Remind is excited to celebrate our school partners and the impact they’ve had implementing Remind on a school or district-wide level. In this series, we’ll share more about their experiences and the results they’ve achieved.
Michael Meechin is a proud product of the inner-city public education system and has spent his career working at at-risk schools with high needs populations. Over the years, he’s served as a social studies teacher, AVID coordinator, data and assessment coordinator, dean of students, assistant principal and principal, allowing him to become a master of reaching student populations through high-impact instruction.
“When we look at the attendance issue for some of our students, it comes down to the ability to get up each day and catch a bus.”
What makes instruction high-impact? For Michael, it’s about putting pedagogy before technology and choosing tools that will remove an obstacle or achieve a specific goal. “If you do it the other way around, you’re going to waste time changing yourself to match the technology,” he says.
When Michael became principal of Poinciana High School in Florida, he wanted to reach a population of students with chronic attendance issues but faced several obstacles to doing so. As a Title I school, many parents worked multiple jobs and weren’t able to be as involved as they wanted. This easily could have become an excuse, but Michael didn’t see it that way.
“I’ve always tried to limit excuses for kids,” he says. “It’s about breaking down barriers and providing no opportunity for an excuse to be presented.”
Michael sought a high-impact tool that would help him get students to school while building their confidence — an essential part of his school’s culture.
