Online Learning Reflects our "Courage to Change and Inspire"

After studying her online art class for a week, fourth grader Bailey Lu decided to try a “little challenge” assigned by her art teacher. She spent a full day sourcing materials, designing, tweaking, and constructing this bike using hot glue, all by herself.  Not wanting to disturb her daughter, Bailey’s mother discreetly photographed the whole process. She says not only is she proud of the bike, she’s even more proud at how Bailey pursued this project with such determination and patience!

In Chinese class, elementary students from third to fifth grade practiced writing poetry writing under the subject of “What Is Love?”. First, the teachers discussed and guided their students through the zoom call meetings. Students then reflected, and completed the assignments on their own.  “The students did a wonderful job”, commented Hannah Wu, Assistant Principal of Daystar Academy Sanlitun campus.  “They observed and explored this world with their five senses and expressed their real feelings.” 

“What Is Love?” 

What is love, love is everywhere. 

It looks like an invisible bridge

Connecting people. 

It sounds like warm greetings

Moisturizes the organs

It smells like a plate of fragrant dishes

Nurturing the nerves. 

Love, looks vast and profound

I saw the nurses and doctors giving everything to love

Seeing the dedication of soldiers to maintain great love

Seeing the meticulous love of the workers building the cabin

Seeing our intimate greetings for them now. 

Love, sounds so loud

I heard the heartening words on TV

Heard the urgent call to fight the virus

I heard the family's confidence. 

Love, smells sweet and delicious

Smell the slight aftertaste of masks sent by relatives and friends

Smell the sweat of people working together

I smelled the aroma of cooked rice fragrant to the doctor

Scented flowers bursting out of the hospital. This love adds up to great love. 

Great love has formed a society and a home. Love is boundless, the world is worry-free

And I look forward to the spring!

Translated from the original, written in Chinese by 5th grade Daystar student.

The sudden coronavirus outbreak may have changed our teaching delivery (from in class to online), but it has not affected our students’ approach to learning.  Our students have remained passionate, committed, curious and creative. Additionally, online learning has led to unexpected and wonderful new discoveries about our students. "Modesty, hard-work, combined with creativity have often resulted in brilliant achievements!" Liu Hui, an elementary school Chinese teacher who has worked at Daystar Academy Beigao campus for many years warmly commented.

The learning culture of a school shapes the students. After a month of online learning, we can still witness Daystar’s rich and effective academic program, combined with our “heart”.  Let’s take a look.

Thinking “Out of the Box”

As soon as the decision to go online was made in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, it was all hands on-deck.  Our principals, Teaching, Learning and Innovation team, and our teachers worked tirelessly. The result was a comprehensive online learning program that kicked off on Monday February 3rd, the same day that students would have returned to school. 

Ideally, content taught via on-line learning should be as similar as possible to content taught  in class. But in reality, that is tough to achieve. Teachers face various constraints and limitations, many beyond their control. This challenge has forced our teachers to think out of the box, and discover new methods to present content in an engaging and innovative way.

Secondary school visual arts teacher Anna Zhu says she at first was wondering how to fully engage with her students without her usual art supply and resources in class. So instead, she thought “out of the box”. During the weeks under the theme of “compassion and love”, students were aked to create art. Anna thought of her father, who was in the United States. He had been rallying and coordinating with his Chinese compatriots, collecting supplies for China in the country’s fight against the coronavirus. She invited her father to share this story with her students as a source of inspiration. And the response was overwhelming.

“The students were so proactive and full of concentration, and we had a very passionate discussion,” Anna shared. “I believe the personal story helped inspire some of the students, resulting in wonderful artwork.”

Moreover, there is a plethora of online teaching materials available.  However, as educators, our teachers need to be mindful of what is the reasonable amount and most appropriate content for our students, and make it happen. One teacher commented about what it was like in the beginning: "We needed to look for resources, then edit, compress materials, and upload the material. The work could often take up to midnight to complete!" 

Both teachers and students are going above and beyond. For fifth graders, Chinese language arts teachers had asked students to practice writing school reports, with relevant information or evidence to support their papers. After just two lessons, the fifth-graders handed in reports that exceeded their teachers’ expectations. Topics included "A Study of the Life of Ordinary Families During the Outbreak", "A Survey on Adult Use of Electronic Devices”, and “Harmful Effects of Sugar ". Students observed at home or researched topics that they really cared about. Some went “above and beyond” by even designing and putting online their questionnaires to collect extensive data to support their research.

Always Remembering “Who We Are”

In this era of rapid change, being on the cutting edge can attract attention and even applause. Educational institutions need to adapt to the times and stay abreast of new knowledge, approaches and technology. But at the same time, the school’s core values need to be firmly rooted.  Daystar’s online learning program also strives to embed our core values of “respect, unity, care, service, and excellence” as part of the students’ learning. That’s because the core values represent our true spirit, and will be what guide our students as they navigate their future, and hopefully become contributing members of the greater community.

Here’s an example. When learning about COVID-19, the visual arts class the secondary school chose “caring and empathy” as a project theme, guiding students to reflect and express their love and compassion through their works. For upper elementary (grades three to five), they chose  “caring and service” as their project theme,  and practiced poetry writing under the title "What Is Love".  The lower elementary classes (kindergarten to grade two) were encouraged to draw their "Sweet Dream". The English class encouraged students to take real actions, such as writing thank-you notes to family members, sending love and gifts to community guards and other service personnel. Our core values were evident in all of their works. 

Even our youngest learners, the Early Learning Center students have reflected on Daystar’s core values. In the unity-themed study and discussion, the early learning center students observed how doctors worked together to treat patients, how couriers delivered parcels for everyone, and how children go out less, with teachers helping guide their understanding. At the end of the day, the students were able to understand the true meaning of "unity" in the broader society’s fight against the pandemic outbreak.

Also, in the morning meeting section, the principal and both Chinese and English teachers are encouraging students to think about relevant issues while caring for their mental and emotional well-being. After being home for so long, some students may be having a hard time and losing their temper. The teachers would discuss with the children in the morning information section, "Think about it, how have your parents taken care of you these days? Have you thanked them yet? ..."

Yet despite being separated from one another, this experience is also bringing out the best in our students as well.

“One thing I have noticed about our students in our video meetings is the excitement and kindness they show to each other as they enter and leave our video calls . This difficult time has inspired a greater appreciation for each other and our community! I feel the challenges and distance between us has brought our class even closer together. In our video calls there is joy in being together. Students take pride in brightening each other’s days,” says James Thomason, 3rd Grade Engish teacher.

Everyone Has to Grow

Online learning is not only helping our students grow, but also the entire community at Daystar Academy as well. "Courage to change and inspire" is the school’s motto, and the current crisis has proven that this community is constantly learning and growing.

In the process of online teaching, teachers constantly discover and ponder the pros and cons of teaching tools and sharing them. For example, by using Zoom's parallel meeting room, children are automatically divided into two groups and can discuss in their individual meeting rooms. Teachers can visit and coach them at any time. After the separate group discussion, all of the students can return to the main meeting room for collective discussion.

Nick Grasso, a middle school English teacher, even wrote about his experience with Zoom and shared it with his colleagues via email.

Some teachers have found that a few students who are usually silent in class have become more active and engaged in Zoom calls. Secondary school humanities teacher Yuki Zhang commented, ”When online learning started, I noticed that some of the quieter students began writing their deep thoughts and reflections down in the zoom chat room. This has inspired me to add some form of online communication when they return to campus, to help encourage these students to continue expressing themselves with confidence.”

In the beginning, online learning was a challenge for everyone. But now a month into this experience, we are witnessing true growth, and making new discoveries. Our senior leadership is in constant communication with students and parents to continually improve our online learning experience, and to support our parents as best as possible in this unchartered journey.  And although online learning can never replace in-person learning, this experience has proven to us that we have the agility, willingness, drive and passion to learn as a community, no matter the circumstances.

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