Digitability welcomes 14 new school districts who have enrolled students in our work-ready training for today's tech-driven socieity!
This summer, during the Extended School Year (ESY), Digitability worked with school districts to introduce new work-ready skills for adolenscense in their Transition Planning stage. This video highlights the program success in one school for teachers, administrators and students. Digitability is excited to have the opportunity to prepare more students with work-ready skills and increase their employment opportunities through our Pre-employment Transition Services. We welcome our 14 new school districts and organizations to the Digitability family this year!
First day in the classroom
Level 1 of the Digitability uses technology as a hook. Students in classrooms across the country are very eager to learn about technology. Each of the classrooms that participate in Digitability have a wide range of student needs (Specific Learning Disability, Autism, Speech and Language Impairments, Emotional needs, etc.). Digitability addresses each of the learning and behavioral needs in special education classrooms and use resources that ensured that EVERY student could participate, use digital language, and learn internet terminology.
Technology for the workplace
Students love to engage with technology at home and in the classroom. Digitability connects students' personal interest in technology to a literacy that will prepare them for the workplace. Digitability makes digital literacy explicit and applicable to students’ daily experiences.
From this experience, students are prompted to practice using the appropriate language of technology in the classroom. Digitability also works with teachers to use this language throughout the day to reinforce the concepts and create opportunities for students to apply their knowledge outside of service implementation.
Social and communication skill development
The evidence-based practices used in Digitability, provide effective strategies for students who had a variety of communication needs, and levels of expressive and receptive language. For example, Digitability offers image exchange cards to represent concepts visually or adapt the level of questioning to a yes or no answer throughout the warm-ups, guided watching, and informal assessment activities.
Behavior and classroom environment
One of the most important components to the Digitability program is identifying and practicing workplace behavior through simulations. Digitability’s Classroom Social Economy is a token economy behavior system that uses boundaries and reinforcers to prepare students for the real world. Using the Classroom Social Economy, students earn dollars when they exhibited behaviors that promote success in the workplace.
For example, students earned participation dollars for raising their hands and participating during the lesson or giving feedback to their peers. The Classroom Social Economy teaches students proper workplace communication and socialization, as well as financial literacy (using money language, counting money, paying bills, making purchasing, manging a budget).
Students are eager to receive money for participating. Teachers often describe the increase in student motivation, attendance to tasks, and sense of empowerment that they observe while using Digitability's Classroom Social Economy. The biggest win for teachers is that EVERY student is able to be engaged and participate with reduced assistance. Digitability's Classroom Social Economy has several levels that students work through including Level 2, where students learn about workplace boundaries and how to self-regulate behaviors that can be problematic in the workplace.
Collaboration with school administrators and teachers to understand needs of student differentiation
Digitability understands that special education classrooms are each very unique. That's why our team works to collaborate with teachers and admin to idenitfy students’ needs and to provide tailored services based on those needs.
Digitability also engages every adult in the classroom to model workplace behavior and to promote a healthy and collaborative learning environment. Teacher and support staff participating in Digitability love becoming the 'execuatives' in the 'companies' of Digitability Work-simulations. Every adult in the classroom (teachers, aides, teacher assistants) is given a job or title such as Financial Officers (they tally up the dollars and write checks), CEOs (they make hiring decisions), bankers and bill collectors (they collect money for wifi, for renting out their desks, for using classroom resources, etc.) to reflect real world working environment that students can expect to be a part of.
Continuing the journey in the 2018-2019 school year.
Digitability is excited to continue providing award-winning, work-ready training to students throughout the 2018-2019 school year.
If you know of a school, teacher or administrator who would be interested in learning more about Digitability, please share this link or forward our newsletter email.
“This experience has increased my confidence in my teaching abilities as well as leadership skills. I have learned a new set of teaching skills and practices that i will bring with me into my own classroom.”
- Devina Harnita
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