In these challenging times, where regular routines and life are deeply disrupted, we at RARE have been working together to make sure that our community stays informed, that our students stay engaged and that learning carries on.
Here, we answer some of your questions about our operations during this period, from senior leadership at RARE Learning:
How has coronavirus impacted your program?
It has impacted our program very deeply because we are unable to offer it through in-person physical classes. Since we work with recreation centres, we abide by their closures as well as the school districts. They will be making the right decisions for the children, our communities and everyone’s health. All our classes are on hold until the end of March when we will re-assess the situation.
What are you doing to manage the class stoppage?
Even though our program is at a standstill right now we understand the importance of keeping in touch with our RARE community. The kids miss the classes, their teachers and their friends- our goal was to keep them in touch regardless of the circumstances.
And we are doing that through our community’s WhatsApp groups, providing parents with various projects for the kids to complete at home and share their progress through photos and videos on the group chat. Our team leaders consult with each other and have been coming up with projects for each of their classes. For example, one of our first projects has been “Seeds of Hope,” where we told the kids to go around the house, talk to their parents and plant any seed they can find and send us pictures or videos of their progress, watering it every day, putting it in the sun. Teaching them how to care for something, how growth and responsibility work.
We’re trying to come up with those kinds of long-term projects, where the kids can work on something at home, share their progress with us digitally on the groups and then, whenever we resume classes, they can bring their work in, share it with their teachers and classmates.
The kids get messages of encouragement from their teachers on the group, get to see their classmates’ projects and still feel like they’re part of our team.
We are also now strategizing for what happens if the closure goes beyond April. We are already in the process of planning “virtual classrooms” where the children could participate for one-hour sessions at a time.
What are the parents saying?
For our parents, they appreciate the fact that we are taking so much interest in keeping the kids still engaged and learning. We just want to show them that we care for them, we are there for them in these tough moments and will be there to help them cope with things a little bit better and help the kids channel their extra energy productively even while at home. We see it as part of our social responsibility during these challenging times.
Staying home all day with little ones and having to keep them engaged is definitely not easy. This is a way for them to burn off some energy, stay in touch with their friends and their teachers.
We’re also making phone calls to the parents as another way of staying connected with the kids. Our teachers have been making phone calls to each of the parents in their classes, speaking with them as well as the kids, making sure that every child knows that their teachers are still there for them, that we miss them. Also reminding them how important it is to wash their hands like we used to practice with them in class!
The kids have been really excited to get the calls. Some teachers are doing video calls too just as a touchpoint to let them know that we are thinking of them during this time.
What do you expect moving forward?
We’re trying to normalize things as much as possible for the moment. I think we have to look for the silver lining in everything and try to see this as an opportunity to come up with creative ways to deliver the program. We’re working on various ideas, including the potential virtual classroom program but in the meantime, we’ll be continuing to keep in touch with our parents and students through all our online groups.
We’ve named our collective efforts during this time: “RARE Learning Connect.”
Because that’s what it’s about at the end of the day: our community.
Stay safe and healthy!
