Unified Classrooms have become the latest trend in institutions of learning. Recently, educators have felt the need to close academic gaps. The pressure is due to the extreme social disconnect students have experienced, especially those with an intellectual disability (ID). Also, the mandatory social distancing, which was as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, has made loneliness and isolation worse among students.
Hence, educators decided to find a solution to bridge those gaps. Thus, the platform was introduced. However, a lot of people do not know this trend and how it helps to shape academia across the globe.
Therefore, this article sheds more light on Unified Classrooms.
What is Unified Classroom?
According to AMLE, Unified Classroom is a virtual classroom created by Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools. It is filled with free, adaptable, and engaging resources to support K-12 educators while addressing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills today’s youth need.
The Unified Classroom has four components. They include the following:
Adaptable grade-level lessons created with age-appropriate development
This component is packed with current topics and highlights real people. There are also diverse texts and videos which help teach the content and deliver the core message. Lessons align with Common Core State Standards.
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Unified talk tutorials
These are how-to videos hosted by youths from around the United States of America and beyond. Hosts answer questions like: How can we work as a team? and How can I help create a sense of belonging for others? They also share stories and provide examples of how to become more inclusive.
Digital engagement opportunities
These are prompts and templates that encourage youths to apply what they have learned. They also encourage the youths to continue the conversations on their social platforms.
Inclusion videos and discussion guides
This component includes youth-led, theme-related discussions. The videos provide a healthy example of how to communicate with a diverse group of people. Each video is paired with a discussion guide to help the discussion.
Most importantly, the Unified Classroom is for everyone, including those with ID. The package components can be used individually or together. Lessons are flexible to meet any classroom setting or instructional group. They can also be adapted to meet the specific needs of students. This will ensure students can access the lesson to apply while studying for their regular academic classes.
PowerSchool Unified Classroom
PowerSchool Unified Classroom is the leading K-12 learning management system. Combined with integrated student assessment, reporting tools, evidence-based behaviour management, college, career, life readiness tools and special programs management, this platform simplifies teaching and learning. It empowers teachers to manage the entire instructional process by connecting the classroom and home. This includes student information system, assessment, learning, and grade book products, which is usually combined into a single, unified software solution.
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Part of the Unified Classroom onboarding process that PowerSchool Services provide includes working with parents/guardians and schools to determine when Unified Classroom single sign-on (SSO) should be enabled. According to the platform, PowerSchool Services will enable Unified Classroom SSO for you at your request. If you prefer, you can enable Unified Classroom SSO yourself using Allow Access to the Unified Classroom Setup Page and Enable and Configure Unified Classroom.
Before getting started, take note of the following:
- The Unified Classroom Setup page is only accessible at the district level for PowerSchool-hosted customers with sufficient access privileges.
- When enabled, it relies on changes to Teachers/pw.html and public/pw.html. Districts that have customised the sign-in pages will need to update these pages with the latest changes before enabling the platform.
- When you enable the Unified Classroom, your username cannot be modified in both the PowerSchool SIS admin portal and the PowerSchool SIS Student and Parent portal.
Unified Classroom login
Logging into the platform is easy. Just take the following steps:
- Visit the PowerSchool website
- Enter your PowerSchool ID, which you previously created, using your email and password.
- If you forgot your password, simply click the “forgot password?” The system will send you an email with a temporary password.
Conclusion
Being academically sound does not automatically make a complete individual. A student needs to be connected to others as part of the learning process. Unified Classroom can help educators plan and create a learning environment that welcomes inclusivity.
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