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Distance Education During Covid-19

During this unexpected time of distance learning due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, schools have had to pivot nearly overnight to change the way they are educating students. This has been an immense challenge for all schools – teachers, students, and families alike.

At The Leelanau School, this unprecedented situation has allowed us to reflect and reconfirm the importance of why being an intentionally small, supportive community, focused on the individual student is so valuable.

“The very nature of education is to help people discover the ability to do things they have never done before and such faith in the capacity of each person to rise to the challenge is the very essence of teaching.” – Rob Hansen, Head of School  

What Leelanau IS Doing –

1. Maintaining A Quality Program While Teaching Remotely

We remain an experiential learning program – even remotely.  Our students continue to engage with their teachers and peers during this unique time in our history. Our Academic and Residential Life Faculty are dedicating themselves to ensuring our students continue to advance their learning, all the while, maintaining the close relationships essential for making real connections to what is being learned. We know, years from now, our community will look back upon this moment and remember that Leelanau was present and proactive for our students and our families. 

2. Supporting Leelanau Students

• We started our support in the beginning by producing videos such as Creating A Workspace, Structuring Your Day, and Making A Plan For Doing School Work at home.
• We set-up the Instagram accounts @leelanaustudentlife and @leeladoodles where students could continue to participate in Leelanau campus activities and do things together.
• We maintained community Mindfulness through videos created by our Mindfulness Guru/Dean of Students.
• Our counseling office remains open with office hours for student “virtual drop-ins”, for scheduled appointments, and for additional lunch hour group discussions offered once a week.
• Our normal Student Concerns process continues in the same way as it does on campus. Students who are disengaging academically, not attending or participating, or are exhibiting negative social behaviors will continue to be monitored for positive intervention. And we continue to work with students, teachers and parents with a collaborative approach to resolution.

Ultimately, with the requirement to maintain distance learning for the remainder of the school year, we set-up a weekly schedule where students attend morning meetings, daily classes, evening activities, recreational activities, and as many things as possible to maintain a sense of normalcy and remain connected to their school.

3. Maintaining Consistency With A Weekly Schedule

• Students continue to attend all 8 of their classes, including all electives, arts, and learning skills courses.  Each class session begins as a live ZOOM session, and attendance is taken. Depending on the lesson plan class could be an hour-long discussion, or 5 minutes of establishing clarity on the daily task, with breakout groups and check-ins during the hour. Learning as a cooperative community remains a priority. The end of each day is an hour of open office hours for each teacher. The intention is for students to make progress within each class, each day, marching ever forward in their learning.
• Students check in to the student portal each day to ensure daily connection is occurring. For students having trouble engaging we’ve developed inventive ways to get them going, such as 7am online push-up challenges with our Dean of Students!
• Fridays are reserved for weekly all-school Council meetings, FAU gatherings, scheduled tutorials, and conferencing with individual teachers.
• We are utilizing online conferencing tools such as ZOOM, as well as direct phone calls, texts, and emails too. We’ve created a “one-stop shop”, that includes links and access points for students to easily locate their sessions.
• Optional social and recreational activities are offered each evening too because we all need to stay social and connected even while physical distancing is necessary!

Daily/Weekly Academic Schedule:

4. Course Content and Promotion To The Next Grade

While the modality of content delivery has changed, the expectations for engagement and quality effort have not – that goes for students as well as teachers. Leelanau students will continue to be embraced, supported, and educated in unique and inventive ways! And as an experiential learning school, being creative and out of the box with course content and assessment of knowledge is common for our teachers. We will press on with new content and will continue with individualized assessment and grading with students progressing to the next grade level and acquiring credits as they normally would. At Leelanau, grades are just one piece to the puzzle. Seniors who are on track to graduate and have completed the normal requirements will still graduate. We are, just as we do when one campus, working with every student to ensure they are able to demonstrate their competency for each course and to stay on track and achieve their goals. 

5. Commencement, Rites of Passage, and Other Leelanau Traditions

Senior Breakfast, Lawn and Tree, Commencement ceremonies, and other milestone senior events are being retooled.  We are considering how to honor our graduates in a different way and/or on a different timeline. Our seniors will still prepare and deliver their senior research presentations and all school staff will be on hand (virtually) to celebrate their accomplishments. The tradition of the senior letters from a wide variety of faculty – normally shared with Seniors on their solo trip to North Manitou Island – is continuing.  The Senior Class is also working on developing a culminating experience for themselves to reflect on their time at Leelanau and to get ready for their next adventure. 

Learning Will Continue

Implementing these changes to a school program with a tradition of over 90 years of experiential education has required both tenacity and patience. New patterns are being established and becoming a temporary routine. We will continue to be inventive, flexible, and to persevere with joy and wonder in our hearts – all to continue to provide A Better Way To Learn! 

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