Why Unytus

Cultural diversity in the classroom is on the rise.

No matter where the students come from, everyone should feel welcome and like an important part of the classroom.

Unytus will be used for formal learning in the classrooms and remote learning at home. In the intended educational setting Unytus will be used to supplement ELA, informed by CRP, through cultural content and activities in stories and lesson plans.

Culturally Responsive Pedagogy (CRP)

CRP is quintessential to address gaps in educational opportunity and achievement, as well as to promote belonging and critical thinking. To contribute to intellectually rigorous and culturally relevant classrooms that have the power to improve the lives of not just diverse students, but all children (Ladson-Billings, G. 2009), Unytus incorporates following CRP principles

Equitable learning and academic success.

We will focus on prevalent ethnicities to build grade appropriate content, enriched with difficult vocabulary.

Cultural competence to assist in positive ethnic and social identities.

Unytus will incorporate intervention to emphasize the positive and differences of each culture.

Recognition and critique of societal inequalities.

Students will be encouraged and given the opportunity to advocate for characters using equity/CRP practices

English Language Arts (ELA): Unytus focuses specifically on ELA interventions in literacy.

Unytus stories engage elementary students via a learning comprehension, and vocabulary intervention program following Common Core State Standards for ELA as described below.

  • Learning Comprehension. Once a child is no longer focusing on simply reading the text, they can devote a majority their attention on understanding the text. Unytus stories will incorporate grade appropriate words and sentences to build the stories and help students read them with relative ease, so they can focus more on comprehending each story and relaying its key messages.
  • Building Students’ Vocabularies. Understanding the meaning of words is essential to comprehend the text. Students must have both fluent word recognition skills and a robust vocabulary. Without intervention, a student’s word gap grows larger, making comprehension harder to achieve. Unytus will provide definitions for difficult words and include vocabulary checkpoints throughout the game to improve the vocabulary of students, and to confirm understanding (explicit instruction).

Academic studies have proven that students get motivated and interested in the literature and reading materials presented with cultural relevance.

UNYTUS matters to DEI leaders, teachers and administrators

A creative way for schools to access funds to purchase Unytus for students using Title I and Title IV funds.

Unytus encourages ELA learning and promotes safe & healthy schools, a well-rounded education, and utilizes digital technology, making it eligible for Title I and Title IV funds.