Since Max has taken the time to introduce you to the school, I’ll take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Chris English. I am in my ninth year as an educator, and will be starting my first year at Wasatch Academy this month. I have a MA in English, and have been working in North Carolina Public Schools until this summer.
My wife, Lori, and I were first introduced to Schools Attuned (SA) while working for Edenton-Chowan Schools. After completing our initial SA course, we were asked to attend Schools Attuned Facilitator Development Academy (SAFDA) to become facilitators for North Carolina Schools Attuned. We met Max at SAFDA, where we quickly became friends.
Since SAFDA, I have facilitated several courses in NC, and have become a member of the Schools Attuned Facilitator Advisory Board.
Here at Wasatch Academy, I will continue to teach Advanced Placement English courses, something that I truly love, but will also be working in another capacity as a Learning Strategies teacher. In this role, I will work closely with small classes of students (class limit is 6) to help them understand their own neurodevelopmental profile, the neurodevelopmental demands of their classes and assignments, their personal affinities, and the modifications and accommodations that will allow their affinities to overcome any learning difficulties.
Sounds challenging, but it is one of the many ways that Wasatch Academy in integrating Schools Attuned.
Please understand, this is not a replacement for EC services, the Learning Strategies Course is open to students who desire/need a better understanding of their own learning.
As I am preparing for this school year, I was asked to place my courses on the school’s Atlas Curriculum map. Some of you may be using this in your school. I had plenty of experience with it in Edenton-Chowan Schools. One of the interesting things that Wasatch Academy has done with the Curriculum map is adding a section on neurodevelopmental demands. This allowed me to post the neurodevelopmental demands for each unit, and even assignment types, in my course.
Is anyone else implementing SA into curriculum mapping? What do you think the advantages and disadvantages may be if you were required to include neurodevelopmental demands in the descriptions of courses, units, or assignments?
-Chris English
All Kinds of Minds 
I am not on the payroll for Atlas Curriculum Mapping, but I have to say that their service is awesome!
Usually technology people will evade requests for adjustments to websites and their functions. I understand why… I think… That HTML stuff is complicated!!
When the representatives of Atlas came down to train our faculty, they asked us what we might like changed to meet the specific needs of our school. The representative pulled out his cell phone during a break in the training. He called and asked the tech. gurus to make some changes. They were made before the end of the training session!!
Atlas has integrated Schools Attuned into elements of their interface for our school. Teachers can simply click what neurodevelopmental demands an assignment, lesson, project, et cetera will present for learners. It is intuitive and simple; even for non-technophiles like myself! When we unveil our curriculum mapping efforts through our new website, people will be able to click on a class and see not only what content will be offered, but what neurodevelopmental demands they should expect.
This is an exciting element of Schools Attuned at Wasatch Academy.