At St. Mary’s, blended learning is incorporated for every subject. A series of synchronous classes tackle the curriculum as students are given explanations using various Microsoft tools such as Microsoft PowerPoint, Sway and OneNote. This is followed by Quizzes and Question and Answer sheets that are sent to students on Forms, Quizlet, Kahoot and other such online tools which they solve asynchronously, at their own convenience. This addresses the concerns regarding screen time and fatigue.
Doubt clearance and recapitulation take place both online and offline, during and after classes.
Use of tools such as Microsoft Whiteboard gives a classroom feel to students as it replicates the teacher writing on the chalkboard during explanations as it happens in a physical class. The Assignment bot is used to the fullest to share worksheets and activities.
Younger classes are engaged in various hands-on activities in which they can engage at home to further their learning. These activities and artwork are then recorded and sent to teachers by parents via Flipgrid.
Regular appreciation and encouragement are shown to students to keep them motivated and enthusiastic about the changed circumstances.
For Social studies such as History, EVS and the like, students are taken on virtual tours and virtual field trips to get a first – hand experience, something that was not even possible in traditional classes due to restrictions of distance. Indeed, remote learning has removed all barriers of time and space! Virtual laboratories give students an opportunity to work on experiments and simulations make concepts clear. These are used widely in our Chemistry and Physics lessons.
Co-curricular activities and Sports are at the core of our school curriculum. St. Mary’s students collaborated with each other remotely to celebrate and participate in Independence Day and Ganesh Chaturthi to create a wide array of programs and spectacular celebrations. Similarly, Sports, Exercises, Yoga and other activities are sent out to students to watch and follow.
Art and Music is the Soul of a school and in this lockdown, it seemed to be a little difficult to reach out to the soul and make it approachable to the 21st-century learners.
St. Mary’s High School has left no stone unturned to reach out to the students in the field of Arts and Music even in this pandemic situation.
We can’t even imagine Art without colours, pencils and erasers, but the teachers have made their way out in this. The Art teachers record themselves making a painting explaining the technicalities of drawing and personally looking into the creative work drawn by a student. The students are also asked to record themselves while drawing and present in the class. Thus the student is empowered to use the online platform for putting their creative thoughts filled with emotions and colours. The best part is even the parents who have forgotten this art which once they did during childhood, found it nostalgic. The Art teachers also made subjects interesting by integrating it with arts making them understand the chapter and the subjects became art integrate.
“Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” Music is divine and it should reach with its pure divinity, the thought was very clear and the teachers were on their toes for this challenge of going online. The teachers recorded themselves and showed it to the students and with the help of tracks of the songs the students sang the songs live. The teacher also taught the theory with the use of technology. No song is complete without music, but in this situation how to take up this challenge was the task. The students were asked to create any musical instrument through waste materials and play the same with any music track. The students found it very interesting to make their own instrument and showcased their talent. The teachers through remote learning guided the student and came up with creative instruments. This innovative use of technology helped in conducting many festivals online giving it a beautiful feeling of being alive.
Even the parents were happy to learn music along with students. Music and Arts the wings of the successful school was kept alive through remote learning by the teachers and students with their innovation and creativity.
St Mary’s school successfully adapted and innovated online teaching-learning pedagogies and integrated cutting edge digital technologies into curriculum delivery.