Promising Practices

On Saturday, November 2^nd, I attended Rhode Island College’s 16^th Annual Promising Practices conference.  This year, the focus was Civic and Community Engagement.  Following the opening remarks, the conference got underway with the Plenary Session—a panel discussion between Susan Follett Lusi (Superintendent, Providence Schools), Anthony Maione (President & CEO, United Way of RI), Neil Steinberg (President & CEO, Rhode Island Foundation), Mayor Angel Taveras, Nancy Carriuolo (President of RIC), Donald Farish (President of RWU), and Mim Runey (President of JWU).  I felt the discussion got interesting when the moderator asked, “How do we break the link between the socioeconomic status of the parents and the success of their children?”  Mayor Tavares responded by saying that we can’t use poverty as an excuse, and we can’t have different expectations for those students because of their status.  I think this is very important, because any and every student has the potential to achieve.  I also noted how Mayor Tavares said that there needs to be focus on birth to age 5, because too frequently when a low-income child begins kindergarten at age 5, they are already behind and will only continue to fall behind.  At the time I’d wished he had gone into that more, though I realize now that he was likely alluding to the universal Pre-K program he proposed just last week.  The speakers also discussed how poverty is a factor but not a destiny, low-income families need additional support from schools (extended school days, summer programs, etc.), poor education and poor reading levels have a great affect on life outcome (make or break the cycle), and that the progress of a student needs to be taken into account in any kind of evaluation – not just grade level.  Mr. Steinberg added that the best and brightest college students need to be incentivized to become teachers, and that we need to engage parents and inspire students to achieve the positive educational outcomes.

After the Plenary Session, I headed off to the first session I selected, which was Citizenship I: “Children in Central American Migrant Families: Lessons Learned from a University-Community Collaboration” & “Building an Architecture of College Inclusion for High School Language Minority Students”.  I found this session to be very interesting.  The first presenter was Prof. Kalina Brabeck.  She discussed research on deportations of undocumented immigrant parents its effects on the children (eating & sleep changes, depression, anxiety, academic decline, developmental delays), and the effects of living in undocumented status on children (low social support, stress, psychological distress, low access to services, low rates of care, cognitive delay by as much as 3 years).  The children are affected both personally and academically, and become stuck in a cycle that is tough to break free from.  What I got from this part, as a future teacher, is that it is important to understand the potential challenges that some of your students may be facing that can have an effect on their performance in school.

The second part of the presentation discussed Project ExCEL here at Rhode Island College.  It is a program that offers college access to students who performed well in high school, but are generally discouraged from attending four-year universities because of their lack of mainstream English courses.  The option for these students is usually dropping out, or a remedial community college education.  Prof. Ramirez, one of the presenters, said that these high rates of drop out or remedial community college occur when ESL students are mainstreamed without access to studying in their home language.  Project ExCEL offers supporting courses to bilingual students to encourage a sense of community and academic success.  As a future teacher, I couldn’t believe the story told about a student who did incredibly well in school, but was discouraged (by either a teacher or guidance counselor) from applying to colleges because of their lack of mainstream English courses.  It is important for us to encourage our students to strive to do their best and meet their personal goals, and part of that is being aware of programs like Project ExCEL, so that we can let our students know that there are options.

The second session I attended was “Engaging Students in Anti-Bullying Efforts”, with presenters Rebecca Ferry and Joseph Pirraglia.  The presenters showed us the anti-bullying program they developed at Barrington Middle School.  The presenters commented that kids can’t achieve if they don’t feel safe, and no learning will happen.  So they worked within their teams to create an environment where students feel safe and comfortable sharing and discussing.  They did this through team building activities to create a culture, and by really listening to kids in the halls and at lunch to pick up on what’s going on, so that they could address the issues.  It started small, but the students embraced it and ran with the activities, including a pledge, video, song, skits, and more.  As a result, the students are better connected to each other, there is improved academic success, and the kids are standing up for one another and are aware of social issues that they see pop up.  I am a big supporter of anti-bullying efforts, and while it was great to see the effort these two teachers put into their team, I believe it can also start in your own classroom.  It is important to create a safe environment for your students where they feel comfortable, and to build a culture of acceptance, understanding, respect, and communication among your students.  This begins in part, as the presenters noted, with really listening to what is going on in the halls and cafeterias to understand issues present in your own school.

The final session I attended was “The Central Falls School District and RIC School of Social Work Collaborative: Engaging Students in the Achievement of Academic Success”.  The panel discussed the collaboration that puts Social Work students into Central Falls High School as interns, offering additional support to at-risk students.  Prior to this collaboration, the high school had only ONE social worker for up to 800 students.  I don’t know if this is a common practice, but it seems crazy to me!  What a work load for that social worker, particularly in a school with so many issues with substance abuse, homelessness, teenage parents, and domestic violence.  One thing I made note of is that the Vice Principal of CFHS said that attendance at the high school is a challenge, and that it is a community issue.  The social worker, interns, teachers, and even the VP himself have gone on home visits to reinforce the importance of regular attendance to the student and to their family.  While this session felt more directed to social workers than classroom educators, it still let me know that there is support available within the school.  As a teacher, if you need help with a student or are aware of issues that a student may be dealing with, you can reach out to the support staff.

In hindsight, even though the sessions I selected were interesting, I wish I had selected some of the other ones.  Having heard about a few of them from others, I think there were ones that I may have enjoyed more.  The “Star Power” game explores social stratification and sounded like an interesting experience.  Also, the Advocacy II: “Creating Caring and Committed Anti-bullying Classes” & “Trans*Action: Tools for a Transgender Ally” both sounded like great and informative presentations in that final session!  Ultimately though, I feel that the conference was a beneficial experience for me to have as a future teacher.