A New Way of Learning
The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) health crisis swept the globe with tremendous force, and, like every community, The Masters School has felt the impact of the pandemic. Over the past six months, students, teachers and parents have demonstrated what it means to Do It With Thy Might.
An Unprecedented Academic Year Begins
Danforth also announced that Masters would be offering extended remote learning as an option to accommodate families whose students are unable or uncomfortable returning to campus when in-person learning resumes. Under this model, middle and upper school students who will continue learning remotely when in-person classes resume may join on-campus classes via a remote connection in the classroom. Upper school students will have the option to participate in Masters Remote Academy, a program with fully remote sections tailored to the needs of long-time, online learners in different time zones.
In a later communication, Danforth expounded upon the School’s plans for the fall. She announced optional outdoor and socially distanced community engagement events for students and faculty to connect, and the creation of a Health Advisory team made up of medical professionals who will provide counsel. She shared the School’s criteria for resuming in-person instruction and outlined the various safety initiatives and campus adjustments that were undertaken in preparation for students’ eventual return to campus.
Faculty spent the summer months preparing for the upcoming school year by taking professional development courses in online teaching and learning. “The steepest hill for us to climb as educators is being outstanding remote teachers,” Associate Head of School and Dean of Faculty Sam Savage explained. He noted that teachers benefited not just from the content of the courses, which focused on educating students in an online format, but also from having the experience of being students in online classes.
As the School prepared to open remotely in September, faculty and administrators focused, not just on delivering a strong academic program, but ensuring that students would have access to robust athletics, performing arts and cocurricular programs during periods of online learning. The intention behind this well-rounded curriculum is simple, said Savage: “My hope is that it feels like school. There is joy in that.”
In reflecting on the challenges of preparing for the school year, Savage explained that every area of school life needed to be reconsidered: “The disruption of the pandemic has had us rethink everything from bathroom breaks to BC Calculus. Everything about running a school needs to be rethought in this context.” He shared that an additional hurdle was the fluidity of the health crisis, because “There’s this balance between making decisions and being definitive and knowing that everything can change at a moment’s notice.”
FOSTERING MEANINGFUL CONNECTIONS
Although digital gatherings cannot replace in-person experiences, The Masters School is keeping everyone in the community — students, parents and faculty — connected during periods of remote learning.
Caio Lanes ’21 and Sophia Viscarello ’21 have spent a lot of time thinking about how to create a sense of community during remote learning. As co-chairs of Community Government, they are two of the most visible and high-profile students in the community. During a typical year, Lanes and Viscarello would take the stage in the Claudia Boettcher Theatre several times each week and lead Morning Meeting before a packed audience of upper school students and faculty. But the remote start to the year had them focusing on new ways to create camaraderie.
They are highlighting the importance of upperclassmen participating in virtual Morning Meetings, which they believe will show incoming students that their peers in every grade are engaged in the life of the School. They also hope to incorporate some interactive games into the new online format of the traditional event.
“I want to make sure that all students, both American and international, can feel connected to our community so that we don't lose the warm and united spirit Masters always has been known for,” Lanes said. He noted that because Viscarello is an American and he lives internationally in Brazil, “We are able to know the general hardships each group is dealing with currently, and we can thus address them.”
Viscarello shared a similar sentiment, expressing that she and Lanes are committed to ensuring that all students feel welcome and heard — a sometimes difficult task when students can simply turn off their laptop cameras or not respond to an email. “I think the most important thing is making people feel like they are not invisible,” Viscarello said.
While there have been many co-chairs that have come before them, Lanes and Viscarello are well aware that they are delving into the unknown this year. “There isn’t really a rule book or a guide book for how we should be handling this and how we should be doing it,” Viscarello said. “Everyone is just trying to do their best.”
The School has also hosted a number of socially distant outdoor gatherings for students on campus throughout the month of September. These social events have given students and faculty the opportunity to connect in person and take part in a variety of both social and bonding activities.
“Having kids back on campus has been incredibly rejuvenating,” Newcomb said. “To witness their exuberance over seeing one another and their teachers, to hear their voices and fits of laughter, that has been really restorative after not having students and faculty on campus for the past six months.”
Summer Program Welcomes Students
Designed and team-taught by Masters faculty, the program included 23 remote courses that complemented the School’s existing curriculum. MSLI also included Mighty Moments, a series of short, thought-provoking talks by faculty that explored a range of questions and topics related to the School’s mission.
With classes including Math Throughout History, Japanimation: Contemporary Japan Through Pop Culture, Behavioral Economics, Code It With Thy Might, and The Lives of Greek and Roman Soldiers, MSLI courses appealed to a variety of interests. Glenn Rodriguez, a middle school Spanish teacher who co-directed the program with upper school English teacher Miriam Emery said, “It was such a good feeling to see the wide range of classes that these talented teachers offered the students. Upon first reading them, I thought, ‘Wow, these kids are so lucky!’”
Sage Weinstock ’24, who is new to Masters this year, signed up for Let’s Talk About Art and Creative Writing Summer Workshop. Weinstock had been feeling nervous about starting a new school in the fall and noted that “being able to meet some of the students and teachers quelled a lot of my fears.” One of the most surprising aspects of her experience was how comfortable she felt speaking up during class: “I didn’t feel pressured or out of place.”
In addition to connecting students with each other and their teachers, Rodriguez, who taught four courses, is confident that the unique variety of offerings will have an impact well after the temperatures drop: “I am certain that the faculty planted seeds which may lead to lifelong hobbies and interests for everyone.”
Remote Learning in the Spring
In January, anticipating the need to reinforce several protocols, Head of School Laura Danforth wrote to the community that the School was closely monitoring the novel coronavirus situation in China and taking precautions, such as deeply sanitizing all facilities, installing additional hand sanitizers throughout campus, and conducting select admission interviews through remote platforms instead of in person. Within a matter of weeks, field trips, performances and athletic events were canceled; boarding students returned home; Commencement was up in the air; Reunion and the Spring Gala were postponed; and teachers and students, largely confined to their homes due to government stay-at-home guidelines, began teaching and learning remotely.
In response to the increasing spread of COVID-19 in the area, The Masters School closed its campus in mid-March. Remote learning kicked off on March 31. Masters’ Remote Learning Plan relied on digital platforms like Google Meet and the Learning Management System, known as LMS. Teachers and students met daily in virtual classrooms, where they replicated the dynamic discussions that take place around the Harkness table. Assignments were posted and turned in digitally. Teachers made themselves available via video conferences and provided feedback through email or Google Docs.
Remote programming extended well beyond virtual classes. The Counseling Center remained fully operational and available remotely to students and their families, and counselors hosted weekly Google Meet group sessions with students and parents. They also regularly provided helpful tips for managing stress and anxiety during the pandemic.
In response to the increasing spread of COVID-19 in the area, The Masters School closed its campus in mid-March. Remote learning kicked off on March 31. Masters’ Remote Learning Plan relied on digital platforms like Google Meet and the Learning Management System, known as LMS. Teachers and students met daily in virtual classrooms, where they replicated the dynamic discussions that take place around the Harkness table. Assignments were posted and turned in digitally. Teachers made themselves available via video conferences and provided feedback through email or Google Docs.
Remote programming extended well beyond virtual classes. The Counseling Center remained fully operational and available remotely to students and their families, and counselors hosted weekly Google Meet group sessions with students and parents. They also regularly provided helpful tips for managing stress and anxiety during the pandemic.
Many clubs continued to meet, albeit in a new, virtual fashion. EFFECT, the School’s environmental sustainability club, dedicated the entire month of April to raising awareness about the importance of environmental protection through weekly emails and social media challenges. Olivia Sharenow ’20, a co-president of EFFECT along with Sophia Forstmann ’20, expressed confidence that their initiatives made an impact on the community. “Our hope is that even though we are distanced at home, we can help encourage people to think about the environment and take action,” Sharenow said.
Tower, the student-run newspaper, also continued reporting at a distance. In addition to sending out its annual April Fool’s edition, “Pravda,” by mail, the paper’s coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak, “Coronavirus Chronicles,” was lauded with several awards from School Newspapers Online, the provider that hosts Tower’s website.
The Athletics Department provided workouts and physical education guidance tailored for middle and upper school students, and engaged the community in heart-pumping workouts on social media. Even the meaningful tradition of Senior Speeches continued, with members of the Class of 2020 gathering on Google Meet to listen as seniors reminisced about their time at Masters and considered what lies ahead.
Tower, the student-run newspaper, also continued reporting at a distance. In addition to sending out its annual April Fool’s edition, “Pravda,” by mail, the paper’s coverage of the novel coronavirus outbreak, “Coronavirus Chronicles,” was lauded with several awards from School Newspapers Online, the provider that hosts Tower’s website.
The Athletics Department provided workouts and physical education guidance tailored for middle and upper school students, and engaged the community in heart-pumping workouts on social media. Even the meaningful tradition of Senior Speeches continued, with members of the Class of 2020 gathering on Google Meet to listen as seniors reminisced about their time at Masters and considered what lies ahead.
In This Together: A New Normal
Faculty at Masters pivoted rapidly into this new reality, and within a few short weeks adapted their curriculum for online instruction. Despite the challenges brought by this new dynamic, upper school math teacher Anna Cabral Drew found a way to make it work. “I have changed the format of many of my classes to have them work on problem sets in small group ‘meets,’” she said, alluding to the Google Meet platform teachers at Masters used to teach remotely. “This is to try to mimic the group work that we normally do in school, but it’s not as natural as face-to-face collaboration.”
After a month of remote learning, what Kira Ratan ’22 missed the most was the Masters community, particularly spending time with friends and teachers “who really care about the students and are passionate about what they do. Masters has a ‘vibe’ that makes it an enjoyable space to spend as much time as we do there,” Ratan, an aspiring journalist, said.
Logan Schiciano ’21, co-editor-in-chief of Tower, the student-run newspaper, also longed for the day-to-day interactions, such as bumping into friends in the hallway and hitting the tees with his golf teammates. But he also appreciated how his teachers embraced this new challenge. “I do feel as if we’ve done some fun activities that we wouldn’t have otherwise done,” he said. “For example, in my English class we did a ‘scavenger hunt,’ which allowed us to make connections and inferences from the previous night’s reading in ‘The Great Gatsby.’”
As students adapted to a new way of learning, parents and guardians became essential partners in this endeavor — all while balancing home, family and professional responsibilities.
“So far, the transition to remote learning has been much smoother than I had anticipated,” Amy Kyle Parker P’21, ’25 said, about a month into remote learning. “Having a clear, set schedule for each day is wildly helpful and provides a necessary frame around this new way of learning.”
Marie Fabian P’22, ’26 missed the school routine but shared appreciation for the work that faculty and administrators put into remote learning. “The teachers have done an amazing job,” she said, “and it is clear how much preparation they are doing to make remote learning as positive and successful for their students as possible. We appreciate how carefully they have worked to make sure that their students are getting the best academic experience possible while also paying such close attention to how they are doing emotionally during this challenging time.”
After a month of remote learning, what Kira Ratan ’22 missed the most was the Masters community, particularly spending time with friends and teachers “who really care about the students and are passionate about what they do. Masters has a ‘vibe’ that makes it an enjoyable space to spend as much time as we do there,” Ratan, an aspiring journalist, said.
Logan Schiciano ’21, co-editor-in-chief of Tower, the student-run newspaper, also longed for the day-to-day interactions, such as bumping into friends in the hallway and hitting the tees with his golf teammates. But he also appreciated how his teachers embraced this new challenge. “I do feel as if we’ve done some fun activities that we wouldn’t have otherwise done,” he said. “For example, in my English class we did a ‘scavenger hunt,’ which allowed us to make connections and inferences from the previous night’s reading in ‘The Great Gatsby.’”
As students adapted to a new way of learning, parents and guardians became essential partners in this endeavor — all while balancing home, family and professional responsibilities.
“So far, the transition to remote learning has been much smoother than I had anticipated,” Amy Kyle Parker P’21, ’25 said, about a month into remote learning. “Having a clear, set schedule for each day is wildly helpful and provides a necessary frame around this new way of learning.”
Marie Fabian P’22, ’26 missed the school routine but shared appreciation for the work that faculty and administrators put into remote learning. “The teachers have done an amazing job,” she said, “and it is clear how much preparation they are doing to make remote learning as positive and successful for their students as possible. We appreciate how carefully they have worked to make sure that their students are getting the best academic experience possible while also paying such close attention to how they are doing emotionally during this challenging time.”
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