The COVID-19 pandemic is far from over, and that means educators across the globe are still finding inventive and innovative ways to support and teach students in classrooms, during hybrid instruction, and in virtual settings.
The eSchool Media K-12 Hero Awards program, sponsored by Trox, recognizes the determined and dedicated efforts of educators throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Never before have educators been challenged and tested as they were, beginning in March 2020 and up until today, and never before has their resilience been more apparent. Administrators, technology leaders, classroom teachers, and educators in all roles have persevered as they taught each and every one of their students during a global pandemic.
Here, eSchool News highlights the Ron Clark Academy–one of its K-12 Hero Awards finalists. Keep reading to discover how this school keeps learning going in the middle of a global pandemic.
Nominee: Ron Clark Academy
Nominated by: Promethean World
What makes this nominee a hero?
The Ron Clark Academy (RCA) is a highly acclaimed, nonprofit middle school located in Southeast Atlanta. The Academy has received both national and international recognition for its success for creating a loving, dynamic learning environment that promotes academic excellence and fosters leadership. The school’s 4th-8th grade students represent various socio-economic and academic backgrounds and communities from across the metro region.
RCA is composed of groundbreaking educators committed to creating a dynamic learning environment to promote academic excellence and leadership for their students. In the RCA educational revolution, the RCA community considers technology integration with curriculum and teaching processes an essential part of its education revolution and has leveraged Promethean technology to innovate classrooms to maximize student engagement, improve academic achievement, and foster teacher-student relationships. RCA avoided remote learning growing pains by embracing technology ahead of the pandemic through the previous implementation of Promethean in the general teaching process. With the Promethean ActivPanel already in place, RCA was able to not only combat the challenges of remote learning from the pandemic, but students were able to thrive with engagement.
RCA’s math department head, Dr. Camille Jones, is utilizing Promethean’s interactive panels to spark student curiosity with video games aligned with lessons. Additionally, Carrie-Jo Wallace, a math and art teacher, capitalizes on Promethean functionality by integrating digital art across lessons. By using the Promethean ActivPanel to demonstrate suggestions on student art and allowing students to interact with the board directly to experiment, students see all they can accomplish in real-time and their confidence soars. Science teacher Daniel Thompson revels at how the ActivPanel’s functionality and ease of use has allowed him to focus on students as opposed to dealing with panel interface issues. With embedded tools like the Timer app, Thompson has been able to match student energy and encourage students’ management of their own time for working through class activities. Thompson also highlights how the Spinner app allows for randomized student selection to avoid any students feeling unfairly singled out in Socratic scenarios.
RCA educators were able to support all types of learners (auditory, visual, kinesthetic) through the capabilities of the Promethean ActivPanel. With Promethean, teachers at RCA have revolutionized the ability to provide instruction and support for all students, regardless of learning style. With the pandemic shift to hybrid environments, RCA was and remains ahead of the curve with Promethean technology integration to engage students inside and outside the classroom.
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