We’ve shared the stories of two educators who received special Holiday gifts from us and we’re ready to share another one! We sent out five Holiday STEM gifts to five deserving teachers at the tail end of last year and this is No. 3 on the list. Gail Morris is a teacher at Gauger-Cobbs Middle School in Newark, DE. She works a lot with students who have learning disabilities, but still wants to get them introduced to coding as much as possible—a mission that we certainly support! To close out 2018, we sent Gail an Ozobot Evo for her and her students to use and we’re excited to share more about what she’s planning as well as her other STEM goals!
The main student population at her school was already learning about coding and robotics, but Gail’s special education students had not gotten the chance before. She thought that having these children train the special education students on how to use robotics tools, like the Ozobot she received, would be beneficial for everyone! She is planning on having her middle school students teach the students in the school’s REACH program (Realistic Educational Alternatives for Children with Disabilities) new STEM concepts using robotics. Gail works with students who have learning differences, like Autism and other intellectual disabilities.
These students spend the vast majority of their time with others who have similar disadvantages and do not get much of an opportunity to interact with the greater student body. When she submitted her grant application to us back in late October, Gail titled her project ‘Hey Neighbor, Would You Like to Code?’ Continuing to embrace that message, Gail is committed to making coding in her school something that’s entirely inclusive and incredibly enjoyable.
Ultimately, Gail wants to get these children comfortable with programming the robots to do things like tell stories. She is going to start by developing lessons herself and, eventually, rely on her students to come up with the lesson plans entirely. With such a cool concept in mind and a program that’s very important, we were happy to donate a new Ozobot Evo to Gail and her students so that they would be able to take part in computer science education!
We also love the idea of both groups of kids working together and teaching each other new things. Bringing students who have different learning styles and abilities together through the power of technology is truly a wonderful thing, especially during the Holiday season. Gail believes her special education students will be able to gain further independence in their learning by discovering that they can program the Ozobot to do what they want it to do. Getting all of her students out of their comfort zones and embracing the 4 C’s in the process is another goal she wants to achieve.
To keep up to date with the progress made by Gail and her students, be sure to follow her on Twitter! Also, check out the moment Gail and her students unwrapped their gift together! Be sure to check back on our blog as well in the coming days for more stories of teachers and students we sent Holiday gifts to. And, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Instagram for all of our EdTech updates. Happy New Year!