Steven Cyros said that “WHEN AN EMERGENCY STRIKES, THE TIME TO PREPARE HAS PASSED”. The days before Spring Break are typically filled with excitement and anticipation. This year, March Break was a very different experience for students as they departed with uncertainty.
Delano Academy took an unprecedented approach and prepared for the worst-case scenario; that schools would not reopen this year post-March Break. Faculty replaced PD-week with COVID Preparedness Week. Preparedness meant that prior to the mandatory school closure order, our faculty had already carefully crafted learning packages with necessary materials.
The closures were extended for the year and thankfully our aggressive preparation plan worked out and streamlined an uninterrupted remote learning for our students.
HERE WE GO: The building has closed but SCHOOL is open.
On March 23rd, we launched our synchronous platform and began teaching from our homes. Our commitment to learning was to create a sense of normalcy for our students.
The building has closed and now more than ever we realize that education has little to do with bricks and mortar. In five-ten-fifteen years from now, the building will be long forgotten but the memories created will last a lifetime.
At Delano, education is figuring out how to pick yourself up from this global pandemic and becoming a catalyst in transforming your tomorrow. We don't just teach curriculum, we teach 21st-century skills.
The Delano landscape embraces the current world state and responds with resiliency. At times like this, that the strength and continuity that the school provides, are among the most important things you can give your children. We continue to remain true to our values, equitable, and fair and transparent with our families.
Although we can agree that the experience is vastly different, remote learning has changed the landscape of our classrooms and we realize that REAL LEARNING IS NOW.
Delano Academy transforms this real-world authentic learning environment and provides our students with the tools they need to be successful so that we can protect them for a lifetime.
Students deserve relevance & real-world experiences. If we do not change professional practice, we run the risk of becoming irrelevant & losing our greatest steak-holders: students. Transforming learning online teaches our students to adapt and to be adaptable in a changing world.
Flexibility is critical for future-readiness. Students deserve real-world tools to do real-world work. We provide our students with the tools & experiences that they need to increase learning. We create an online experience that is more about the child than it is about us. We show them that learning goes on and we find creative solutions for everything. We teach our students to step outside the zone of comfort for real learning to happen. We embrace that we are ALL in this together, and this too shall pass.
We are purveyors of possibility while embracing and empowering the students of today to re-imagine a stronger tomorrow.