SOUTH HUNTINGTON, NY — Nicole Honovich, a social studies teacher at Walt Whitman High School, was honored with a Bright Light award from the Association of Suffolk Supervisors for Educational Technology (ASSET), the South Huntington School District announced.
ASSET’s mission is to enhance teaching and learning in schools through the use of computers and other educational technologies. Teachers who excel at integrating technology and learning programs in their classrooms are honored each year as a Bright Light.
Honovich is an “enthusiastic proponent” of incorporating technology in the classroom because it allows for differentiation and accessibility, according to the school district.
“It provides students with so many avenues to reach their academic and even personal goals,” Honovich said in a news release. “Technology offers all students a voice, regardless of language and abilities.”
Honovich also works to make sure her teaching colleagues get the most out of the educational tech tools available to them. Honovich has been with the South Huntington School District since 2020. Colleagues said she instantly had such a firm grasp of the technology the district was using and that she was helping teachers in her first year navigate their way through the coronavirus pandemic.
She continued to adapt through the hybrid environment and “new normal” classes. She has taught many courses about tech tools through South Huntington’s Teacher Center to help teachers stay current in assessment tools.
As a teacher of Global History and Geography II, AP Government and Politics, and Student Court at Walt Whitman HS, Honovich believes technology is essential to learning social studies today because it allows students to virtually visit the places they are learning about through tools such as Google Earth and EDpuzzle.
She says it’s also preparing her students for the “real world.”
“Technology is a very real part of that world,” she said. “Any future job or career held by our students will most certainly incorporate technology in some way, shape, or form. Exposing them to various technological tools, developing their tech skills, and teaching them digital responsibility is essential to their professional and personal growth.”
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