He Says | Brian Rotunno: Work Together to Fight the Epidemic

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Wuxi Daily has published an online magazine called He/ She Says, inviting 23 principals from middle schools and primary schools in Wuxi to share their experiences during the epidemic.

Our Academic Principal Mr. Brian Rotunno shared his experiences on school communication, online education and family life.

 

Work Together to Fight the Epidemic

Boston International School has really taken a proactive approach to learning during this time.  When we first suspected that we might have an extended time off, we quickly organized groups to work on online learning through various platforms for students.  We are quite fortunate that many of our teachers already use various platforms for posting assignments and sharing feedback with students. Our principals and curriculum coordinators were able to develop clear plans for instruction, assessment, and feedback pretty early on in the process, so I feel that we have done a very good job at staying ahead of expectations.

As our time away has gone on, we have also worked hard to provide further updates to our programming. For example, all of our teachers now provide “office hours” where they can be contacted live if students/parents have questions or concerns about work. Our Secondary staff has also been in contact with students in grades 10 and 12 about external exams and deadlines that they will have through IGCSE and IB.  Further, we’ve focused our efforts on having every student contacted, not necessarily for academic reasons, but rather just to ‘check in’ and see how they are doing, how their family is managing, and to hear any concerns that they might have.

Personally, I want to let everyone know that my family is also sharing in this experience as well: my wife is a teacher at our school, and we have three boys who are participating in online learning as well from our school.  I would like to offer a couple of words to encouragement to others during this time as well:

Firstly, I would encourage students to effectively budget their time and manage their assignments that they are being given.  It is easy to become distracted with phones, video games, and other electronic media.  Adults can often struggle with this as well.  While it can become necessary to occasionally take a break from learning, students should really try to stay focused and complete their studies first before adding in leisure activities.

Second, I would encourage everyone to become problem-solvers with the current situation. Rather than focus on what one cannot do, I think it is better to focus on what one can do during this time.  Our family has set up fitness stations around the house, built projects out of recyclable materials, and gone for short walks around our apartment complex.  We’ve tried to really maintain a sense of normalcy as much as possible.

Finally, I would encourage families to do their best to use these days to their fullest.  Although many parents have returned to work, there are still many at home with their children.  As a father, I understand that children are sometimes bored and that it can be difficult to manage everyone’s interest level.  In English, we have a saying to “make your days count rather than count your days.”  The meaning of this is to enjoy the time that we have together and be purposeful with the time rather than just waiting for this time to be over.

As I conclude, I’ll say that I’ve been doing a lot of reflection about our time in China so far as my wife and I have only been here since August 2019.  We’ve stayed in Wuxi since this situation started, and we feel quite content and safe right now.  The general consensus among foreigners is that things are improving as shops slowly begin to open again and people begin to go outdoors.  Spring is soon coming and with it a renewed sense of hope and optimism.  I believe that this is what we are looking forward to the most: the hope of things to come.

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