By Cindy Adams
When it comes to incorporating values into real life, teachers at enCircle’s Minnick Schools have nailed it. Principles like equity, inclusion and diversity are lofty concepts until they are practiced. And that is exactly what Minnick teachers are doing. Recognizing student diversity in learning, they have embraced specialized technology designed for teaching various learning styles. The result is an equitable learning environment.
"This is not a cookie-cutter approach," said Terri Webber, Vice President of Minnick’s Program Operations. "Our staff are making sure that each student has every opportunity for success, regardless of how they learn and how they are capable of responding. For some of our students, they have not been able to express what they have learned before using this platform."
The platform is called NearPod and was made available to Minnick Schools by a grant through the Community Foundation of Western Virginia. It is an interactive presentation software that allows teachers to present lessons that engage students through slides and provides them multiple ways of interacting with the content. For example, if the teacher asked a question on the slide, students could choose to type an answer, draw a picture, or record their voice in the response. Even students who are nonverbal or have fine motor skill issues can respond with as little as a touch of the screen.
No student is left out of the learning process because of a difference.
"Teachers can easily monitor student understanding through this platform because it is on each student’s laptop screen. Everyone is participating. This is true for remote learners as well," said John Davis, Instructional Technology Coordinator.
Weekly training and Q/A sessions help make the platform a viable resource for teachers. There are even competitions for the most interactive teaching sessions. It is used in every grade level in both general and adapted classrooms.
"This is what we do," said Webber. "We use tools that allow a student to show what he or she knows. Regardless of ability, we want them to shine."
Principles in practice.
