Following the wildfire that erupted in the Pacific Palisades Jan. 7, Archer closed its campus for two weeks before reopening Jan. 20. During this closure, classes were moved online, and students had the option to complete asynchronous assignments. Emails sent by Upper School Director Maggie Cenan instructed students to check in with their classes over Zoom from Jan. 7-8. These check-ins eventually became optional for students to attend, since all classwork became completely asynchronous Jan. 13-17.
In order to determine what classes would look like online, 11th grade Dean of Culture, Community and Belonging Stephanie Nicolard said teachers and deans met to discuss the best course of action, taking into account what online learning looked like during COVID-19.
“I think the history of COVID kind of burns bright in everybody’s minds, and we learned from that that student teaching is not effective or super engaging. It was really important, though, that students could have at least a couple of predictable touch points with mentors and their grade levels, which is why we had mentorship and class meetings,” Nicolard said. “But in terms of teachers designing coursework, it was just kind of taking something thematically related, adapting it to the asynchronous format and knowing that it wasn’t going to be something testable or something that students would have to be accountable for when we come back.”
Sally Chung teaches the eighth grade, introductory, intermediate, advanced and advanced study ceramics classes. Chung said that moving to remote learning made her realize that her semester-long eighth grade class, which she hadn’t met yet, would have to start the year off online. To adapt to the online curriculum, Chung said she created an introduction assignment for eighth graders to complete that would not require any hands-on work.
“I didn’t start out with Zoom. I had them do an intro project, just to kind of introduce themselves — I [had] them make little flyers, like any flyer you’d see in the hallway, [where] they’re showing me pictures of themselves they like,” Chung said. “A lot of them got really nifty with the Canva templates and stuff like that. That often helps me visualize who the student is, especially when I’m meeting them for the first time.”
After asynchronous learning from Jan. 7-9, Head of School Elizabeth English sent a schoolwide email Jan. 11 further outlining Archer’s plan for online learning and support. She wrote that all faculty would be flexible and extend grace to students who did not have the bandwidth to participate in lessons and that deans would hold class meetings to inform students about the new schedule.
In line with English’s message, Chung said students should not worry about making up any work that might have been missed during the two weeks of online school.
“I think the sort of communication throughout both those two weeks was like, ‘Hey, right now, everything is optional. Like, if you have the headspace or if you have the resources, if you want to be doing the asynchronous work or being on Zoom, then do it. There’s zero consequence,'” Chung said. “When we got back in person, I checked in with a lot of students about those assignments … so everyone was caught up.”
Katie Ray McKillop (‘27) lost her home due to the Palisades Fire and is currently staying at a hotel. Over the two weeks of asynchronous learning, McKillop said she was touched by the Archer community’s efforts to make sure she was okay.
“So many people have reached out to me, which is so nice. I feel like a lot of teachers have reached out to me too, which was sweet,” McKillop said. “I feel really supported by the community. We also had the clothing drive, which was so helpful. Lands’ End [uniform pieces] take months to arrive, so I had uniforms right away.”
McKillop added that she attended the optional class meetings as an opportunity to de-stress and see her friends.
“I just liked seeing my classmates, my friends and things like that and be able to talk with them,” McKillop said. “I wasn’t really hanging out with people outside of school because I focused on finding a home. It was just nice to be a part of the Archer community.”
Having taught through COVID-19 outside of Archer, Chung said she could sense the similarities between online learning through the pandemic and asynchronous work during the fires as students were learning material online. However, Chung said she predicted classes were not going to be asynchronous for an extended period of time like they were through COVID.
“I think nothing will obviously replace being able to teach in person, especially with ceramics. And I think that’ll always be seared in my mind, having taught through COVID and even having that short experience [with the fires]. Being able to know that and accept that as a teacher allows you to not make certain sacrifices,” Chung said. “I knew for me, it’d be better if we just prioritize our time doing this sort of learning—absorbing knowledge rather than the making — because I knew it would be a million times better once we were back.”
