comes to
Communities In Schools of North Texas
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Gainesville Intermediate
id you know that GISD has added new support services for our Intermediate students? GISD listened to the needs of our families and has contracted with Communities In Schools of North Texas to bring Yoana Gonzalez into our district full-time.
The mission of Communities In Schools of North Texas (CISNT) is to surround students with a community of support, empowering them to stay in school and to achieve in life. CISNT provides wraparound services during the school day to address students’ physical, socialemotional, and academic needs, ensuring that they have the tools to succeed in their education. Services are provided in one-to-one, small group, and schoolwide settings. Yoana works with students on things such as self-actualization and habits for positive self-care. One of the 6th-grade girls’ groups is currently working on self-esteem and self-image by identifying and challenging negative beliefs and replacing them with positive self-talk.
“This week, we created works of art that bring us moments of joy and talked about how to find these moments of happiness throughout each day,” Gonzalez said. “We had our girls choose things or phrases that brought them joy, and then encouraged them to display their works of art so that they could see it every day as a reminder.” Other small groups work together to build valuable life and social skills, such as anti-bullying, self-confidence, emotion recognition, and friendship building skills. Yoana said she is “excited to have joined the Leopard family here at Gainesville Intermediate to help ensure that all kids have the resources that they need to thrive!”
Engaging Students with Digital Learning
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eginning in March of 2020, Gainesville ISD implemented a Digital 1:1 Student Device Program for Grades 2 through 12. The purpose of the program is to provide each student with a device to facilitate digital access to the curriculum and other instructional online resources. Whether it be access to online textbooks, digital curriculum, streaming content, or interactive and collaborative online resources, students are provided a district-managed device that gives students the opportunity to engage in those types of individualized lessons. Additional WiFi access was installed at each school to accommodate the high volume of devices simultaneously connecting to the network. Students are provided a district-managed device, giving them the opportunity to engage in individualized lessons, whether it be access to online textbooks, digital curriculum, streaming content, or interactive and collaborative online resources. These panels replaced SMART Boards that required a connection to a computer, a projector, and a separate speaker system. The new panels consolidate all of those components. The touchscreen panels can also directly connect to the internet, as well as mirror any type of device, including the updated 13-megapixel document cameras that were replaced in all classrooms this school year. Gainesville ISD strives to provide classroom technology and resources at all grade levels that not only allow students to view instructional content but to interact with it to create a more dynamic and innovative learning environment.
Winter 2021 • Gainesville SPOTlight •
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