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Education Continues for Humanities Students at Home
Educating while social distancing has brought out the best in the Hanalani Schools faculty and students. While the challenges are many, the opportunities for growth have been equally numerous. Robert Black, the Humanities Department Head at Hanalani said, “The crucible of change has produced creativity, innovation, and resilience in the members of our education community.”
While many students around the world have seen their academic endeavors exchanged for enrichment, arts and crafts, or self-study packets, Hanalani students have been allowed to stay the course. Each faculty member in the Humanities department at Hanalani made the transition to technology-assisted distance learning with the professionalism and excellence that marked their classroom practice before the pandemic.
Teachers are holding regular live sessions for student questions, creating video lessons, designing group work fit for distance learning, holding one-on-one meetings with students that need extra help, and covering the core of Hanalani’s excellent college preparatory curriculum.
Students are attending the live sessions regularly, completing work on time, maintaining great quality of work, and they are remaining flexible and poised for success. This ability to transition flawlessly to distance learning comes from their experience as students at Hanalani. In the Humanities department, the faculty equally balances focus on core knowledge, Christian character, and critical skills. The skills they developed include citizenship in the digital age, collaboration, and communication.
Giovanni Vinzons, who teaches 7th and 8th grade social studies courses, said that leveraging technology to stay connected with students has allowed him to maintain a high degree of focus on the curriculum and a great degree of focus on the social and emotional wellbeing of his students. Having access to a teacher adds a degree of security and stability during a time of volatility and change.
Terry Cuozzo, who teaches English courses said, “One of my goals when I teach Shakespeare is to get students to speak the bard’s words out loud. In a classroom, some students get to read or even act out the lines, but distance learning has actually enhanced that opportunity as individual students and groups of students record their performances for their peers to review. That tickles my English Teacher heart!”
Hanalani’s Humanities department is open for business. Its faculty continues to educate while leveraging technology and a growth mindset. As they prepare for a bright future, the students of Hanalani’s Humanities courses are receiving world-class instruction and producing quality work in spite of the challenge of social distancing.
