Earlier this week we launched ourselves into Phase 2 of virtual school and, by all accounts, we have survived! Our students, faculty, and families jumped into a new schedule, engaged in synchronous and asynchronous classes, and the learning continued. We know this leap into a new schedule and a new manner of learning hasn’t been easy. We truly value your dedication and hard work. 

With the launch of this new phase,  we have received feedback from students and families. Much of the feedback has been positive, which is wonderful. We appreciate those heart warming stories. We have also heard about the challenges students and their families have faced, which is equally important for us to understand. 

Some pieces of feedback everyone seems to agree on? Each member of Moravian Academy misses the rest of the community. Students miss their friends, classmates, and teachers; teachers miss their students and colleagues; and families miss the opportunities to connect with other families. Additionally, I think our entire community has a new understanding and appreciation of the value of our faculty. Our teachers are superheroes! They provide a safe environment for learning, manage their classrooms seamlessly, and serve in various support roles all day, every day. Many of us are now in the role of “teacher” at home and we are finding it isn’t easy. Thank you to all of our teachers, you are our heroes!

A lot of other feedback has come in over the last week, and the views are as diverse as our community. While many families recognize the connection advisory provides, some of our families with younger students are having difficulty getting their kids back online for the afternoon advisory check-in. Our working families are struggling to ensure their children's assignments are completed and feel the workload is heavy, while other families would like to see additional work to keep their children busy. Many students and families appreciate the addition of some synchronous classes; some would like to see less real-time classes. Finally, some families and students have embraced that work/grades aren’t being calculated as part of the year-end average, while other families notice that their children are motivated by grades and are eager for the work to count towards a final grade.

I’m sure there are many more perspectives out there. If you have feedback you’d like to share please feel free to be in touch with me or fill out this survey. The feedback from our families, students, and faculty helps us shape future iterations of our schedule and expectations for virtual school. For now, as we continue down this virtual path, let’s all take the opportunity to better understand our children as learners. This is the ideal time to step back, make some observations, and learn more about how your child engages in their intellectual journey.