Here are the notes Alisa took at the final meeting on June 16, 2003, with bits drawn in from the notes of the June 9 session JuneNotesab.
Please compare them to the paper sheets you took home, as I am sure I missed some ideas and may have taken others in the wrong direction.
I made a separate page for general ServiceLearning definitions, as I myself was having a little trouble explaining how it would differ from volunteering to pick up trash in a park.
Service-Learning Required for Graduation
The Challenge:
- Students need another avenue to succeed and feel capable
- Students need a niche, a place to form relationships and belong
- Students need to see the relevance of their classwork, and how the curriculum connects to the larger world
- Students need empathy/sensitivity training to ensure success -- so students are doing work from their hearts, not "here to save the poor" -- without that education, Community Service wouldn't serve the community or the students themselves
- Students need leadership and self-advocacy training to ensure success
- Many areas of the local community need ongoing support and assistance by community service volunteers
- Language of Community Service tends to emphasize lower income
The Goal:
- Service-learning is a matter-of-fact graduation requirement, rather than expecting students to step forward
- Service-learning would ideally be an enhancement to all courses, but it could be a separate requirement (as long as the requirement was not simply logging in a certain number of hours)
- Older taxpayers reassured about their high investment in schools
- Many community members feel vested in the school system, as opportunities are provided and services rendered
- Students continue community service after graduation
The Current Action Idea:
- Identify and explore local educational and financial resources, including Myra Ross - Internship Program, SODA, Best Buddies, Elder Buddies, athletic director/sports teams community service, Wendy Kohler - Director of Secondary Curriculum, other Massachusetts schools including PVPA, Lexington, etc.
- Curriculum models are out there at both high school & college level, so don't need to reinvent the wheel
Advocacy for Students and Families
The Challenge:
- Students and families need information on school culture and language
- Students need a guide for their personal paths, as well as their college plans
- Students and families need help navigating "the system," and school employees are products of "the system," so outside Advocates must be made readily accessible to students and families
- Parent groups traditionally have limited diversity, which limits the parent groups' ability to help families as many families do not engage with the parent groups
- Marginalized people are not always people of color
- Some Students and families need someone to serve as their liaison to the school
- Sometimes a student or family would like to have an Advocate present for meetings with representatives of "the system"
The Goal:
- Multicultural and multilingual Advocates are housed within the high school, but are paid by outside funding and are not part of the school power structure/no conflict of interest
- Advocates train parents in self-advocacy
- Advocates train students, especially those with chronic discipline issues, in self-advocacy
- Mentorship is redefined, to include students helping students
- Connections and bridges are created between Advocates and other groups, including building-based Diversity Committee, School Council, Parent Center/PTO, Student Government, ESL Parents, SPEDPAC, etc.
- Parents are Partners
The Current Action Idea:
- Identify and explore local educational and financial resources, including current Health curriculum, peer counselors, guidance counselors, Deans of Students, Everywoman's Center at UMass, Hampshire Educational Collaborative, and Family-School Resource Project at Crocker Farm Elementary.
Engage the Community in Student-Centered Grading and Assessment
The Challenge:
- Society's definition of successful student currently limited to good grades & test scores, not in trouble, whether going on to Ivy League school
- Tests are known to be biased
- GPA is not a true determinant of future success
- Nobody wants the "effort" certificate instead of the "achievement" certificate
- How do we acknowledge that each person has a talent or gift? Even if not a strong writer, may be strong editor, or strong in verbal articulation
- Individual classes may be differentiated, but how to do that on a system-wide basis?
- MCAS is a red herring: this status quo predates MCAS
- Equity vs Equality
- Privilege gives some children experience beyond the classroom -- does a child who went to Europe with family pass test more easily than those limited to classroom experiences?
- How do children know if they are gifted in particular area if they have not been afforded access to those activities?
- Preconceived notions prevent children from being challenged to do higher level work
- K-12 Curriculum Coordinating Council does not include parents or students
- Parents are not seen as partners in their child's development and learning
The Goal:
- Students redo work and learn from feedback, rather than being punished for getting it wrong -- just like the real world
- Students are willing to risk taking Honors courses because they aren't risking their GPA
- Love of learning is restored as students work for understanding, not for credits
- Multiple intelligences are reflected in assessment
- Clear criteria for grading is provided, and is not purely subjective
- Students are seen as loveable, loving, and capable
- Social and emotional competencies also count
- A collaborative learning environment that values relevance, relationships, and rigor
The Current Action Idea:
- Change the school culture to allow students to redo work
- Analyze the available information on weighted vs. un-weighted grades to see if more students would take Honors classes if they weren't risking their GPA so heavily
- Explore how the K-12 Curriculum Council and other existing school structures will engage the community in their ongoing discussions and deliberations
Community Building: Project-Based Intentional Community
The Challenge:
- Dearth of opportunity for students to connect with each other -- little "hanging" time, no off-campus lunch, no shared experience of daily assembly or homeroom or lengthy orientation
- Engage students in setting shared goals for their community
The Goal:
- Small, intentionally diverse groups of students doing explicit group-building activities -- a diverse group of students with differences required to work on a problem together
The Current Action Idea:
- Explore ways of incorporating intentional diverse group activities into the school day on a regular, ongoing basis
- Analyze results of Challenge Day, SRI, and Small Learning Communities initiatives for continued use
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