helped them to prepare for the year ahead, when learning will blend in-person instruction and structured independent student work.
Loomis Chaffee plunged into an education experiment when the COVID-19 health crisis abruptly ended in-person classes this spring on the Island and at schools around the world. With little lead time, the Loomis teaching faculty and administration modified classes to a remote-learning model using online conference platforms and other tools for teaching from a distance, and the faculty adapted their teaching methods and course content in order to continue engaging Loomis students in different times zones, countries, and home situations. Although the school experience was dramatically different than under normal circumstances, teachers continued to work with their students to advance their learning, provide structure to the day, and maintain a sense of community. Along the way and at the term’s conclusion, the faculty looked History teacher Molly Pond
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Loomis Chaffee Magazine Summer 2020
at what they and other educators had discovered through remote teaching that could help them in the year ahead, whether instruction is in person or from a distance. Forced by circumstances to adapt and innovate, the school made some surprising discoveries about what works, and what doesn’t. Immediately clear in the distance learning experiment were the advantages of an on-campus learning environment, and teachers and students yearned for a return to in-person classes and regular daily life on the Island. The absence of these givens underlined the educational importance of discussions around a table, serendipitous daily interactions, and face-to-face collaborations between students and teachers and among students themselves. And yet the unexpected shift away from the norm also confirmed the importance of adaptability in an oft-changing world as both teachers and
