Remote Learning: Here's What Students Are Saying
Last week we celebrated the end of the school year with our Remote Learners in Uganda. We are so proud of these 8 students who navigated challenges related to WiFi, technology and time zones to successfully complete this school year! Every time they Zoomed into a class they brought joy, thoughtful contributions and a fresh perspective to their classmates.
Virtual meetings, like the one in this photo, happen on a regular basis between our administration and education facilitators in our international regions to ensure support is extended and prayers are shared for the work being done in the remote learning program.
Academy administration joined all the students on a Zoom call along with their Education Facilitators in Uganda, Lawrence and Josephine Ssemakula. Each student shared a highlight from the year, and then received a superlative related to a characteristic their teachers had noted in them this year. Students were appreciated for qualities like Joy, Initiative, Faithfulness, and Diligence.
After the call Lawrence Ssemakula noted how special this celebratory moment was. “This is so encouraging because no school here [in Uganda] would do such a thing that is biblically rooted and also teachers caring so much to know students to this degree. It helps them a lot to feel valued and loved.They were very happy and I asked the parents that we should take them out to have a special moment with them.”
8th grader Victor spoke for all the students when he said, "I thank all the teachers that taught us this semester because when we had some difficulties in our assignments they were able to answer our questions and answer those questions through our live classes although our internet was not stable. But they tried to help us."
Thank you LORD for a blessed school year! We so appreciate the hard work of Academy teachers in integrating remote learners, and for the support of our financial donors that helped ensure these precious students could receive a rich year of learning!
Please enjoy the student highlights below.
Barnabas (11th grade) - “I enjoyed the classes, they were very good, and the due dates were easy to meet. Another thing is that all the lessons were rooted in the word of God. It was a good thing to put in our minds when doing those classes. It helps motivate people.
I did a project about solar (energy) and it took me some time researching and finding a store that had the exact supplies and making calculations and adjustments on those specific materials. My interest in such projects increased and I guess I will be making more of these in the mere future. I think it may be the first step in my future job career.”
Rebecca (9th grade) - “For me this semester was like an adventure exploring many things I didn’t know. I loved Historical Biographies class, especially learning how Martin Luther King had a way of using nonviolence to bring peace. I know that I was not actually violent like hitting people but sometimes in my words I was violent to some people even to my siblings. But I think this class has helped me a lot and is going to change me in some ways.”
Genesis (9th grade) - “My most favorite course was the Biology class because we had to do all those different projects which made us really creative and helped us to not just write notes in our books but also have those notes in our projects. So that helped me be more creative even in my life.”
Gideon (9th grade) - “The class I prioritized a lot was Wisdom Literature. It helped me know how to read more and how to understand the Bible.”
Favour (8th grade) - “I highlighted the Prophets (Bible class) and Historical Biographies because they had the same point. Both of them tell us to be peacemakers. If Israel had tried to be peacemakers like Nelson Mandela many people wouldn’t die.
Also I liked the course that helped us take photos and create them properly. And Language Arts, I learned to read things and understand them and it helped me to understand things that are taught in the scripture.”
Victor (8th grade) - "My highlights were mostly from Bible and Language Arts classes. In Bible class we learned about Eli’s sons and how they did not walk in God’s word. For me I thought that God killed Eli’s sons, but our Bible teacher taught us that God did not kill them; they were killed by the world. They went into battle and didn’t go with God so that’s why they were killed.
And in Language Arts I highlighted the book The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. Some of the lessons I learned was forgiveness because in our daily lives we don’t usually forgive people. But the book helped me to forgive people"
Genevieve (6th grade) - "My favorite course was STEM. I learned math and we learned science. We learned about the environment and they showed us a picture of a lake which has trash around it, and they showed us a lake which is clean, and they taught us that after we use papers and packages we should put them in the trash."