Teachers at Darlington understand that every student has a unique learning profile and that those who struggle need teachers who recognize and understand their learning differences. To enhance support and learn new skills for dealing with issues in the classroom, several faculty members participated in this summer’s Schools Attuned session hosted at the Upper School in June.
“Finding a common program, like Schools Attuned, that blends current brain research with best teaching practices has huge advantages,” said Libbie Zimmer, director of Darlington’s Learning Center. “It gives us a common language so we can speak clearly and accurately about a child’s performance. It provides a systematic process that all teachers can use when there is a child who is struggling academically or when a child is not being challenged enough. It encourages teaching in and out of the traditional classroom, which is so important in an environment like Darlington where learning takes place everywhere you turn. And most importantly, it challenges us all to dig deeper with every child because the research proves that all children can learn, we just have to help find different ways to present, connect and relate.”
First developed in 1987, Schools Attuned was launched as a year-round professional development program in 2000, providing K-12 educators with a framework and tools to understand and manage differences in learning in the regular classroom. It also equips general classroom teachers to make the best instructional decisions to ensure that each student can find academic and social success. The program focuses on management techniques such as demystification, bypass strategies, interventions at the breakdown points, and the strengthening of strengths and affinities.
Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Mel Levine, a noted professor of pediatrics at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine in Chapel Hill, Schools Attuned has been featured in
Newsweek,
USA Today,
Teacher Magazine,
Scholastic Instructor and on television’s Oprah and Today Show programs.
"Schools Attuned has refreshed me for the upcoming year. I will definitely be more alert when trying to spot students who may be having difficulties," said Donald Sweeney, physics teacher. "It is important to teach all types of learners. It would be sinful for a teacher not to try and improve his or her methods of transferring knowledge to a student. Everyone deserves the opportunity to learn. Over the past few years, Darlington has benefited greatly from working toward the goal of becoming a truly student-centered learning environment. This has led to better motivation in the students and higher standards for all."
Faculty members attending the workshop experienced a variety of techniques to help them identify with different learning struggles. Topics included memory, neuromotor function, spatial ordering, language, temporal-sequential ordering, higher order cognition, social cognition and attention.
"It's all about individual students' brains, but parents should not think that if their child doesn't get 'attuned' then he or she won't see the results of the program," said Beth Wilson, English teacher. "These principles made the most sense to me for whole groups of kids. When you have small classes full of students who are the same age, they often share strengths and weaknesses. Schools Attuned shows us ways we can adjust our teaching to fit a particular group. I look forward to having somewhere to turn to help figure out why a group of students - or an individual - isn't finding success."
Workshop participants agreed that the most effective part of the class was having the opportunity to work together as faculty to build a common knowledge base that would best serve Darlington students as individuals, classes and the school as a whole.
“I really enjoyed the discussions we had on the eight constructs and on specific cases of selected students who were having difficulties," Sweeney said. "We would spend 40 minutes on case studies and apply them to the subject we taught. The amount of wisdom gained from the small study group was a great asset for future teaching."
For more information on Schools Attuned, please visit
www.allkindsofminds.org.
