SFWS TODAY: Distance Learning During COVID-19 TAKING THE CLASSROOM ONLINE AND INTO HOMES
By Cynthia Marshall Shore
You would think it would be a tall order for a Waldorf school to turn to technology and computers as teaching tools for our hands-on, multi-sensory, student-based curriculum. But the Santa Fe Waldorf School has not only met this challenge, it did so with expertise and excellence. Pedagogical Chair Karl Johnson notes “The SFWS faculty pulled off a herculean task pivoting into the distance learning modality in March.” And SFWS executed that pivot before most area schools. Anticipating the possibility of a school closure because of the COVID-19 pandemic, SFWS faculty began developing creative ways to teach online and stay in touch with students even before the school closure on March 16 and well before the New Mexico Public Education Department ordered the state’s public schools to start distance learning on March 27. Using Google Classrooms as a base, the school developed a comprehensive approach for the new reality. Across all sections, the teachers came up with creative ideas and engaging lessons and assignments to move the educational program online, notes Johnson. “They not only kept the program going through the end of the school year, they also made efforts to really stay connected with students and families throughout the process,” he says. For Early Childhood educators, the challenge was particularly acute because the curriculum does not use technology at all. Instead, teachers kept in touch with parents via telephone, Zoom meetings, email, and curricular packets—including seeds to plant— left in bins for pick up at the school. Natalie Buschbom, parent to rising first grader Logan Buschbom, and rising kindergarteners Taylor and Paige Buschbom, said that her children’s instructors supported her family well, emailing “great activities including circle time songs and movements, recipes for the class meals the children have been 2
ZOOM meeting with seniors, their parents and their teachers. craving, homemade playdough, and much more!” The family also built a Waldorf-inspired shelter (see image bottom left) and later an herb spiral so the children can tend plants for use in cooking. Kindergarten teacher Karleen Whitcomb admits it was challenging to meet the needs of the early childhood families while holding to the principles of Waldorf education. She notes, “I think the most successful thing we have done is to record stories in 10 to 20 minute segments for the families to listen to daily. Some parents have said how nice it is to have our voices in their homes.” Whitcomb also made little woolly eggs and chicks as spring gifts for each student and organized weekly “Zoom parades” for students to show off their home activities. “It was very sweet for everyone to see each other,” says Whitcomb. Grade school students worked in their main lesson books at their home desks studying early civilizations, math, science and writing. Grade 2 teacher Micayla Durán recorded guides for students to listen to as they drew, while Grade 7 teacher Kate Pavuk had students make self-styled masks of protection similar to those of the indigenous Boruca peoples of Costa Rica during their Latin American block. Ninth graders continued their English studies by reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time by Mark Haddon and drawing their visualizations of the main character Christopher Boone (see page 10), while 10th graders studied
