“What are the inequities in your educational setting?” This is a very hard question for me to answer
because the existence of my educational setting is inequitable. I am sure that my colleagues are tired of
hearing and reading about this from me. The
number of alternative schools, and enrollment in alternative schools is
increasing, due in large part to excessive use of zero tolerance policies. Students of color, those with low
socioeconomic status, or those with disabilities are disproportionately
disciplined and disenfranchised. Many of
these students end up in alternative schools.
In my “educational setting” a quick look a the demographics verifies that
this is true for north San Diego county.
Tonight I was really touched by the two young men from the Digital
Connectors Program. I spend a couple
evenings a year conducting workshops for our parents on internet safety. Jeff and I have taught basic computer skill
workshops for our parents on the occasional Sunday. I now know we’ve been doing this all
wrong. We should be selecting and
training a few motivated students who could then teach not only our parents but
others in the community as well.
In fact my student voice research and this evenings session
has me returning to a couple of questions tonight. Fullan asked in 1991 , “What would happen if
we treated the student as someone whose opinion matters?” I would like to
extend that sediment and ask “What would happen if students were responsible
for educating themselves and other students and we were just facilitators?”
I wanted to view your response especially since my teaching experience has been with this population, and I wasn't sure the program would work with them. I like your solution, selecting motivated students, and giving them massive amounts of responsibility and autonomy. I think that would make a difference in their lives, and potentially, if the student was charismatic, could lead others to emulate him/her.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you see the need for student leadership--I also (obviously) love the idea of students providing training for parents. Technology is a great place to start! I am curious to know what the requirements are for having a digital connectors program. This is their website http://www.one-economy.com/what-we-do/digital-connectors
ReplyDeleteI don't know how to put a link in a comment. I need a digital connector ;-)
Susan,
ReplyDeleteThat's a good question. Are we confident enough to trust them? As those young people tonight amazed us, perhaps their peers would do the very same thing. Who knows they might cut through the bull and MAKE IT WORK!
Susan, the digital connectors piece was so great to hear about- especially since it was students taking ownership of getting involved and giving back to the community. I am going to research Computer 2 SD Kids as well as explore a rumor about FCC grants. Perhaps you should point Jeff in this direction to get the JCC schools on board! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the idea training students to teach others for a couple of reasons: 1)it provides our students with a meaninggful opportunity to contribute to their community and 2)shos them that they are a source of knowledge and have something to contribute (what a concept, I know).
ReplyDeleteBy the way, #1 is a resilience promoting protective factor!
The students who were conducting the trainings reminded me that the people doing the work are the people who are learning. What more work can we pass along to our students? Not only is it good learning, but we, the leaders, definitely do not have time to do more.
ReplyDelete