Students at Madison Highland Prep are tapping into technology as they take on inventive lessons their teachers have worked hard to develop using a myriad of strategies.
Anna Foley, a senior at Madison Highland Prep, participates in an online lesson the school offers. Students have been collaborating with each other in breakout rooms and engaging in creative projects online, rather than in person, due to the COVID-19 pandemic (photo courtesy of Madison Highland Prep).
Since classes began for this academic year on Aug. 17, the teachers have implemented various techniques to engage students through the unusual, live-streamed distance learning program. Teachers have used Nearpod, Flipgrid, and Autodesk applications to try to make learning fun. Students have been working collaboratively on projects by taking part in breakout rooms with their peers. These virtual rooms offer a space where students can participate in content-based, meaningful discussions and work together to create creative projects. Every week, students receive hands-on, tactile resource packages to support their education at home. School teachers, administrators and staff members are proud of students for working hard and excelling in this challenging, new learning environment brought about due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Teachers use the Zoom platform for video communication, as well as Swivel technology to provide live-streaming instruction for every class. These educators also utilize a wireless Mimeo tablet to deliver information directly to each student’s home computer and every classroom’s LCD projector simultaneously. That means all students can keep accessing the same curriculum, as well as communicate with each other, work cooperatively on assignments and participate in labs no matter where they are.
Madison Highland Prep plans to resume in-person classes on Monday, Oct. 12, as long as the area keeps meeting the benchmarks that the Arizona Department of Health Services and Maricopa County Department of Public Health have set regarding safely reopening schools, based on the number of COVID-19 cases. Students who want to continue distance learning will be able to do so through December. To learn more about Madison Highland Prep, visit madisonhighlandprep.net.
