The spring of 2020 proved to be challenging for students and faculty as the global pandemic forced schools across the country to close their campuses and rapidly transition to a new teaching model. Blue Ridge School students were away from campus on spring break when this dramatic shift occurred. Meanwhile, our faculty members were quickly organizing. Within days of the announcement, Dean of the Faculty and Academics Pete Bonds introduced Blue Ridge School’s distance learning model: face-to-face instruction would continue with students attending all of their classes daily using the online video conferencing platform Zoom. Classes were reduced to only 35 minutes each, but student-teacher interaction—a hallmark of Blue Ridge School—continued.
“The Student Work Showcase is a testament to the creativity of BRS teachers and their commitment to providing innovative and student centered instruction regardless of the format.”
Video conferencing required many faculty to adapt their teaching styles, their curriculum, and their expectations. However, their creativity led to some exciting projects and creativity from the students. Students were conducting science experiments at home, recording music, using mapping software to evaluate data, creating art, and much more. At the conclusion of the trimester, teachers and students shared their best work at the annual Student Work Showcase.
Dean of the Faculty and Academics Pete Bonds says, “The Student Work Showcase is a testament to the creativity of BRS teachers and their commitment to providing innovative and student centered instruction regardless of the format. It was inspiring to watch our students and faculty continue to teach and learn this spring in the midst of a challenge unlike anything before in the School’s history. For many students across the country, school effectively ended in late March 2020, but that was not the case for Blue Ridge students and that’s something we are really proud of.”
Remembering COVID-19
Each student in Mr. Bonds’ history class wrote a personal narrative about what it was like to be a Blue Ridge School student during the pandemic. They also interviewed teachers and administrators about what this period in history has been like for the School. They also collected official documents from this time, including communications between the administration and parents of the students. Their finished product is the BRS COVID-19 Archive.
Sports Broadcasting Without Sports
Students in Parker Kirwan’s Sports Broadcasting class typically spend the trimester writing and recording videos and podcasts about professional and collegiate sports, as well as providing commentary for Blue Ridge School games during the trimester. However, the pandemic put an end to all sports and their subsequent projects. So, the class partnered with the BRS Advancement Office to create the Baron2Baron alumni interview series. Using video conferencing, the class interviewed various BRS alumni, including basketball players Mamadi Diakite ’16 and Aamir Simms ’17, professional golfer Chris Hickman ’12, actor and comedian Londale Theus ’06 and lacrosse player Chazz Woodson ’01.
Cast Away Under Quarantine
Teaching video production is a hands-on endeavor, which meant doing so over video conference while the students were at home without specialized equipment and software was a huge challenge. Mike Burris had his student use the Tom Hanks’ movie Cast Away as an inspiration for a video about their life at home during the pandemic. Their creative shone as they used their limited resources to make captivating videos that capture the emotion of the pandemic.
Distance Learning Outside
Each day, BRS students attended all six classes by video conference. Tony Brown used his class as an opportunity for students to get away from their computers. He says they had to document what was happening outside or how they were feeling: “A lot of them came up with interesting concepts of needing to be outside, feeling the need to go outside and exercise, or just going outside and have some open space.”
Art Imitates Life
The global pandemic gave faculty some exciting teaching opportunities. English Teacher Dan Dunsmore Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 became more realistic than ever before: “I knew I was going to face some challenges [teaching over video conference], but I also knew that the world situation provided some opportunities. For example, since the driving question is “how much government is too much government?” I was able to incorporate the governments in many countries’ idea that we should shelter in place and whether that was an example of government overreach.” His students made short videos to illustrate concepts in the Bradbury novel.
