FEATURE STORY:
Hybrid Learning at Langley A New Learning Model for an Unusual Year By Sarah Beck, Interim Head of Lower School/Director of Curriculum & Instruction The current school year has brought unprecedented challenges and opportunities to educators in every context, and the faculty at Langley have embraced both with a commitment to serving our students at the highest level. After navigating the unexpected and abrupt transition to distance learning last spring, we shifted our attention immediately to planning an instructional model for the fall. We did so in partnership with a task force of administrators and teacher leaders who met weekly to evaluate the needs of our students and the instructional models that might best support them.
Identifying an Effective Model The task force quickly identified what was known and what was unknown about teaching and learning in a global pandemic. We developed the following list of assumptions to guide our planning: • Treatment and/or vaccine is unlikely to be available in fall 2020 • Some students/families will need or want to stay home (for short or long periods of time)
• Potential community spread or exposure will require a shift to distance learning • Socially distant instruction will have to look different from traditional in-person instruction • To deliver quality, we will need to plan before knowing local guidance for schools in September • We must plan for movement between different scenarios, based on changing contexts • Our program must be equitable for students who are home for the long or short term We knew that any approach we took would need to reflect Langley’s balanced, inquiry-based, student-centered philosophy of instruction because it fosters independence, joy, and confidence in learning. Since it was critically important that our values continue to guide our connection with students, our top priority was ensuring their engagement throughout an unpredictable school year. As a result, we quickly identified a hybrid model of instruction as the best way to ensure we would be able to flex
HYBRID LEARNING IN ACTION:
Junior Kindergarten Self-Portraits Junior kindergarten students at home and at school completed a self-portrait project this fall. Students engaged in a variety of skills throughout this project as they practiced patterns, letters, and sounds. They explored the theme of identity and made connections across content areas in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art, and math). For example, students used math skills as they considered designs for their self-portrait’s shirt. They explored themes of diversity and inclusion by matching skin tone paper and crayons to the color of their skin and talking about how skin gets color. Finally, they learned about famous artists like Frida Kahlo and how she created self-portraits using symmetry and self-expression in her backgrounds and with her hair.
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WINTER 2021
