Learner-informed knowledge is a prerequisite for integrating technology in an inclusive way so that students from all communities can effectively use it to achieve their goals.
Guiding questions:
How has technology access impacted student learning at your campus?
Access to technology helps ALL of our students to more in depth learning experiences. It allows our students to access background knowledge in situations that they wouldn't be able to without technology. Technology also assists our teachers to provide scaffolds and differentiation to our students to help them achieve.
How are students given voice and choice to demonstrate how they leverage technology to learn?
Student choice has been observed in many TIM observations. Students have an increased opportunity to share their voice through the Student Tech Team and the Website Blogsquad.
Guiding questions:
What are the needs of your community and how are you meeting them?
Our community has many needs including but not limited to language barriers, lack of transportation, lack of wifi, poverty, etc. We have a huge focus this year on preparing our middle schoolers for high school and beyond. Each student is completing a project to help them plan for their future. We provide alternative ways for families to engage with our school community when they can't come in person. We have a partnership with Lionbridge for translation services. We're thankful for the support of Verizon to provide LTE data for our famillies so that we can stay connected.
Are the systems and processes accessible for multilingual families and students? If not, please explain your next steps.
Trilingual communication is shared with families through voice messages and email. We have Lionbridge available to translate phone calls. Our students know how to use Google Translate to translate websites and resources as needed. While it isn't perfect, it does help.
How do you offer choice and voice to your families?
We offer families the option to come in person or virtually for events like Student of the Month, Open House, and Parent Teacher Conferences. This has allowed families to be more involved when transportation may be an issue.
How are you promoting diversity and inclusion when selecting members of your student tech team?
All students 6-8th grade students are welcome to be a part of the team. Students are still able to be involved even if they can't participate in the after-school meetings.
Coaching for Change produced commercials for board games they invented. Then they had a viewing at their family night.