Journal of Progress
March 27, 2015
Yesterday I received a large envelope from Home Gardens Academy filled with letter. Staff and students took time out of their day to write letters to each UNITY member thanking them for their time and for sharing their stories. I got to distribute the notes to my students today and it was apparent that their hearts were filled with joy. They did not expect to get so much correspondence in return and were impressed at the time students took to make them a nice card. Each letter included questions for their family group leader that indicated they wanted to hear back from us. This was an awesome way to leave for Spring Break. Our hearts were full.
Yesterday I received a large envelope from Home Gardens Academy filled with letter. Staff and students took time out of their day to write letters to each UNITY member thanking them for their time and for sharing their stories. I got to distribute the notes to my students today and it was apparent that their hearts were filled with joy. They did not expect to get so much correspondence in return and were impressed at the time students took to make them a nice card. Each letter included questions for their family group leader that indicated they wanted to hear back from us. This was an awesome way to leave for Spring Break. Our hearts were full.
March 13, 2015
Since our forum at Home Gardens Academy, I have received so much positive feedback from the HGA staff and my own students. We have aggregated the responses from the student surveys we gave and it was outstandingly positive. Last week, UNITY students spent two hours writing letters to each of the students in their family group. Yesterday I delivered them to the staff at HGA for distribution.
The district office got word of how successful What If Week was at HGA and asked Carlos Guillen, the student adviser, to bring staff and students with him to present on what their school did and how they did it. There is a push from the district for every school to implement a What If campaign at their school. Carlos invited me and one of my leadership students to the district office staff meeting for the presentation. He gave each of us an opportunity to speak about how our day at HGA impacted us then presented me with a plaque of gratitude for helping make their week so meaningful. It felt amazing to be recognized in front of the entire district staff including assistant superintendents, directors and other staff who have supported UNITY. I am really looking forward to building a relationship with the staff at HGA and spreading UNITY to another campus.
Since our forum at Home Gardens Academy, I have received so much positive feedback from the HGA staff and my own students. We have aggregated the responses from the student surveys we gave and it was outstandingly positive. Last week, UNITY students spent two hours writing letters to each of the students in their family group. Yesterday I delivered them to the staff at HGA for distribution.
The district office got word of how successful What If Week was at HGA and asked Carlos Guillen, the student adviser, to bring staff and students with him to present on what their school did and how they did it. There is a push from the district for every school to implement a What If campaign at their school. Carlos invited me and one of my leadership students to the district office staff meeting for the presentation. He gave each of us an opportunity to speak about how our day at HGA impacted us then presented me with a plaque of gratitude for helping make their week so meaningful. It felt amazing to be recognized in front of the entire district staff including assistant superintendents, directors and other staff who have supported UNITY. I am really looking forward to building a relationship with the staff at HGA and spreading UNITY to another campus.
February 25, 2015
Yesterday was our field trip to Home Gardens Academy. It went far better than I anticipated! The staff was so welcoming to my students and me. I took 23 leadership students with me to lead about 160 students through activities and discussions. I am so incredibly impressed with how well my students did. There were some things I would change and there is always room for improvement. Every student took responsibility for their group of middle school students and really built relationships with each one. If a UNITY student had extra time after their activity set, he/she came up with another activity or had conversations getting to know the students or answering questions about high school. Although we did not know what to expect doing the activities outside, it worked fairly well. I spent my time between the 7th and 8th grade groups just checking in with leaders, trying to keep them on the schedule and delivering supplies to the 23 different small groups. Next time, I will have another student help me facilitate this. 23 groups was too many for me to supervise. Luckily my students didn't really need me but it would be more effective to have one person overseeing the 7th grade side and one person for the 8th grade side.
The activities we chose and the conversations that were had really affected the students and staff of Home Gardens. The students opened up and shared things they has not told anyone before. We were able to identify about 10 students who needed some counseling for various reasons that the staff was not aware of. Some staff members got emotional as they watched their students stand up for their beliefs, share their stories and dreams for a better future. Around the middle of the forum, two teachers approached me and asked me if and how they could get a version of UNITY at their campus. BINGO! I did not even have to propose it myself. The staff was so impressed by our message that they initiated the conversation that I had hoped to start. In just a couple of hours, the teachers identified a need on their campus for UNITY, spoke to me about how to get trained and approached their assistant principal and students adviser on how to logistically fit it into their class schedule for next year. This was my long term goal for this project and it happened in one visit. The AP also approached me about having the UNITY staff lead a staff development for their HGA staff at the beginning of next school year to help staff understand each other better and gain understanding of what students are bringing with them to school everyday. What a giant success!
As we wrapped things up for the day, all the HGA students and staff created a tunnel for the UNITY students and me full of cheers and high fives. Without any prompting, my students went through the tunnel and came out the other side to return the favor. I am so proud of the example they set for these students and the job well done in executing such a successful forum under different terms and in a new place. Wow! I think the HGA students really benefited from our time with them and I know they still have three more days of their What If week. I wish I could be there to watch them grow over the next few days. This staff is so committed to student success and they know this is only possible when the student is at home in their classroom. It really is about teaching the whole student.
Yesterday was our field trip to Home Gardens Academy. It went far better than I anticipated! The staff was so welcoming to my students and me. I took 23 leadership students with me to lead about 160 students through activities and discussions. I am so incredibly impressed with how well my students did. There were some things I would change and there is always room for improvement. Every student took responsibility for their group of middle school students and really built relationships with each one. If a UNITY student had extra time after their activity set, he/she came up with another activity or had conversations getting to know the students or answering questions about high school. Although we did not know what to expect doing the activities outside, it worked fairly well. I spent my time between the 7th and 8th grade groups just checking in with leaders, trying to keep them on the schedule and delivering supplies to the 23 different small groups. Next time, I will have another student help me facilitate this. 23 groups was too many for me to supervise. Luckily my students didn't really need me but it would be more effective to have one person overseeing the 7th grade side and one person for the 8th grade side.
The activities we chose and the conversations that were had really affected the students and staff of Home Gardens. The students opened up and shared things they has not told anyone before. We were able to identify about 10 students who needed some counseling for various reasons that the staff was not aware of. Some staff members got emotional as they watched their students stand up for their beliefs, share their stories and dreams for a better future. Around the middle of the forum, two teachers approached me and asked me if and how they could get a version of UNITY at their campus. BINGO! I did not even have to propose it myself. The staff was so impressed by our message that they initiated the conversation that I had hoped to start. In just a couple of hours, the teachers identified a need on their campus for UNITY, spoke to me about how to get trained and approached their assistant principal and students adviser on how to logistically fit it into their class schedule for next year. This was my long term goal for this project and it happened in one visit. The AP also approached me about having the UNITY staff lead a staff development for their HGA staff at the beginning of next school year to help staff understand each other better and gain understanding of what students are bringing with them to school everyday. What a giant success!
As we wrapped things up for the day, all the HGA students and staff created a tunnel for the UNITY students and me full of cheers and high fives. Without any prompting, my students went through the tunnel and came out the other side to return the favor. I am so proud of the example they set for these students and the job well done in executing such a successful forum under different terms and in a new place. Wow! I think the HGA students really benefited from our time with them and I know they still have three more days of their What If week. I wish I could be there to watch them grow over the next few days. This staff is so committed to student success and they know this is only possible when the student is at home in their classroom. It really is about teaching the whole student.
February 10, 2015
Plans have already changed for our field trip. There was no busing available on the afternoon of Tuesday February 24th so we have to move it towards the beginning of the day. We will be picked up at our school at 9:00am and have from 9:30am - 12:00pm with the 7th and 8th graders. This is great because it gives us more time with the students (which means we have to rework our plans for that day). This is an obstacle because I will miss teaching my math classes and fewer UNITY students will be able to attend because they cannot miss classes like Anatomy and AP Environmental Science. With fewer leaderships students, this means our ratio of leaders to middle school students will increase and make our job a bigger challenge. With a full class, we were looking at a 1:6 ratio, now we will be closer to 1:7. We are currently brainstorming activities that we can add because we will have 2.5 hours with students now. We have planned to make pink bracelets for each student to support them in their Wednesday theme "You don't know someone until you have walked a day in their shoes". Students will be asked to wear pink for Pink Shirt Day and wear mix-matched shoes.
In other news, we are preparing for Pink Shirt Day on February 25th, our Valentine's Day event (love doesn't have to be romantic) and our February 18th forum. We have a new activity that we want to use for our middle school forum that we are going to try out with the high school students first.
Plans have already changed for our field trip. There was no busing available on the afternoon of Tuesday February 24th so we have to move it towards the beginning of the day. We will be picked up at our school at 9:00am and have from 9:30am - 12:00pm with the 7th and 8th graders. This is great because it gives us more time with the students (which means we have to rework our plans for that day). This is an obstacle because I will miss teaching my math classes and fewer UNITY students will be able to attend because they cannot miss classes like Anatomy and AP Environmental Science. With fewer leaderships students, this means our ratio of leaders to middle school students will increase and make our job a bigger challenge. With a full class, we were looking at a 1:6 ratio, now we will be closer to 1:7. We are currently brainstorming activities that we can add because we will have 2.5 hours with students now. We have planned to make pink bracelets for each student to support them in their Wednesday theme "You don't know someone until you have walked a day in their shoes". Students will be asked to wear pink for Pink Shirt Day and wear mix-matched shoes.
In other news, we are preparing for Pink Shirt Day on February 25th, our Valentine's Day event (love doesn't have to be romantic) and our February 18th forum. We have a new activity that we want to use for our middle school forum that we are going to try out with the high school students first.
January 30, 2015
We held our first blood drive when we returned from winter break. We met our goal for units of blood but feel that we could do a lot more to help our hospitals now that we know what the process entails. The Red Cross was very appreciative of our time and efforts. We intend on hosting another one in March or April with improved methods and results.
January has been spent preparing for the many events we have going on in February. The students have been divided into teams and each student is partially responsible for three of our five assignments for February. I hope these kids can rise to the challenge and I do not push them too far. I asked students if they wanted to skip an event or push one back because of how impacted our calendar is. The only change the students agreed to make was move our staff appreciation project and do it a different week than Staff Appreciation week is scheduled for. They seemed determined to make the rest of our events happen as scheduled.
I have been in contact with the student advisor, Carlos Guillen, at Home Gardens Academy. HGA is a K-8 school in our district. About half of its students move on to Santiago, the other half go on to Centennial, the high school down the street from us. Mr. Guillen and I have been piecing together how UNITY can support their students. We have decided that UNITY students will come to their school to facilitate activities and discussions on February 24th for the 7th and 8th grade students. This week is HGA's "What if" week. During this week, each day is dedicated to getting students to imagine a world where certain limitations to do exist. We have agreed that HGA will provide the transportation for us and my UNITY budget will cover my substitute for the day. The plan is for my students to be pulled out of school at lunch and take a half day. This allows me to miss less time teaching and students to attend more of their academic classes. We will have the middle school students for the period after lunch to the end of the school day. I submitted the field trip and substitute request form.
UNITY students have been split into two teams: 7th grade leaders and 8th grade leaders. Our UNITY class has never been to another campus to lead students nor have we had an audience this large. We will be leading about 160 students so we decided this would be more manageable if we split them by grade. This is more than double what we experience at our forums. I have spoken to Mr. Guillen about popular topics and challenges that his students face. We will focus our day around problems at home and how to overcome them. Leadership students are working in teams to plan 1.5 hours of activities for the younger students.
I have reached out to another UNITY teacher who is more experienced to get feedback on how to facilitate activities with younger students and have received some sound advice: change things up often, expect students to laugh at most topics, have them do something with their hands/bodies. It will be important to remember that students at our regular forums are used to sitting through two hour classes. These middle school students are used to 46 minutes periods.
From now on, this project will focus more on what UNITY is doing outside of our campus and not what we are doing for our own students and staff. I have accepted the fact that I need to narrow my focus. I will concentrate my Capstone project on our relationships with middle schools and how this mentorship develops.
We held our first blood drive when we returned from winter break. We met our goal for units of blood but feel that we could do a lot more to help our hospitals now that we know what the process entails. The Red Cross was very appreciative of our time and efforts. We intend on hosting another one in March or April with improved methods and results.
January has been spent preparing for the many events we have going on in February. The students have been divided into teams and each student is partially responsible for three of our five assignments for February. I hope these kids can rise to the challenge and I do not push them too far. I asked students if they wanted to skip an event or push one back because of how impacted our calendar is. The only change the students agreed to make was move our staff appreciation project and do it a different week than Staff Appreciation week is scheduled for. They seemed determined to make the rest of our events happen as scheduled.
I have been in contact with the student advisor, Carlos Guillen, at Home Gardens Academy. HGA is a K-8 school in our district. About half of its students move on to Santiago, the other half go on to Centennial, the high school down the street from us. Mr. Guillen and I have been piecing together how UNITY can support their students. We have decided that UNITY students will come to their school to facilitate activities and discussions on February 24th for the 7th and 8th grade students. This week is HGA's "What if" week. During this week, each day is dedicated to getting students to imagine a world where certain limitations to do exist. We have agreed that HGA will provide the transportation for us and my UNITY budget will cover my substitute for the day. The plan is for my students to be pulled out of school at lunch and take a half day. This allows me to miss less time teaching and students to attend more of their academic classes. We will have the middle school students for the period after lunch to the end of the school day. I submitted the field trip and substitute request form.
UNITY students have been split into two teams: 7th grade leaders and 8th grade leaders. Our UNITY class has never been to another campus to lead students nor have we had an audience this large. We will be leading about 160 students so we decided this would be more manageable if we split them by grade. This is more than double what we experience at our forums. I have spoken to Mr. Guillen about popular topics and challenges that his students face. We will focus our day around problems at home and how to overcome them. Leadership students are working in teams to plan 1.5 hours of activities for the younger students.
I have reached out to another UNITY teacher who is more experienced to get feedback on how to facilitate activities with younger students and have received some sound advice: change things up often, expect students to laugh at most topics, have them do something with their hands/bodies. It will be important to remember that students at our regular forums are used to sitting through two hour classes. These middle school students are used to 46 minutes periods.
From now on, this project will focus more on what UNITY is doing outside of our campus and not what we are doing for our own students and staff. I have accepted the fact that I need to narrow my focus. I will concentrate my Capstone project on our relationships with middle schools and how this mentorship develops.
December 10, 2014
Last week we had our second UNITY forum for students. It went very smoothly and students really enjoyed themselves. It was wonderful to see how much the students have grown as a team in the last month and a half since our first forum. I find that students learn so much from their first forum and we see the greatest improvement between our first and second forum of the year. Students were very happy to finally have their matching shirts so we could feel like a united front.
The rest of the month, we will plan for some events for January and students will have some time to study and prepare for finals. I like to keep the end of each semester light for the students because they have so much on their plates already. We will hit the ground running again in the new year!
Last week we had our second UNITY forum for students. It went very smoothly and students really enjoyed themselves. It was wonderful to see how much the students have grown as a team in the last month and a half since our first forum. I find that students learn so much from their first forum and we see the greatest improvement between our first and second forum of the year. Students were very happy to finally have their matching shirts so we could feel like a united front.
The rest of the month, we will plan for some events for January and students will have some time to study and prepare for finals. I like to keep the end of each semester light for the students because they have so much on their plates already. We will hit the ground running again in the new year!
November 24, 2014
November was all about giving back to our community. Last year I conducted our first Warm Clothes Drive after I learned of students in need that I just could not turn away from. For the three days before our Thanksgiving break, I collected warm clothes from staff and students who were willing to donate lightly used clothes and shoes. It had come to my attention that there were students in our district who did not have sufficient clothing for the colder months. Students would come to school wearing shoes with holes, no jacket and the same sweatshirt all winter. Although our winters are mild in Corona we will hit freezing temperatures and have very wet weeks. Last year we were able to collect about 10 boxes of gear for students to choose from. These items were delivered to a school in our district where staff put together what they call the Unity Closet. As staff members noticed students in need, they had the opportunity to pick out some items from the closet to take home.
This year, UNITY students took the lead in advertising and collecting items for the drive. Last year we learned that some of the students who chose items out of the Unity Closet gravitated to clothes for children in their houses or professional attire for parents. So this year, we expanded the drive to collect clothes and shoes for children and adults of all ages, sizes and walks of life. Over the course of a week and a half, we collected three times the items we did last year. Santiago staff was willing and happy to look through their closets and drawers for items that were not being worn anymore. We received professional attire, jeans, jackets, long sleeve tops, scarves, hats, children's clothes, boots, shoes and even some child appropriate toys and books. When we delivered the items, students were more than happy to help us unload our truck. After Thanksgiving I heard the stories of how much we affected some students and their families. As students would visit the Unity Closet, they not only found things that would suit them for the cold months ahead but were also able to gather interview attire for parents and warm clothes for their younger siblings. A couple of students asked if they could store some of the toys and books at the school until winter break so that they could take them home as Christmas gifts for their younger brothers and sisters. UNITY will continue this project annually. (insert flier)******
November was all about giving back to our community. Last year I conducted our first Warm Clothes Drive after I learned of students in need that I just could not turn away from. For the three days before our Thanksgiving break, I collected warm clothes from staff and students who were willing to donate lightly used clothes and shoes. It had come to my attention that there were students in our district who did not have sufficient clothing for the colder months. Students would come to school wearing shoes with holes, no jacket and the same sweatshirt all winter. Although our winters are mild in Corona we will hit freezing temperatures and have very wet weeks. Last year we were able to collect about 10 boxes of gear for students to choose from. These items were delivered to a school in our district where staff put together what they call the Unity Closet. As staff members noticed students in need, they had the opportunity to pick out some items from the closet to take home.
This year, UNITY students took the lead in advertising and collecting items for the drive. Last year we learned that some of the students who chose items out of the Unity Closet gravitated to clothes for children in their houses or professional attire for parents. So this year, we expanded the drive to collect clothes and shoes for children and adults of all ages, sizes and walks of life. Over the course of a week and a half, we collected three times the items we did last year. Santiago staff was willing and happy to look through their closets and drawers for items that were not being worn anymore. We received professional attire, jeans, jackets, long sleeve tops, scarves, hats, children's clothes, boots, shoes and even some child appropriate toys and books. When we delivered the items, students were more than happy to help us unload our truck. After Thanksgiving I heard the stories of how much we affected some students and their families. As students would visit the Unity Closet, they not only found things that would suit them for the cold months ahead but were also able to gather interview attire for parents and warm clothes for their younger siblings. A couple of students asked if they could store some of the toys and books at the school until winter break so that they could take them home as Christmas gifts for their younger brothers and sisters. UNITY will continue this project annually. (insert flier)******
Our month did not end there. After our Warm Clothes Drive, we kicked off our Food Drive. When Mr. John Sawaya was at Santiago, ASB would run a very successful canned food drive to benefit the Corona Settlement House. After Mr. Sawaya passed away and our school has had new activities directors, the drive has been passed around to different classes and clubs and less than well organized. As we strive to have a growing presence on campus, UNITY took on the food drive this year. ASB paid for prizes for the first and second place 5th period class that raised the most amount of food. It was disappointing that over the course of 8 school days less than 20% of teachers collected any nonperishable items for the drive. In contrast, the top 4 teachers for collecting items made up about 85% of the items donated. JROTC helped us in gathering these items on collection day in front of our classroom while items were counted for each class that donated. Altogether, we counted more than 4,000*** cans and boxed items for the drive. It was a huge amount of food that took us one pick-up truck and two SUVS to move to the drop off location. With the help of our PTSA, UNITY students loaded up the vehicles and drove to the Settlement House to unload them in a storage facility for use throughout the year. Every year, Santiago is the single largest donor of food for our Corona Settlement House. What a wonderful thing and a huge responsibility. I can only imagine how much more we could do if every person on campus could give 5 items. Next year will be even better.
On November 19th, students from UNITY and Link Crew were fortunate to be able to attend the Dare to be Aware conference. This annual anti-stigma conference is put on the Riverside County Department of Mental Health for the youth in Riverside County. Students get to attend a full day conference that teaches and reminds them of the effects of mental health as well as learn about such social injustices as human trafficking, bullying, and sexual assault. The conference this year was great because it had an entire session centered around pro-kindness and pro-acceptance. The best part of the conference is UNITY classes from most high schools in CNUSD attend so students get to reconnect with their UNITY buddies from different schools. It is wonderful to see how the school feuds fade away and students hang out with each other crossing boarders students may otherwise be apprehensive to cross. This is what UNITY is all about.
October 26, 2014
The last four weeks have been very productive. Our first forum was pushed back to October 22nd because of PSAT testing. This was an obstacle I was not prepared for. I plan out my Unity calendar in May before the school year has begun to ensure I can reserve the necessary facilities. But moving it last minute gave us some extra time to prepare for forum and work out the kinks. Prepping new students for their first forum is always tricky because they do not understand how much work it takes. They think because they have participated in the activities, they will be prepared to lead others through the activities. The first forum is a big ah-ha moment for the students. We successfully engaged about 65 students in this forum and it was the perfect size for my 20 Unity students (those who were not running Unity Day activities).It was a great success for our first one and students are excited to improve for the next one in 5 weeks.
October 22nd was also Unity Day; an anti-bullying event through the Pacer Center. Last year was the first time Santiago participated in the event. This year there was a big push from the district to put a bigger emphasis on it. The district sent out three videos over three weeks for teachers to show students to help educate them (and teachers) on what bullying looks like and how to deal with it. At our school site, Unity is in charge of the events of this day. We improved on a video that we created last year for the event to share with our students. This video was more personal to our students because it included pictures of our own students. You can see the video on the artifacts page. Unity day, although it shares the came name as the class, is not necessarily part of our regular curriculum. The name is just a coincidence. I put together a group of 6 students to generate the ideas for our campaign and how to get students involved. We had lunch time activities, decorated the quad and spread the word about Unity day through posters, fliers and a video made by my students. It went quite well.
Next week we start our first commUNITY outreach by collecting used clothes, shoes, toys and small home goods for students and families in our district. We will be asking Santiago staff members and students to donate clothes and goods that still have wear left in them. We will collect items for a week and a half then take inventory of the items. The items will be split between lower income schools in Corona-Norco. We will start with passing on a lot of what we collect to the continuation school. The population here is very poor. They have a good portion of students who get two meals a day only because they attend school and are fed. These kids may eat once or twice over the weekend because their families have so little. Coming from a high school where most of our students have so much, this will be a wonderful experience for my students to give back. We will send other items to low income elementary schools where their students experience similar situations. It should be a busy beginning to November! I am looking forward to it.
In other exciting news, the CNUSD Unity program won the Golden Bell Award by the California School Board Association that we applied and presented for. The award will be given in Sacramento in December. This was a group effort by many Unity teachers, district staff and students and it is a very honorable award for all the work we put into our program. The article of the 11 programs in the Inland Empire that are being recognized is here: http://www.pe.com/articles/school-752597-district-unified.html
The last four weeks have been very productive. Our first forum was pushed back to October 22nd because of PSAT testing. This was an obstacle I was not prepared for. I plan out my Unity calendar in May before the school year has begun to ensure I can reserve the necessary facilities. But moving it last minute gave us some extra time to prepare for forum and work out the kinks. Prepping new students for their first forum is always tricky because they do not understand how much work it takes. They think because they have participated in the activities, they will be prepared to lead others through the activities. The first forum is a big ah-ha moment for the students. We successfully engaged about 65 students in this forum and it was the perfect size for my 20 Unity students (those who were not running Unity Day activities).It was a great success for our first one and students are excited to improve for the next one in 5 weeks.
October 22nd was also Unity Day; an anti-bullying event through the Pacer Center. Last year was the first time Santiago participated in the event. This year there was a big push from the district to put a bigger emphasis on it. The district sent out three videos over three weeks for teachers to show students to help educate them (and teachers) on what bullying looks like and how to deal with it. At our school site, Unity is in charge of the events of this day. We improved on a video that we created last year for the event to share with our students. This video was more personal to our students because it included pictures of our own students. You can see the video on the artifacts page. Unity day, although it shares the came name as the class, is not necessarily part of our regular curriculum. The name is just a coincidence. I put together a group of 6 students to generate the ideas for our campaign and how to get students involved. We had lunch time activities, decorated the quad and spread the word about Unity day through posters, fliers and a video made by my students. It went quite well.
Next week we start our first commUNITY outreach by collecting used clothes, shoes, toys and small home goods for students and families in our district. We will be asking Santiago staff members and students to donate clothes and goods that still have wear left in them. We will collect items for a week and a half then take inventory of the items. The items will be split between lower income schools in Corona-Norco. We will start with passing on a lot of what we collect to the continuation school. The population here is very poor. They have a good portion of students who get two meals a day only because they attend school and are fed. These kids may eat once or twice over the weekend because their families have so little. Coming from a high school where most of our students have so much, this will be a wonderful experience for my students to give back. We will send other items to low income elementary schools where their students experience similar situations. It should be a busy beginning to November! I am looking forward to it.
In other exciting news, the CNUSD Unity program won the Golden Bell Award by the California School Board Association that we applied and presented for. The award will be given in Sacramento in December. This was a group effort by many Unity teachers, district staff and students and it is a very honorable award for all the work we put into our program. The article of the 11 programs in the Inland Empire that are being recognized is here: http://www.pe.com/articles/school-752597-district-unified.html
September 26, 2014
The first 6 weeks of school have been very busy, but in particular, the last two have been busy in Unity preparing for our Golden Ball presentation. On September 25th, the Unity program on a district level gave a presentation to a representative from the California School Boards Association for the Golden Bell Award. This took quite a bit of preparation as all of the comprehensive high schools came together to give one presentation. It was yesterday and it went very well. The representative said he would highly recommend our program for the award and was wildly interested in what and how we do it. This endeavor of the Unity program really forced us to create a shared vision by painting the big picture of what we strive to accomplish and by describing a compelling image of what we intend our future to look like. Now that we have a written and agreed upon shared vision as a program, it will be easier to keep all schools and this project streamlined.
Tomorrow I will get on track with prepping students for our first forum, which is October 15th. We will work on strategies to facilitate small group discussions. I have included my booklet in the artifacts section. This is very helpful when prepping students. In planning for this forum I need to be aware of how much I am leading and how much I am empowering students. Since it is a new school year, I need to set boundaries but I also want to enable students to work together and plan a forum that they can claim is their success (not the teacher's). We will also be preparing for Unity Day which is October 22nd. Unity Day is an anti-bullying campaign put on by pacer.org that encourages students to take a stand against bullying. This year's slogan is "Bullying ends with me".
I have made attempts to contact administrators at Citrus Hill Intermediate School, El Cerrito Middle School, Home Gardens Academy, and Orange Grove High School. So far, I have not heard back from Citrus but El Cerrito (PALS teacher and AP) and Home Gardens (student advisor) want to work together this year. We just haven't decided on a date or in what capacity Unity can help. I spoke to the principal of Orange Grove and we discussed a possible warm clothes drive for their underprivileged students. Working with OG is delicate because I will not tell students or staff where the clothes are being sent so that I can prevent any bullying or mistreatment of students who may return to Santiago from OG.
The first 6 weeks of school have been very busy, but in particular, the last two have been busy in Unity preparing for our Golden Ball presentation. On September 25th, the Unity program on a district level gave a presentation to a representative from the California School Boards Association for the Golden Bell Award. This took quite a bit of preparation as all of the comprehensive high schools came together to give one presentation. It was yesterday and it went very well. The representative said he would highly recommend our program for the award and was wildly interested in what and how we do it. This endeavor of the Unity program really forced us to create a shared vision by painting the big picture of what we strive to accomplish and by describing a compelling image of what we intend our future to look like. Now that we have a written and agreed upon shared vision as a program, it will be easier to keep all schools and this project streamlined.
Tomorrow I will get on track with prepping students for our first forum, which is October 15th. We will work on strategies to facilitate small group discussions. I have included my booklet in the artifacts section. This is very helpful when prepping students. In planning for this forum I need to be aware of how much I am leading and how much I am empowering students. Since it is a new school year, I need to set boundaries but I also want to enable students to work together and plan a forum that they can claim is their success (not the teacher's). We will also be preparing for Unity Day which is October 22nd. Unity Day is an anti-bullying campaign put on by pacer.org that encourages students to take a stand against bullying. This year's slogan is "Bullying ends with me".
I have made attempts to contact administrators at Citrus Hill Intermediate School, El Cerrito Middle School, Home Gardens Academy, and Orange Grove High School. So far, I have not heard back from Citrus but El Cerrito (PALS teacher and AP) and Home Gardens (student advisor) want to work together this year. We just haven't decided on a date or in what capacity Unity can help. I spoke to the principal of Orange Grove and we discussed a possible warm clothes drive for their underprivileged students. Working with OG is delicate because I will not tell students or staff where the clothes are being sent so that I can prevent any bullying or mistreatment of students who may return to Santiago from OG.