Growing Green & Gold Pride BFA: Friday, February 12, 2021, Weekly Administrative Update

Dear BFA/NCTC Community:

Learning in today’s hybrid world is unlike any other time in the history of education. As I am not aware of any teacher preparation program that was designed to teach this to would-be educators, many instructors had to work overtime to learn a variety of new presentation and learning tools so that they, in turn, may instruct their students using these new means. Fortunately for our students, many of our staff already had a solid technology teaching background with the others being willing to adapt to this new world while continually experimenting with alternative learning methods.

While all our staff is using Google classroom to provide a consistent learning platform, all have branched out into creative alternatives in order to meet the needs of their students. There are too many examples to try and explain so I will offer a few from this week, along with some classroom photos.

One of our instructors has developed an intricate learning environment for his students. This entails using three popular technology tools that provide opportunities for virtual, in-person learning to participate equally. Using a cell phone to capture live instruction on a whiteboard while the desktop runs the lesson through Google Meet with the laptop allows him to track virtual participation to ensure live engagement is had by all students. The audio for Google Meet is run through separate speakers so that uniform sound is had to mimic a fully in-person classroom.

Another teacher is using a Google Classroom integrated application called Pear Deck to increase student engagement with all students. It is a great tool for formative and summative assessments that includes all students whether online or in-person.

An exciting new conference platform that was created in Vermont has been used in various classrooms in order to have virtual and in-person students work in teams, pairs, or as a larger class while remaining in the same virtual space. The students did such a great job explaining this to me that I experimented myself while at home and used it this week for a very successful meeting.

Several instructors have integrated their cohorts by using Google Forms as an assessment tool to gauge individual learning and balance the presentation of material.

This week’s newsletter would be a novel if I explained, in detail, all the various and wide variety of ways our staff has adapted and excelled teaching in this new hybrid learning environment. However, as I often speak about hybrid learning, and all that goes into it, I hope this gives some indication of what occurs daily at BFA.

Have a great weekend. Once again, despite some solid cold temperatures, get outside.

Sincerely,
Brett Blanchard

Principal

PHOTOS AND MORE INFORMATION

Beginning of the day, Friday, February 5th. Photo by Kristen Perrault.

Sports News:

Northwest Access TV has been supportive of our BFA Families by live streaming all of our JV & Varsity Basketball Games as well as our Varsity Hockey Games this winter because of the Vermont COVID ban on spectators at games. When they broadcast basketball, the stream will be the same for JV & Varsity so anyone watching will be able to keep watching the same video. Please click on the link below to access the videos: https://www.facebook.com/nwatv

Club News:

Theatre students collaborate with strings in an original production.