This blog combines best practices and reflections I have learned in my college education classes, as well as incorporating my research on the largest stakeholder in education, the students, and why they deserve to have a voice in their education.
Tuesday, October 10, 2017
SAS Episode 4: Special Education & Inclusion
For this week, we have returned from a long hiatus from the podcast, but with the long hiatus comes some wonderful news! Patrick Morrissey is our new Co-Host for the Students as Stakeholders Podcast and we will be putting out episodes every other Monday.
I apologize for the delay in episodes, as our senior year of college has been hectic so far in trying to juggle everything, but we have finally figured out a realistic schedule that will ensure the continuation of important conversations in the field of education.
This week we discussed the issue of exclusion in special education and the importance of extracurricular activities for all students. If you are interested in listening to the podcast you can click HERE
For those that would like a copy of the transcript and the sources that we used, please follow this link HERE
Sunday, June 11, 2017
Students as Stakeholders Podcast Episode 3: Marginalization & Inclusion
Hello everyone! This is a special episode, as it focuses on the concern of marginalized students and finding the best viable pathways to include all voices in educational policy. I reached out to multiple people to find out some of the greatest concerns that marginalized students have in our education system, that way I could provide a more inclusive analysis of the barriers and solutions for student representation.
For those interested in the transcript, please click HERE
The link to the podcast can be found HERE
And the Youtube Link can be found HERE!
I hope this provides a stepping stone for students and other stakeholders to consider how we can overcome many of the barriers in our educational system.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
Students as Stakeholders Podcast Episode 2: A Brief History of Student Representation
Hello again!
Normally each podcast will be a week apart, but considering this is the launch of the Students as Stakeholders Podcast, I wanted to make sure there was extra content. I figured that giving a brief history of student representation would be incredibly valuable, considering that there is nowhere else on the internet that has made a chronology of this proud emerging tradition within recent American history.
As per usual I have posted the transcript here: SaS EP 2 Transcript
For those that are looking for the link to the podcast, please click HERE
This has been a work of love that I have been working on for a while and I finally determined how to best organize this pertinent information! I hope you all enjoy!
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Students as Stakeholder Podcast Episode 1: Overview & Vermont
Hello Everyone,
As I am waiting to hear back from publishers on my manuscript on student representation in education, I thought it would be an interesting idea to create a podcast based on analyzing how each state treats the value of students being leaders in their education.
I've never tried a podcast before, so this will be an interesting learning opportunity. For the first episode, I talk about the state of Vermont in detail, along with the barriers and solutions of enhancing student representation in the state!
I have provided a rush transcript that includes both the map, and the link to the blog here if you would like (this does not include the intro, only the portion on Vermont):
Transcript
Here is the link to the podcast for those that would like to listen: SaS Ep1: Overview & Vermont
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Creating a Meaningful Middle School Advisory
What is the Role of a Middle School Student?
How Community Building & Service Leads to the Best Experience for Middle School Students:
Intro:
The first proper question we might want to ask ourselves, is through what lens should be examining the role of a middle school student? From the lens of a policymaker, perhaps the role of the middle school student is someone who is deemed proficient academically, and can demonstrate said proficiencies, as promulgated by state and federal guidelines. An educator might see through the lens of having a middle school student achieve academic success, as well as building on a foundation of previous knowledge and social skills (in some cases, foundations for some students may be stronger than others, considering puberty causes differing levels of development at different time periods). What might parents and students see though? It would be fair to assume the aforementioned aspirations and expectations for students may be similar, but let’s build on top of that. All stakeholders in education alike might be concerned about belongingness, and empathy as well. It should be noted that there is not singular correct answer on what the proper role of the student is, but there should be enough overlap where there is a general agreement. Based on the parameters from different stakeholders, it would be relatively fair to define the role of a middle school student is someone who is able to be proficient in core content areas, as well as developing social intelligence and interactions with others to foster a community of lifelong learners. I don’t want to undermine the daunting task we have just laid out for ourselves either, it is certainly worth mentioning the barriers that middle school students face and how we can thwart said barriers and provide the most thoughtful and meaningful learning experience for middle school students.
The Barrier:
Throughout the multitude of experiences I have had in middle school, both as a student, and a pre-professional educator, I have found that the quintessential barrier for students within the middle school environment to be empathy and a sense of belongingness. Middle school is a time of varying transitions occurring at different times for students. In an environment where there is social and personal turbulence, it can be a daunting task to thrive in school, let alone be expected to be proficient, but it is our job as educators to ensure, to the best of our collective abilities, that we can work with students to foster a community that strives to benefit our students lives.
How to Cultivate Community
Students from Yes Prep Middle School provide
testimonies on the benefits of community service.
I believe invariably, that we can diminish, or completely remove the doubt of belonging within the classroom, while also building a classroom community where our students feel compassion for each other, and the community at large. These ideals can be achieved through utilizing class, or an advisory time to work on in/out of school community service projects that students can develop. I have provided both evidence and ideas that would cultivate a sense of belonging and community through examining ideas of student choice, critical thinking, and collaborative efforts:
Why Student Choice is the Most Necessary Step:
There is substantial academic evidence showcasing the importance of student choice within the classroom and how it engages students. Student engagement is necessary for students to feel connected both to the material in the class, but more importantly, they become a part of the academic conversation, and they are able to feel belonging through participation, active listening, and having some level of control in their lives at middle school. How does this necessarily relate to community service and problem-solving though? Students do not take choice for granted, and as long as there is an appropriate level of facilitation by the educator, students can and will be intrinsically motivated to learn more. Although there are many strategies in regards to engaging students through choice, whether it is through personalized learning, learning menus, or what format of assessment they might want to use for a test, these elements of choice are slightly extraneous, but equally as important as community building through choice. Humans are naturally curious creatures, and being able to utilize natural curiosity in a way that enhances learning, while engaging students is imperative. This idea can even be pushed further through utilizing learning and curiosity for problem-solving either within the lives of the students, or the community at large.
Middle school students are providing meals for the local homeless population
Some school districts within the United States have successfully been able to integrate elements of student choice with community service. For example, the New York City Department of Education offers a public database in which volunteering opportunities are posted. This allows for educators to work with students to offer an array of opportunities where students can, and have decided which community service option would be best for the class.
Critical Thinking Leads to Solving Tangible Problems:
For school districts and cities that lack a database with community service opportunities, students and educators can work together to determine the best means of improving the community. Aside from the extrinsic benefit of tackling a community issue, students learn and develop skills pertaining to critical analysis, time management, and learning about the role of government and citizens.
Students can learn best from these opportunities of community service when an educator is able to neatly tie an academic lesson based on the rationale for volunteerism. This educational connection can be easily showcased with a teacher utilizing a theme within the class that can be practiced beyond the classroom. For example, a social studies class might be learning about the Constitution, which represents the unity of 13 former colonies. An educator can then work with students to think of ways in which the community could be better unified, which might entail students identifying a disconnect with the elderly community and the rest of the community. Students then might volunteer as a class to create a senior citizens prom, or write letters of appreciation and deliver them to the local senior center. At the end of the service, the educator can ask students to reflect on their experience with unifying the community and the importance of unity with America on the local and federal level.
Building Community in the Classroom: An Examination and Re-Imagining of Advisory
In the end, what exactly would advisory look like if community service was an integrated component to our students lives? Though there is a multitude of ways in which community service can be truly integrated into the classroom, let’s examine how advisory specifically could be utilized for volunteering
- Establishing Expectations/Norms: Before students go out and improve the lives of our community, students should first work with an educator to establish norms for what the classroom community should look like. Being able to practice classroom citizenry provides a necessary foundation in order to have students interact outside of the classroom. Additionally, this is where the discussion of community ensues, the idea of a community might be abstract for some students, so this is where advisory time can be used to showcase what community truly means. When students are grounded with the concept of community, students will be able to best understand community issues.
- Discussing/Identifying Community Problems: Every community is different, whether it is a rural community that is dealing with a lack of resources, or an urban community that is facing issues of pollution, students will determine, with the guidance of an educator, what is the most pertinent and relevant issue affecting the community. It is imperative to note here that the educator should guide students in a direction where middle-grade students can most effectively solve/work on a community issue. During advisory, this process may be a week or two in which the educator discusses community themes that have relevance to the local region (ex: environmental, safety, food, belongingness, etc...). For additional information on themes that students/educators can utilize, please refer to this link HERE. There is also flexibility with the timing of this advisory, this does not necessarily need to be a year long commitment, but this could be, however, a unit or a semester long project that advisors work on with their students. It is completely up to the discretion of the educator for how long/often they wish to pursue this project in the classroom, community service planning could happen once a week like in the Triangle Day School Advisory (which can be seen HERE), or there could be daily advisories that devote a chunk of time with examining societal and community-based problems.
- When students do discuss these themes, the final vote on what theme to tackle, should be a democratic process, in which all students had the opportunity to present why they believe a certain theme is most relevant to the community.
- Brainstorming Solutions: Once a general consensus is met with deciding a theme, students then can work within that theme to find a particular issue within the community. For example, students may have picked a theme of food. From here students and the educator would determine a specific approach they should take with said theme. This may look like students wanting to have a garden at the school, or this might relate more with volunteering at a local food bank. For educators, there are multiple resources that provide themes and examples for themes within community service, which can be viewed HERE.
- Planning time could be very loose here, depending on which issue is being tackled within the community. The solution could be a one-time fix, or it could be an ongoing task for the students. Depending on how the advisory is being run for community service, the educator may want to add some restrictions on what students can do and the time frame they have to execute. This is also where it gets exciting, students have to create a solution, which really harnesses problem-solving and organizational skills that are necessary to have when students leave the school. Students will have to collaborate, and work together to make a solution happen.
- Execution: When students have a laid out a strategy in which the class has agreed upon, students will then be able to execute their solution. This would mean having a date in which students work on the community service project. This could potentially be done during the school day, advisory time, or on a weekend, depending on availability and the length in which the solution would need to be executed. Additionally, not all students could be able to have the transportation necessary to work on community service during the weekend, but that doesn’t mean students are left out either. The students that couldn’t arrive to help on the weekend hypothetically, could be responsible for presenting the community service, or having these students act as liaisons between the advisory and whatever group the class is trying to work with. One of the prevailing ideas with community service during advisory is to ensure that students feel a sense of purpose and belonging.
- Reflection: In order for students to best understand their purpose for improving the community, there should be a period of reflection in which students are able to connect ideas and themes between their advisory, their work outside of the classroom, and potentially other classes. This doesn’t necessarily have to be at the end of the advisory. This could be a journal that students keep throughout the timeframe, where students can reflect on their successes and barriers.
Conclusion:
Students in middle school can best understand their purpose within the community when they are allowed to be active participants. The role of the educator is to harness the potential and natural curiosity of students in order to generate outcomes that students wish to pursue, as well as facilitating the opportunity of giving back to the community, in order to feel purpose and belongingness within their lives.
For a list of additional resources and an annotated bibliography, please refer to the link provided here: Annotated Bibliography
Wednesday, March 8, 2017
Family Involvement
Parents as Stakeholders
It is imperative that our school systems reach out to all stakeholders to design an educational community that results in the best outcome for all parties involved. Although students are the largest stakeholder in education, the parents perspective is necessary to incorporate into our school systems, but often times it can be the most challenging perspective to utilize, due to conflicting schedules and the most effective ways of reaching out to our students family members.
Often times the involvement of parents can be overlooked due to the difficulty of getting their consistent thoughts and ideas, but much like our students, we as educators have a responsibility to effectively work with the parents to ensure that we are creating the best learning environment for our entire community. In Epstein’s, Framework of Six Types of Involvement, the author brings up two core concepts (decision making/collaborating with the community) that emphasize the importance and means of incorporating family members.
Decision making is arguably the most necessary concept that any good school system would have. A community should go beyond simply having parent-teacher conferences, there should be an active body of parents that work in tandem with the school committee and the educators, to ensure that goals are being aligned in meaningful ways that benefit the students. This may look like a Parent-Teacher Organization, or committee of parents that reports out to the school committee on an active basis. Having an active body of parents will be an asset to any school system, because there is a form of communication that is clear and consistent between stakeholders (ideally), this allows for policy to be enacted that yields the most effective results for students. When parents are out of the picture, it is much more difficult for educators and the administration to determine the accommodations that students may need. There is a mantra saying that teachers are the students best advocate in the classroom, but it is truly the parents that are the best advocates for their students. There are some barriers that can occur with this level of outreach, because not all parents or guardians are able to consistently meet, for instance, a student may have a single parent who is not able to juggle working full time, taking care of their child, and also meeting with other stakeholders. Does this mean that this parent and their child shouldn’t be represented, just because there is an empty seat at the meeting? Those who are not at the table, are the ones who cannot afford to be absent from the table. This includes students and parents, and with this barrier comes the opportunity of trying to figure out differents ways that these stakeholders can get involved (potentially this can be achieved through surveying, electronic communication, or changing meeting times to accommodate parents, not just policymakers).
Collaborating with the community is an incredibly powerful way of strengthening our academic world for our students. Whether this is achieved through inviting the community into our schools through creating special events/concerts, or if this bringing educators and parents together out into the community to create fundraisers or strengthening relationships between all stakeholders, community collaboration allows students to have the tangible connection that their community cares about their successes and their endeavors. A barrier that is visible historically is equity to access. Collaborating to have after school programs or concerts surely provides opportunities to students, but not necessarily all students. If we are seeking to build a community of belongingness and success, we must consider seriously the notion of who may be left out of certain events and how we can prevent exclusion from occurring. As a future educator, communication is key when working to collaborate on events to ensure that all community members are being represented both within and outside of our school system. Part of striving for equity can be achieved through recognizing passion and cultural awareness. People want to belong, and the best way that belongingness can manifest in our community is through embracing our uniqueness and diversity. For example, there may be a spring concert, and parents and educators could collaborate to choose a musical piece that might be native to someone's home country. Art is one of the most effective ways of bringing people together, and this could involve parents, students, and educators putting on a school-wide art show that is open to the public.
Parental outreach is not always easy to achieve, but regardless of the potential barriers involved, that should not hinder our efforts to work with our community, if anything, this should make us as educators more determined to ensure the best opportunities are available to all of our students.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Teaming Blog
Hello Everyone,
This post was originally on our class site, but I have also put it here for reference as well:
After reading and reflecting on the articles related to teaming, I feel more determined to be a part of a school that incorporates and completely implements the essential components of teaming. The idea of being able to collaborate with other professionals and to listen to the unique perspectives your fellow experts in education have seems both logical and incredibly valuable. The biggest takeaway for me in regards to these readings would be the importance of accountability and fully implementing teaming within middle schools. It is without doubt that a team is as strong as its weakest link, and having the time to work and grow with all team members provides the opportunity to improve and build upon each other. Educators constantly espouse the importance of community within the classroom, yet so many middle schools do not have a stable/existent team community for the educators. By allowing educators to collaborate in meaningful ways, and also learning about their fellow educators, these teams can create a necessary community of their own that results in consistency and quality instruction for the students within the team.
In terms of ideas that have challenged me, I am very much in support of teaming in theory, but my greatest concern lies within the amount of time and the structure that school administrators provide teams to having common planning time. What's more, is the openness of communication and feedback a school's administration is willing to listen to in order to build a stronger team within middle schools. It can certainly be a daunting task to restructure the design of an entire school, and administrators, as well as faculty, could be hesitant to make such substantial changes within their school. I would say in response to this, that it is up to all stakeholders to work together to make such a transition, as it is one that will end up benefiting the largest stakeholder in the long term, but I'm concerned that many school districts are unwilling to change their ways of instruction.
This post was originally on our class site, but I have also put it here for reference as well:
After reading and reflecting on the articles related to teaming, I feel more determined to be a part of a school that incorporates and completely implements the essential components of teaming. The idea of being able to collaborate with other professionals and to listen to the unique perspectives your fellow experts in education have seems both logical and incredibly valuable. The biggest takeaway for me in regards to these readings would be the importance of accountability and fully implementing teaming within middle schools. It is without doubt that a team is as strong as its weakest link, and having the time to work and grow with all team members provides the opportunity to improve and build upon each other. Educators constantly espouse the importance of community within the classroom, yet so many middle schools do not have a stable/existent team community for the educators. By allowing educators to collaborate in meaningful ways, and also learning about their fellow educators, these teams can create a necessary community of their own that results in consistency and quality instruction for the students within the team.
In terms of ideas that have challenged me, I am very much in support of teaming in theory, but my greatest concern lies within the amount of time and the structure that school administrators provide teams to having common planning time. What's more, is the openness of communication and feedback a school's administration is willing to listen to in order to build a stronger team within middle schools. It can certainly be a daunting task to restructure the design of an entire school, and administrators, as well as faculty, could be hesitant to make such substantial changes within their school. I would say in response to this, that it is up to all stakeholders to work together to make such a transition, as it is one that will end up benefiting the largest stakeholder in the long term, but I'm concerned that many school districts are unwilling to change their ways of instruction.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
Making Advisories Meaningful
Community Building
Based on what I have read thus far in regards to advisory, I believe that the most pertinent role an advisor can be is an advocate for students. Middle school can be an awkward and a challenging time for students, because there is a tendency for students to feel isolated or disconnected from others. This feeling of loneliness may result in acting out or distancing themselves from the rest of the class, and it is imperative that an advisory is able to advocate and connect with students. Without feeling safe or having a sense of belongingness, how can we possibly expect a student to thrive, let alone focus and learn within the classroom?
The core of belonging I believe is rooted in creating stake and responsibility for our community. When students have a voice and are provided with the ability/time to make a positive impact within the community, I believe there is a tendency for students to want to connect and be a part of something that is bigger than themselves. One of the few things that made me belong in middle school was when I got to work with a team of students and two geography teachers to find missing cornerstones in my home region. These cornerstones were created by the pilgrims on Cape Cod to demarcate town boundaries through utilizing geometry and through measuring the North pole to divide towns. We brainstormed and were able to find three cornerstones that had never been previously found. This was a defining point in my life, because it made me realize how enthralled I was with history and civics, prior to this elective, I wanted to go into science.
Community building is essential to a middle school in my opinion, because it allows students to truly make a difference and feel like they have given something in return. Adolescence is an awkward age when students want to assume more adult responsibilities but are seldom given the opportunity. Surely, our students can live up to our expectations.
I would break this advisory down into sections throughout the year (or semester depending). The first section would include students identifying and discussing issues within our community (I would also have students establish norms about respect and empathy to ensure people feel safe and open about discussing issues as a community). The next step would be having students researching ideas or brainstorming potential solutions to a community issue (whether it is in school, or out of school). The next component would be strategizing and executing a game plan. Let’s say that littering is an issue within a community park, and students propose the idea of taking a field trip to clean a local park. Students (not the advisor) chose and voted on this idea, which empowers them to rise up to an occasion and make a difference, in which the entire community benefits from their efforts. Through this project, students work together and build meaningful relationships. Advisories can be an incredibly powerful experience if they are well conceived.
5 Essentials for Advisory
Additionally, I have provided my top 5 essential aspects of the role of an advisor below:
- Address problems facing the community (potentially have students work to create solutions/brainstorm)
- Provide support and advice for students in advisory
- Be open and honest with students to build trust and relationships
- Having a purposeful advisory with direction (demonstrating the importance and relevance of having advisory)
- Advisory building (students trusting each other) and creating an empathetic community
- Providing academic support for students.
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