A now familiar tiled-grid of faces greets parents and students alike, during Gisler Elementary’s zoom End-of- Year Performance. Each child in turn fills the screen and they have our undivided attention. A canned applause lights up their faces as they finish their song. They did it!
The beginning of the COVID crisis was a time of jarring change, for students and their families especially. Suddenly, there was no school to go to and no friends to see. The Arts & Learning Conservatory (ALC) understood the impact this would have on their young music students and immediately got to work. Within a week, classes had smoothly transitioned online. Many of their teachers spent hours on the phone assisting parents, one-on-one, with technological set up. Once again, students had a sense of structure, something incredibly important for young minds.
They soon learned that their classes had restarted before the schools themselves. Students diligently appeared at zoom office hours and their parents expressed their appreciation for ALC’s professionalism and fast action. Many asked if classes would be offered in Summer to continue the learning that had carried through the year.
Burnout presents a real obstacle for online learning and recent studies show that zoom meetings make us more tired than in-person lectures or instruction, however, students remained engaged straight through until their end-of-year recitals.
Since then, ALC has continued to support its students and community, including a production of an innovative radio theatre experience: May the Farce be With You, but with theatre neighbors shutting their doors, they need your support. Their current Fall Class enrollment is critical to the survival of Arts & Learning and its resurgence from the impact of the COVID Crisis. You can help, by signing your child up for a class or giving the gift of artistic learning to a student in need.
Arts & Learning is committed to the success of each student. They understand each child has different needs and parents have different priorities. It is their mission to see these differences and provide support in any way they can to ensure that their pupils are given the highest-quality arts education possible. Be it working with parents to learn the mechanics of zoom or searching for instrument repair shops still open during a pandemic, the Arts & Learning Conservatory knows that the success of every student is dependent on accessible and equitable learning resources. They are determined to fulfill this mission for years to come, and you can make all the difference.