Eighth-grade students at Cambridge Friends School recently completed an assigned reading from The New York Times, “The Exponential Power of Now,” and discussed mathematically how acting early to limit the spread of an epidemic will cut transmission exponentially.
Similarly, the school acted early in its response to COVID-19, making the decision to close prior to many of its counterparts, and it also made the switch to online learning to avoid interruptions in education.
What started as a hypothetical emergency preparedness plan in response to COVID-19, quickly turned into actionable items, and Cambridge Friends School was able to pivot from interpersonal to remote learning the week after its closure on March 12. Swiftly addressing issues of equity and ensuring remote learning was possible, the school adopted Zoom and Google Classroom to ensure all students will continue to learn and meet their educational goals for the year.
The school is maintaining “normalcy and community” by hosting Morning Meeting and Meeting for Worship in addition to student check-ins, classes and submission of student work for evaluation and feedback. The school hopes that a carefully crafted schedule of online classes and offline independent student work time will allow a “demanding and extensive” Middle School curriculum to help students stay on track and energized to passionately take ownership of their learning. Middle School distance learning includes all classes, chat room, co-labs, advisory meetings, one-on-one meetings with teachers, time for additional help, homework club and Meeting for Worship.
CFS teachers are constantly re-evaluating remote teaching methods and schedules in order to consistently meet the needs of students. The school itself is weighing virtual events due to cancelled fundraisers, admission events, sports, student performances and learning creative solutions.
CFS’ transition to online learning was covered in an article on March 27 by Wicked Local Cambridge. Full text is above.