SW 'Digital Education' Curriculum - (SW Online Academy)

The SHAKTI ACADEMY is an online academy where kids, ages 8-12 go into training to become a superhero by developing a Hero’s Body, Hero’s Mind, Hero’s Heart and a Hero’s Community.

The S.H.A.K.T.I. Academy provides students with an innovative approach to technology literacy Each participating student will be provided access to the interactive website, www.SHAKTIwarriors.com, as well as the supplemental workbooks.

Online Curriculum Highlights

AVATAR CREATION.Once a member of the SHAKTI Academy, students will reflect on the powerfu characteristics needed to achieve both super ’HERO’ and super ‘HUMAN’ status. The interactive website then provides the technological tools for them to create a visual model of their Avatar as well as the forum for them to write their Avatar’s ‘back story’.

DAILY POINT TRACKING. Starting as Recruits, students rise to the ranks of Sidekick, then
Hero and up Super Hero by earning points through their participation in the program. Points are earned when students conduct “real-world” activities such as “getting 9 hours of sleep a night”, “taking junk food out of their diet”, “completing their homework on time”, “being a up-stander” or “telling an adult about a bullying situation”.

ONLINE LIBRARY. Students earn additional points by reading articles relating to healthy lifestyles and social and emotional learning. The content for these articles are provided by our Experts (click here) and are written to 3rd - 5th grade readability levels.

ECHO BOARD. Reading comprehension is demonstrated as students are required to answer questions, using the site’s ‘ECHO Board’, that are based on the articles read; measures are incorporated into the site to ensure that students have actually read the articles prior to answering the questions.

LEARNING MODIFICATIONS. In order for students who are struggling readers, and / or English as a Second Language (ESL) students to feel connected to the interactive learning, the website uses various modifications. For example, students can turn on the audio reader so that as they are reading the article, it is being read aloud to them. Another modification is that students can activate the highlighter on the article so that the words are being highlighted as they are read aloud. English Language Learners can switch the audio to Spanish, but still activate the highlighter; this allows them to see the words in English as they are spoken in their native Spanish in order to increase their fluency and comprehension of the English language, but in an interactive manner that is at their individual pace.