Over the past few weeks, we have all gotten to know our 12th grade, and 2nd generation International Baccalaureate students, through Tuesday’s social media posts “Portraits of a Graduate”.
2020 is a very different year for the 12th graders, where what was to be a last year of memories together in class has ended up being an isolated experience in each of their homes, working towards a common goal of obtaining the International Baccalaureate degree. What we can conclude from these “portraits’ is that Futuro Verde has been not only a portal of knowledge but also a family, for this group of students. The relationships and friendships they have established at Futuro Verde will be forever carried in their hearts. Futuro Verde has been an extremely important part of their lives and they have been important to the growth and evolution of Futuro Verde. Many of them have been with us since elementary school, others joined us at the beginning of high school. We have seen them grow as students and also as people. We have watched their trajectories and we can agree that today they are citizens of the world and are ready to go out and give the best of themselves and contribute to making our world a better place. We wish them all success!
We are very grateful to all the donors and friends and Futuro Verde who have helped us raise $2,806 to date. Thanks to this, we have been able to prepare for the return to school so that the students can return to a safe campus as soon as the government gives the order.
But, we still need your help! We still need to reach our goal of $55,000 to help those families who were heavily impacted by the financial crisis left by the COVID-19 pandemic and which continues to affect the entire tourism sector of Costa Rica. By facilitating the re-entry of students we will be able to continue paying the salaries of our teachers who have been doing such a great job during these challenging times.
As schools across the world, and within Costa Rica, face the reality of a return to on-campus schooling in some form or another, emotions on the subject can run quite high and opinions, even among researchers and scientific experts, can vary widely.
From our perspective as a school, we continue to research the evolution of the disease as well as follow closely the recommendations from, not only the Costa Rican Health Ministry, but from other researchers and experts around the world.
Today, I would like to share some sample research and thoughts with you in the hope that it helps you have new and varied perspectives on the virus and the concept of school reopening when the virus is still present.
Health and safety
Regarding the concerns of wearing masks and the potential, related health risks of mask wearing, I recommend listening to this journalistic report from National Public Radio on the topic and their analysis of the scientific research behind prolonged risk from wearing masks.
Emotional and Psychological Impact of Quarantine
Does a pandemic cause emotional and psychological stress that is of grave concern in children? The answer is- it depends! Parental emotional regulation and the maintenance of a safe home environment are primary factors that contribute to the level of negative impact on children. The following article provides guidance and additional links related to supporting positive long-term health for your child throughout the distinct stages of the pandemic.
Considerations Regarding Short and Long-Term Response to a Virological Crisis
When there is a circumstance that so strongly impacts our lives and that is, in so many ways, out of our direct control, it is wise to consider the short and long term impacts of the crisis as well as the emotional response it is recommended by experts to take when facing such apparent uncertainty. In this article, renowned Belgian virologist, Peter Piot, reflects on the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our Commitment as a School
One of the most commonly heard reflections from this time of crisis schooling is a re-commitment by families, and by society as a whole, to the importance of the incredibly challenging and essential work that is done each day by our professional educators and by our schools. We are fortunate in Futuro Verde to have an incredible group of highly-qualified and professional educators who have taken on the challenge of distance and online learning with the same enthusiasm and problem-solving nature that you have come to expect from a FV teacher! The ingredient currently missing from our learning program is, thankfully, not a lack of progression in learning, as is the case in too many schools around the country and the world, but instead a joint presence on campus during learning processes. Being together, though physically separate, is important for children’s mental health, academic progress and intellectual and social-emotional development.
For this reason, as soon as the health conditions permit, we plan to open our campus to students. The Futuro Verde campus reopening will be gradual and measured and will include the following of all health measures required or recommended by the Costa Rican Health Ministry.
We commit to the ongoing education of our students:
Online and through a distance format when that is required, through a blended learning model when on campus learning is allowed, and in a full on campus mode when the pandemic conditions permit.
I come to you today with some reflections on educational response to the global pandemic, specifically an argument for why curricular enrichment should always be prioritized and, during times of immediate crisis, why it is needed more than ever.
For years, national governments, pedagogical leaders and individual school leaders have battled with the choice of curricular structure.
What is best for each and every child? What is most important? And, most often, where should we invest our limited budget?
During my 7-year tenure here at Futuro verde we have journeyed through these exact questions and pedagogical ponderings. We have arrived at the conclusion that “everything is equally important”. But, what do we mean by that? Many schools place extraordinary emphasis on specific subjects or areas of expertise, but at Futuro Verde we are strongly committed to a holistic curricular commitment. That is why, when you divide our subjects between academic and what are often referred to as “specials” classes, you find a much more even split than can be found at most schools. If there is imbalance, it can often be found to be skewed toward more specials than not with classes such as: Comparative Language Study, Mindfulness, PE, Music, Art, Environmental Education, and the like. The culture of our school is strongly aligned to the notion that, even if I love math and want nothing more than to be an amazing mathematician, I also know that physical and mental strength and health is important and so I practice that too and I ensure a healthy and balanced mind and body during my PE and mindfulness classes. This same approach permeates throughout our school, with an approach very similar to that often championed by elite Liberal Arts colleges and universities around the world.
But, how has our holistic curricular approach translated to crisis schooling in response to the global pandemic?
We continue to self-reflect on this throughout our response to the crisis and our implementation of our COVID-19 protocol, but what we have seen is that, whereas a holistic curricular approach is what we consider best during normal conditions for learning, it has become a lifeline during a time of crisis. And so, we have strengthened our commitment to our holistic values and we maintain our commitment to the liberal arts development of all of our students, from preschool through 12th grade. This commitment has brought with it some inspirational student growth, processes and products during our online model, including:
A whole school music project to create a virtual choir that is currently in the works and will bring our student voices, instrumental and technological skills together across all grade levels in our unique interpretation of “Where is the Love”. How will we do this? Watch an interesting instructional video on the process here.
Participation by our Visual Arts students in the #gettymuseumchallenge, which challenged them to recreate a famous work of art and, in so doing, express their worldview and perspective or reality through art. See some of their inspirational recreations here.
Commitment to the theoretical and practical aspects of physical conditioning and activity through challenges, research and resources for a variety of physical activity, at-home options.
These are only a few samples of the way that a holistic curricular approach has brought balance, peace and creative development to our students during this difficult time we are all living. As a school, we remain committed to a holistic curricular approach and we hope that our school community joins us in this doubling-down during the hardest of times on ensuring a well-rounded approach to learning and to life.
For further exploration on why holistic learning is important in education, please enjoy this Ted Talk from Sir Ken Robinson and shared with me from our own IB 12th grader, Tristan.
If you love our holistic programming and you want to help us through this difficult financial time, please consider contributing to our fundraising campaign at chuffed.org. And, in advance, thank you for supporting an example of what education should look like around the world!
While most other students have been enjoying vacation from online schooling, our IB students have been working diligently to complete those famous IB Internal Assessment (IA) tasks for each of the 6 courses, including a TOK essay and the 4000 word Extended Essay. We have been very impressed with the high quality work being done by our students, their dedication and commitment. Our 11th grade IB cohort have only just begun this process, but are taking advantage of the online learning context to get a jump start on their IAs. 12th graders, on the other hand, are catching up, polishing and finishing up, spending hours every day in intensives with their teachers and then spending more hours working independently! They are truly making us all very proud.
This year, in particular, puts extra pressure on completing high quality IAs due to the COVID-19 epidemic and the possibility of cancelled exams. The IAs will no longer be moderated externally by the IB but will, in fact, be marked externally by the IB. Basically, what this means is that these tasks which perviously were graded by our teachers according to the standards of IB will now be graded by the IB examiners themselves wherever in the world they might be!
Reved up for External Assessments
At the close of the vacation period, 12th graders will shift their focus from completing IAs to preparing for external exams. These external exams will take place in November over the course of three weeks and are synchronous globally to all IB students taking exams in November. To help students prepare for these long written exams, we will be holding mock exams at the end of July. These mock exams will help students become familiarized with the procedure and process of the IB exams and will make visible to both student and teacher alike any areas of content needing extra study and attention.
We applaud our hardworking IB students (Shout Out!) and give our profound gratitude to our hardworking IB teachers for their dedication! IB absurdly proud.
