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.

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.

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:

1. Address problems facing the community (potentially have students work to create solutions/brainstorm)
2. Provide support and advice for students in advisory
1. Be open and honest with students to build trust and relationships
3. Having a purposeful advisory with direction (demonstrating the importance and relevance of having advisory)
4. Advisory building (students trusting each other) and creating an empathetic community
5. Providing academic support for students.

Reflections & Learning Opportunities for Vocabulary

Structures of Power & Authority

In this mini-lesson (the lesson plan can be viewed HERE), I created a vocabulary lesson in which I highlighted two integral words relating to our understanding of the world: Power & Authority (as highlighted in the video which can be viewed HERE). The reason why I chose these two words in particular, is due to the fact that power and authority are the roots of problems that occur within our community and society as a whole, these two dynamics of rule cause certain policies or injustice to happen within our world, and if we are truly to make our world a better place, we must first understand how to approach these two type basic, yet profound types of rule.

This lesson, and the unit of “YOUth in Charge” as a whole is primarily entrenched in the notion of building upon our knowledge and understanding, while also applying this understanding to take action within our community in meaningful ways. I believe this lesson connects to P.C. 8.2, because I attempted to help students think about power structures within our world, and having them think critically about our vocabulary, as well as understanding when governments/leaders are acting through legitimate authority, or acting egregiously through power and corruption. Being able to recognize the difference these two quintessential concepts allows students to be able better point out when the government, or other people in general, are committing injustices against citizens. This is the core of being a civic citizen, and this application of vocabulary will allow students to be more aware of how they can approach making a beneficial difference within this world. Vocabulary goes beyond the dictionary definition, “power,” and, “authority,” significantly affect the world in which we live, because it is power structures that every single person experiences every day of their lives.

Through teaching this lesson, I learned both positive and negative aspects about my methods thus far. In terms of the positive, I find that I have a calm, and relaxing presence that may make students feel less anxious about being in a classroom. I really try to ensure that there is a positive community and culture that is fostered within my class, because I want every student to feel like they belong, because they do in fact, belong. Secondly, I find that I am able to consistently build off of ideas that students say on the spot, which allows me to connect their participation to central themes in the unit, as well as clarifying how their thoughts connect to both the academic world, and the world at large. In terms of methods/concepts I absolutely need to work on, I need to be more concise and clear about the directions and instructions for activities. I know I have a tendency to be long winded, which has the ability to lose people, and I am really trying to condense what I say to the bare essentials, that way, students can better understand concepts that can either be daunting, or tricky to learn. Additionally, I need to be better about connecting the vocabulary to ideas I was presenting in my slides. I failed to connect Power and Authority clearly enough to the idea of who determines how others are seen in our society. My original intent with the celebration vs. riot slide was that I wanted to highlight how the media and government often times is able to control the narrative of events in our lives, and how perspectives can be skewed in subjective/biased ways. This is an example of a gov’t/organization acting as a source of power and corruption, because they are acting against the interests of their citizens. I have no one else to blame but myself in this failure to connect, but I do feel that time was certainly an issue with being able to connect this central theme to the vocabulary.

                                  Reflections & Moving Forward

I think that I was able to teach vocabulary in a very engaging and somewhat unique manner. I created my own strategy for vocabulary called a “vocabulary tree,” in which the root of the tree is the definition that students put in their own words, because that lays the foundation for the rest of the tree. Additionally, the trunk is the bloodline for the tree, it's what influences the branches and the leaves, so I thought it would make sense to have the trunk represent who/what influences their original definition. Finally, the leaves each represent one unique component of the tree as a whole, and in this particular case, I had each leaf represent an example of the vocabulary word, or how this concept is viewed in our society. Each component of the tree is dependent of the other two parts, there is interdependence, and being able to create these connections in a way that allows students to be imaginative, allows for a more engaging, and meaningful way of understanding vocabulary and being able to apply it into their daily lives.

My next step is to ensure that I am more brief and clear in my directions, and this comes with practice and rehearsal. I prefer to talk/instruct somewhat off the cuff, because it feels more natural to interact with students in that way, whereas if I create a script, I feel that if I deviate, I lose my place, and I lose a sense of natural flow. It is essential that I rehearse the key themes to the lesson, and prepare a couple of connecting questions that align with my standards, but anything else instructional wise I believe works better for me if I do not rehearse constantly.

Unconditional Support in the Classroom (El Deafo)

Exploring Identity

The event that I attended was the “Exploring Identity” El Deafo event, which consisted of multiple workshops focusing on the importance of perspective and communication. One of the most striking moments of this workshop was when we were placed into groups, where educators and future educators alike were split into groups and were provided a scenario. In our particular group, we had to think of an accommodation for an art lesson, where a particular student was deaf and would be unable to paint colors and textures they were supposed to hear through a song. The original lesson included the teacher assigning every student to paint a picture that reflected the song they were hearing. In this scenario, our groups worked together to come up with a proposal that included the following options:

• Have peer support where students could say how certain colors reflect certain musical moods/motifs
• Plan ahead of time to have a legend created by the instructor to articulate the mood of the song being played, where the student would then pick colors based on said description of the song.
• Have an alternative assignment with the same content (student has to visually depict an emotion).

Out all of these potential options, it is essential that the student does not feel left out because of the accommodations they might need. Each lesson has to be crafted in a way that both provides necessary provisions for the student to thrive in the class, as well as ensuring they feel included. This scenario pertains to P.C. 8.1, where educators are able to provide multiple types of instruction and accommodations that reflects the diversity of the classroom.

The biggest takeaway I had from this workshop is that though I appreciate what I am able to do, I can often take for granted what I am able to do easily or without thinking about it, versus the fact that other people constantly struggle to do what is considered routine in our world.

I usually don’t delve too much into my personal life, but I believe the formative years of my life have inspired me to be an educator. For the first four years of my life, I was nonverbal, and every doctor told my Mom that I would never be able to speak and function without parental assistance, and the best case scenario for me was that I could potentially have the capability of stocking shelves at a grocery store. I was essentially told that I would never be able to function by myself. Additionally, the principal, and the teachers at my school told my Mom that I should not be attending public school, but rather I should be in an intensive special needs program. My Mom could have decided to listen to the advice of my Doctors/educators and decide that I didn’t have a chance, or she could work with special educators to find ways to help me develop in a more effective manner. My Mom decided that she was going to work with special needs educators and find ways to help me, and to this day, I am not sure why, but someone, for some reason, was able to get me to speak and verbalize again. I don’t say this as an empty cliche, but instead out of complete sincerity, there isn’t a day that goes by where I do not think about how much of a miracle it is that I am able to speak and write to you as am I currently doing. I don’t think I will ever understand why this change happened in my life, but I do know that it was because amazing people in my life, my Mom, and educators decided to give me a chance and that they believed in me.

Connecting this back to the present day, I know that I want to be an educator that will never give up on one of their students. No matter the accommodations that are needed, I will ensure that I put my complete and utmost effort in engaging all of my students, so that they are able to thrive, and that they know they belong here. I will believe in my students like others believed in me, even though I was different and had learning accommodations. I want to be an educator that makes sure every student is heard, and though I acknowledge the varying disabilities students have, I want to make sure that they do not feel like an outcast or alone because of their accommodations.

I have had the unbelievable privilege of being able to write about being an educator in college, when I was told by professionals that was never going to happen. To carry this lesson of support and belief, I will be an educator that will be the dissenting voice, when others may have given up on a particular student, I will be that teacher that gives their unconditional support to ensure their success.

Building a Bridge between Literary Texts & the Real World

Little Rock Nine

In our literacy class at Saint Mike’s, we had the opportunity to create a resource evaluation, in which each student took one text from their respective content area, and analyzed thoroughly, both the literary and academic purpose for the selected reading. My resource evaluation can be seen HERE. In the case of myself, I am teaching a unit entitled, “YOUth in Charge,” where students will have the opportunity to learn about how the youth have historically made a difference in our society, and how they are able to make a difference within our community. I thought the most appropriate text to analyze would be a historical piece from the History Channel, about the Little Rock Nine, which was a landmark civil rights accomplishment in which African American students attended an all-white school in Arkansas.

Through reflecting on this article, I realized that when I evaluate students for texts, I want to see that students are able to make connections into their own world, and use these texts as a valuable tool for how they as citizens can make a difference in their society. My philosophy in regards to instruction, primarily consists of the fact that I want every assignment to have some kind of clear connection to the real world, and I want students to understand how these texts are relevant in their lives. For example, when my students would read this article on the Little Rock Nine, I might ask them to write a short essay/diary in which they talk about what they would do if they attended Central High School with these students. I would connect this towards injustice in society and what role can we play as citizens to curb injustice. In class we may review the branches of government, to reflect how students can reach out to their leaders (this would be drawing upon a previous lesson), and conduct a think-pair-share on what we could do as individuals. Having the ability to go over in class what students can do allows them to make a choice, and better articulate how they would solve an injustice and why they took a certain approach.

It is imperative to realize that no single student reads at the same reading level as another student. Each student has their own strengths and weaknesses, and being able to accommodate for both of these is absolutely necessary if we are providing a quality pathway for students to be successful. Speaking in general terms, there are three solutions I have to ensure students are engaged and being fairly challenged with their reading: Use reading resources like Newsela, where students are able to change the readability on their own command. Secondly, I believe choice is essential, there are multiple instances of student leadership taken place over the country, and I would provide opportunities for students to choose which article they would like to read, and I would have them present to each other in small, carousel like groups, that way students would be able to learn about multiple leaders, while also feeling empowered as they are teaching their peers. Lastly, I would also edit certain articles or provide vocabulary sheets, that way students on multiple reading levels would be able to better understand the text that is provided. These strategies connect to P.C. 8.1, where I have provided multiple strategies to accommodate the diverse and real needs of all students within my class.

The Great Debate!

Background

Throughout this semester, I have been working to design a lesson plan that is completely oriented around the belief that everyone has the ability to change their community for the better. The unit I have created entitled, “YOUth in Charge,” where students will learn the multiple ways in which we can be civically engaged citizens and make a difference. During our class for the week of November 8th-10th, we were provided with the responsibility of creating a mini-unit which would pertain to our lesson. Since my first class would be taught on election day, I thought it would be very fitting to have a lesson on the importance of debating, and how we can debate. The art of debate is something that has been lost in our presidential stage (regardless of party ideology) which has resulted in less discussion around policy, and more arguments around appearance and demeanor. I knew that the students I was instructing had a basic level of understanding as to what a debate is, as well as being able to discern why debate is essential to our society, but I wanted to build on those foundations and have students debate with positions they don’t necessarily agree with, because it allows for a better understanding of the differing perspectives people have, and when we are able to understand where a position is coming from, we can counter said position in a constructive, and thought-provoking manner.

Connecting to Students

To connect to P.C. 7.1 & 7.2, I constructed my mini-lesson in a way that would draw in the interest and content knowledge from my fellow classmates. My class of four had two history majors, and two science majors (environmental and physics, respectively). I knew that the two history students most likely had a better background knowledge on the art of debates, but I wanted to ensure that there would be equity in the level of engagement within this class, so I asked the science students topics they would be interested in debating, and we were all able to agree on debating whether or not NASA should receive public funding. For each team, there was one science major, and one history major, to create near equal teams. This garnered everyone’s interest, because it connected everyone’s content knowledge together through recognizing their personal interests, as well as placing low stakes, but potentially high pressured debate that would be rigorous for a 20-minute class. There was a strict time limit that was put in place throughout the debate, in which each student had one minute for an opening remark, a total of 6 minutes for rebuttals, and one minute a piece for a closing argument. Students were also expected to bring citations and sources for their arguments to demonstrate their ability to research, as well as identify problems (in this case, it was potentially seeing flaws in a case being made). This also gave students the opportunity to think on their feet, and practice how to civically respond to a potentially contentious topic of discussion, which is a valuable life lesson if we are to communicate effectively with our audience, whether it is for science, or history.

Communication is Key

In addition, I created my lesson around two more P.C.’s that are connected, 5.1, and 5.2. For the first P.C., I intentionally connected our lesson to the presidential election, to make connections to our community and our nation. The importance of being able to see that effective communication through debate, allows us to discuss serious national issues that have very real implications. Sometimes it isn’t necessarily clear how a lesson connects to our world, but I tried my best to make our lesson more than an academic experience, but a valuable life tool that will allow us to be the agents of change in our communities. In regards to P.C. 5.2., students during this lesson were required to think critically and on the spot, when debating the other perspective. What’s more, students also had to collaborate both inside, and outside of the class in order to create the most articulate, and meaningful debate points. In real life, a debate is simply between two people, it is instead, a continuing discussion of policy that citizens must present their reasons for either supporting, or being against legislation or decisions in the hopes of persuading and convincing others. There is a reason why there are political parties, lobbyists, as well as even having a union, so that people can collectively convey their points to the community in the hope of convincing others that their solution is the best solution.

Within my lesson, I also connected my accommodations matrix to P.C. 8.1., where I had a nonverbal student in our class. During a debate, this could potentially be an anxiety-ridden time for this student, so I prepared ways in which this student would have the equivalent opportunities for learning. The nonverbal student would create a written debate on a topic of their choice and they would hand in their paper. Additionally, I would have this student be my co-judge (along with other students) to decide who the winner of the debate was. This still allows for this student to have a stake in their education, and to feel empowered through making an important decision for the class. During the presentation, I would have also provided this student with presentation notes ahead of time, that way, if they had any questions, they would be able to ask me, and I would gladly be able to answer them.

One of the most important lessons I have learned while teaching last week is to be flexible with your schedule. As long as the essential and focusing questions are being addressed in a way that is both meaningful and engaging to students, the rest of the lesson is extraneous. Though I was able to do essentially everything that I wanted to do, I wasn’t always able to allow enough time to make it as meaningful as possible. I also learned the valuable lesson of being impartial and neutral when I speak with students. I made a terrible mistake my first day and referred to one of the candidates as, “scary.” Which a couple of students commented on via their written feedback. I immediately emailed the students in the class to let them know what I did was unacceptable, but it also taught a great non-example of what a debate point should be. Claims should be factual and supported with details, not simply a value-laden judgment. Between the first and second class, I also prepared an exercise of reflection for the students the day after election, in which they could write their thoughts (whether positive or negative) and share out to the class if they felt comfortable. A lot of what the students said pertained to the idea that they felt the presidential debates lacked substance, and there was too much name calling, which I was able to tie back into our lesson review for how we debate in a professional manner.

In terms of assessments, I had one diagnostic assessment, which consisted of philosophical chairs, where students presented an issue they thought was worthy debating and why (this allowed me to analyze their reasoning). In addition, I had two formative assessments, the first day, where we had a selected response paper where students demonstrated their knowledge (so far) about reputable sources, and we also did a whip strategy at the beginning of the second class, where each students said one thing they learned from the first class. The summative assessment consisted of a full-scale, timed debate, where they were previously given a rubric.

Connecting back to my educational philosophy of being a humanist, I constantly gave my students elements of choice and freedom within what they wanted to do. I trust students to be leaders in their learning, and my role is to help facilitate their learning. If we are truly to believe that the goal of education is to cultivate an environment where students will become independent, critically thinking leaders, then we must give them they time in school to practice their independence and their leadership with their education. The challenge of allowing freedom in a classroom means that I as a future educator will have to raise the bar for myself to make sure that I can help students devise lesson plans that are oriented around themselves, and not simply teaching to the “average” student (which does not exist).

Reflection

Through my comments, I was told that on one hand, I presented myself calm and collected, but I
also didn’t allow enough opportunities for students to ask questions, nor did I provide enough time for students to digest information. At the collegiate level, our ability to focus and process is much greater than that of a high school senior in their spring semester, so I need to make sure that I provide students to reflect and think about what they have learned, as well as creating opportunities where students can ask questions (whether it is in front of the class, or through an exit slip). This opportunity in class has allowed me to feel more comfortable and confident in my ability to be a future educator, and truthfully, I am incredibly humbled to see the amazing educators in our current class!

Evidence:
Mini-Lesson
Presentation
Selected Response
Rubric