August 14, 2020


Dear Families,

Today, I write to share our updated Digital Distance Learning Plan following a full review of our experience in the spring, and significant time this summer exploring best practices in virtual learning. In March, when facing the initial stages of the pandemic head on, all schools in our areas shifted quickly to remote instruction. As a result, most schools, including Bishop Blanchet, significantly altered or canceled key aspects of their overall program. Some school districts canceled their entire program, including teaching, learning and grading components. Throughout the spring and summer, we have requested, received and processed feedback from our families, students, faculty, staff, and other high schools. We have learned a lot from this process and we will continue to seek feedback this coming school year to inform on-going refinements and improvements to our program as necessary to best support the learning experience  of our students.

As we begin this year, we have designed a distance learning program that is more comprehensive and rigorous than spring, and more reflective of the true Blanchet experience. 

The most notable changes are in three areas:
  • Bell Schedule: 70 minute classes (up from 45 minutes in the spring) including built in time for lunch
  • Office Hours: Built in time for daily teacher office hours 
  • Student Life: Increased student engagement and connection through co-curricular activities: clubs, performing arts, athletics, activities, campus ministry and counselor meetings. Additionally, there will be Student Life activities to build community.

While being present on campus is our ideal, and we are prepared to effectively and thoughtfully move to that mode when allowed per the guidance of public health officials, we are confident about these changes and improvements for this fall. The bell schedule is presented below along with a comprehensive list of key enhancements to our fall program.
Remote Learning
Over the summer, 67 of our faculty and staff, including 100% of our teaching faculty, participated in summer professional development around best practices for designing online learning environments. The teachers learned more about core elements of student-centered virtual learning experience: 
 
  • Relationships: Design learning environments to facilitate community building
  • Wayfinding: Create easy to navigate online experiences
  • Student Agency: Provide clear learning targets and a wide range of activities
  • Assessments: Identify what students know and do not know
 
Teachers also learned best practices around synchronous (learning that happens live according to a bell schedule) and asynchronous (learning that happens on a student’s time) learning. Therefore, teachers will approach their classes differently depending on best practices for the subject area. For example, you might see:
 
  • a math teacher conduct 70 minutes of direct instruction synchronously, with homework after class to be completed asynchronously
  • a science teacher flip their lesson and create videos for students to watch asynchronously, so they can do student-centered work during synchronous instruction in class
  • a PE teacher having students check in and then complete work fully off screen during synchronous learning. 
 
These are just a few examples of best practices in an online learning environment. Overall, we are encouraging our teachers to vary their instructional activities so that students have a mix of activities. Please know that our school is preparing very diligently for the start of this year, and our teachers are fully committed to provide the best possible experience for your students.

All of these updates to our Digital Distance Learning Plan to begin the 2020-2021 school year have been included in the Reopening Plan we have been sharing with you all summer. Please continue to review this document and track our reopening webpage for ongoing updates. This week we have also updated our detailed Health and Safety Plan that includes our protocol should there be a positive case of Covid-19 in our community.
Sincerely,


Sam Procopio
Principal
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