Teaching Strategies and Methodologies
Westmark students often refer to “the tricks” used at Westmark. In fact, these ‘tricks’ are the explicit strategies and methodologies used in Lower, Middle and Upper School classrooms that enable our students to actually access the curriculum and find their strengths. These same explicit strategies and methodologies engage our students so they enjoy coming to school each day.
Using the kinesthetic classroom model, students are often not in their seats, but walking, standing and moving during instruction time. Our class sizes are small and instruction is individualized so each student is taught according to his or her personal learning profile. We use a multisensory approach, so you will see teachers and students using multiple modalities as they teach and learn. We explicitly teach executive functioning skills and our students learn how to stay focused, organized, and on time.
Throughout the curriculum, teachers scaffold instruction and support for students so that they can increase their independence in academic and executive functioning skills. We support students as they become independent learners and demonstrate mastery in their academic subject areas.
And we use research–based methodologies to support the diverse learning styles of our students.
After catching a glimpse into our classrooms, we hope you will see how learning at Westmark really is different.