Reflections

This last week Arielle and I wanted to focus on reflecting on our event and making thank-you cards to all the classrooms for participating. We wanted to get each student's thoughts on the event on video so Arielle and I split up. I did the video recording and she did the thank-you's with the students.

I'm not exactly sure how it all went on Arielle's end, but asking the students about the event, and eventually about what they have learned so far about Public Achievement and being active in their community was a lot of fun. It was kind of noisy out in the hallway, but otherwise it went well.

Before we split into groups we really quickly debriefed with each other about the event and tried to recap some of it for the two that couldn't make it to the event on Thursday. One of our students had gotten suspended and didn't even realize he had missed the event until our meeting on Wednesday. He was very very upset and withdrew from the group. I went to talk to him because he needed to realize that even though he missed the event he still had a huge part in planning it and getting ready for it. The public achievement group wasn't all about the one event or just the solution. The group was about learning what it meant to be active in their community and how to do the things necessary to leading up to events or solutions. He missed the event and that was a bummer, but he still had contributed a lot and could continue to contribute a lot. He went on a walk to cool off and regain his composure, and then he joined us. I made up some special questions just for him to reflect on planning and meeting with the principle. I think that made him feel better.

Once again I'm impressed on what some of these kids think and say! They have so much going on inside their brains, and it's so easy to just think they don't care or think about things! Man, am I wrong. I'm excited about what they are taking in and learning, but also about what they are speaking out! We didn't get to fully reflect together as a group, so we'll probably do a little bit more of that next week. We also plan on bringing Praxis full circle and going over the Core Concepts that we introduced at the beginning of the semester, and looking at how we saw them play out during our time together.

So excited, and kind of sad for the last few weeks!!

These kids are great, and I'm going to miss them a ton.

Observing at Andersen United

On Thursday (the same day as the Clean-o-thon), I went to Andersen United to observe Paloma in coaching her group of 5th graders. Her public achievement group is focusing on Immigration. She has a 6th grade co-coach who she met with on Monday to prepare for this day's meeting. She said that she normally doesn't meet with him, but this week was a good opportunity to help him prepare and lead the meeting.

Unfortunately when she got there things hadn't went as planned, so they had to back-track in their plan for the day. One of her students was suppose to make an announcement about the May Day Parade a couple days earlier, but was unable to because he didn't get the sheet of paper he was going to read from from the 6th grade cocoach, and he forgot. Paloma responded wonderfully though. She only had 30 minutes with her students, but she did a very good job of leading them into what they needed to get done. She was quick on her feet, and worked well with what was coming at her. She took her students back down to the office to see if they could have another chance at making an announcement. They got that set up, and while they were down in the office they put up a May Day poster they had made and went over what they were going to announce. I just thought it was a great use of the short time they had--even during travel time they were getting things done, and it was a long ways to the office from the 5th grade classroom.

Another thing Paloma was good at was encouraging student involvement. I had heard that most of the students at Andersen were very quiet and it was hard to get them to speak out, but I felt like Paloma's group was comfortable talking with each other and talking about the project. She encouraged each of them to be just as involved in the project as the other, not leaving anyone out.

Paloma also knew how to keep her group focused. Constant reminders of what they needed to accomplish and where they were going next helped keep her students on task and moving forward.

While I was observing I reflected on how hard it must be to co-coach with a student. I have a cocoach, but we get to decide when we get together, and she's also my age, so we're kind of on the same page. Paloma's cocoach is much younger than her, a male, and is in school most of the time, so getting together to plan must be difficult if not impossible. I commend her for working so well with hers.

Overall I think Paloma did a very nice job working with her group and I'm so excited for their May Day project that they have put together!!

Parent Flyer and Teacher Letter

To see the Earth Day Clean-o-thon Parent Flyer and Earth Day Clean-o-thon Teacher Letter we sent out go to:

http://elizabethkennedy.efoliomn.com/personal

EARTH DAY CLEAN-O-THON!!!

I feel like I've been at Sojourner ALL WEEK...oh wait, that's because I basically have been! Monday Arielle and I went in for the weekly school assembly. Two of our students put together a skit to inform the school about the upcoming CLEAN-O-THON on Thursday (today). One of the boys was going to throw a crumpled up piece of paper at a waste basket and miss (on purpose of course). And then another student was going to come up to him after he shrugged his shoulders and started walking away and ask him, "Hey, aren't you gonna pick that up?" And then he was going to say no and she was going to tell him about the Earth Day Clean-o-thon on Thursday, and at the end she was going to ask him again if he was going to pick the piece of paper up. Then he was going to try shooting the paper in the waste basket again, but this time make it (or go for a slam dunk if he missed again). It was short, to the point, and fun. Unfortunately, one of the students wasn't there that morning, and the other one was too upset to even want to do it, so the principle made a short announcement for them instead. It worked out, but it was kind of a bummer since we had spent a substantial amount of time working on the skit the Wednesday before.

Tuesday I was not at Sojourner, but Arielle and I took some time Tuesday evening to plan for our meeting with our students on Wednesday...so my mind was there. :)

Wednesday was our last meeting before our BIG EVENT!! We took some time to finish preparing for it. We finished coloring our posters and putting them up in the school. We checked in with the janitor to make sure he was able to order extra gloves and bags and such. We redrew the map for the teachers of where their grade was cleaning, and made copies for them. And we ended our meeting with an overview of how the next day was going to look. We talked about different roles that the students would need to take for their project, and they volunteered to do those roles. Unfortunately we were missing two of our students and they weren't expected to be coming back the following day. :(

It's funny, but I think I was more nervous about the assembly than I was about the actual event. Once the assembly was over on Monday all my anxiety just washed away. Arielle and I went over all that our group had left to do before the event on Thursday, and it seemed manageable, so I was able to get really excited for the Clean-o-thon!

Today I found myself back at Sojourner for the EARTH DAY CLEAN-O-THON!!! (yes, I do realize that Earth Day isn't actually until tomorrow, but they don't have school tomorrow). Arielle and I got there a little early, so we just sat and waited because our students were out at recess and I don't think it's very nice to take away a kid's time to play...or at least they probably wouldn't think that it's very nice. We did warn them yesterday that their recess would probably be cut a little short due to the fact that our event started right at the end of their recess.

Arielle and I grabbed the box of bags and the boxes of gloves and headed out to the playground to get our group. They were a bit resistant in leaving their friends, but we got them to come over. As we expected two of our group members were not with us which left us with only four students. We reminded them of the run down of the event and their roles they volunteered for. One of our students didn't seem very interested in helping out (actually this student didn't seem very interested for much of the planning of this event), but they still helped.

Our first group was the K-2nd graders. The Kindergartners cleaned up the outdoor classroom. The first graders cleaned up the playground area, and the second graders cleaned up the school and church side of Emerson. Our students did a great job of handing out needed supplies with this group, and then splitting up and helping these grades clean their designated areas. Though one of our students had a hard time with one of the second graders who was being mean to her, and she had enough (the same girl who didn't seem very interested in the event), so she went back to her class until they came out to help with the clean up.

After they were done a first grade class came out just for recess, but the other first graders were still on the playground (some were done cleaning and so just playing, but other kept picking up trash because they were having fun!), and so the class that came out just for recess wanted to help because they saw their friends having so much fun! When they asked for gloves I gave them some, but then their teacher said that I could tell them no, and to just have them ask their teacher. I thought that was kind of sad that their teacher didn't wan them helping clean up the playground. They were probably going to help either way and at least I could give them gloves to be sanitary about it!

After the first group came it was kind of hard to keep our public achievement group together and ready for the next group because the classes would come at different times. It's hard to stand there and watch friends play while you just wait for another class to come out and clean. Plus the groups didn't stop picking up trash at the same time, so it was kind of staggered which added to the chaoticness. (Though, like Arielle said to me after the event, it was not as chaotic as was expected). Because of this Arielle and I did some more handing out of gloves and bags than originally intended because we wanted our students to take most of the responsibility.

The fifth graders were next. There was some slight confusion as to where their were suppose to clean...apparently the teacher's had a problem with the street we chose for them? (actually it was just one of the teachers). But we got it figured out and they did an AWESOME job picking up trash!! One group of brave students even picked up a dead squirrel!! No worries, they used gloves. ;)

The sixth and seventh graders came out last. There was only a small group of them because the others had some sort of ice cream social to go to (i think that's what it was). Another 3rd grade class came out with them which i wasn't expecting, but we worked with. The sixth and seventh graders were a lot more willing to help than I thought they'd be, but they also probably picked up the least amount of trash. That may be because there wasn't a lot on the street they were assigned to, or because there was a smaller group of them, or just because they weren't actually that into it. The third grade class seemed much more excited and picked up trash all along the front of the school. While the 6th and 7th graders (and the 3rd grade class) were picking up trash we let our students have a little recess too because of all the hard work they put into the whole event and helping all the other classes clean.

After each class was done cleaning they got some time to play on the playground which i was glad that the teachers allowed their students that time as a thank you for helping clean up.

Arielle and I estimated the amount of trash that was picked up because I forgot to bring my baggage scale from home to weigh the bags. We estimated, by means of picking up the bags and approximating the weight we felt, that there was about 500 lbs of trash that was picked up. There were a LOT of bags, and a LOT of trash! WAY TO GO SOJOURNER TRUTH ACADEMY!

After every bag was tied up we got the rest of our group and put the bags in the dumpster-we finished!

As the students were lining up to go inside we talked with each of our group members individually and asked them how they felt it went, and told them how much trash was estimated to have been picked up! They did a great job!

We had sent a parent letter home explaining and inviting parents to come join us in our endeavor to clean up the school grounds. I saw at least two parents come. One woman was the mom of a 1st grader and a 5th grader. She was so sweet and friendly, and just a joy to work with! She spoke Spanish as her first language, but did a really good job speaking to us in English the best she could. :)

I think our students did a great job at facilitating and participating in this event. It was somewhat chaotic in making sure we had everyone when we needed everyone to help each of the classes, but some of that couldn't be avoided because classes would come out at different times. Arielle and I ended the day with a smile on our face and pride in our hearts for our 5th grade public achievement group!

Meeting with the Principle

Today our Public Achievement group met with the Principle. I met with our group yesterday during their lunch period to tie up some loose ends and make sure they were really prepared for this meeting today. Roles were assigned to make sure everyone had an active part in the meeting. We had two main speakers, and two scribes (to write down important things the principal said and the answers she gave to our questions), and one video recorder. So, today we went in and the students really took control of the meeting! Arielle and I barely said anything! Each of them had a question or two they were suppose to ask the principal and they were good about letting each other know when it was there turn that Arielle and I didn't really need to remind them. I was sooooooooo proud of our group for how well they did in the meeting! We got a lot of information that we needed from meeting with her. There is a lot still to be done and we want to do our clean-a-thon on Thursday the 21st, and speak at the assembly the Monday before that! Things we still need[ed] to get done include: -Speaking to the custodial staff about ordering more gloves and get bags. -Sending a newsletter to teachers about the event. -Sending a newsletter home to parents about the event. -Making a schedule for when and where classes clean up. -Making posters advertising the clean-up -Deciding what to say and how to say it at the assembly. Clearly there is a lot to be done before we can move forward with this, but Arielle and I believe it can be done. After meeting with the Principle we went back and really utilized our time with the students. We split into two groups. Arielle took a group to work on making the schedule, writing a note to the custodial staff about gloves and bags, and making posters. I took a group to work on making a skit to present the clean-a-thon to the school at the school assembly on Monday. I think that it will be something fun for the student body to see in being informed on the event coming up! We got a lot accomplished in the thirty minutes we had left with them, but there is still much to be done, but I think we'll be able to do it.

Past Two Weeks

So there has been a lot happening in the past two weeks. Last week was our first week meeting again after the students had their spring break. We were unable to use the extra classroom so we went in the hallway to work. It went well for the most part, but was more difficult towards the end. Arielle and I had planned on working on a letter to the Principle asking about getting a compost bin on the school grounds, and also making a letter to send home to families encouraging participation in the upcoming Earth Day Clean-up in the Folwell-Camden neighborhoods on April 16th from 9-12:30. But once again, we changed our entire plan only minutes before we met with the students! We decided to present a different option-an earth day clean-up at the school. Most of them liked the idea. The only fear was that some students in the school would not want to participate and then would make fun of the students in our group for it. This is a very legitimate fear, but we thought that we could also make it more appealing to their classmates by including prizes or something. So we went down to ask the principle if there were any clean-up or earth day events planned for earth day. She said that there wasn't, that it was her birthday, and that there was actually no school on Earth Day. But she said she would fully support us puttin something together sometime that week! So we went back up to the hallway to start planning this day. This is when we lost them I think. There were many distractions. We started writing our "Mission Statement" which would be a great outline to use for bringing our fully sculpted idea to the principle. This last week we were able to use the extra classroom which was very helpful. Arielle was unable to make it due to uncontrollable circumstances, but another classmate, Paloma, came to observe so it kind of evened out. We first went down to the Principle's office to schedule a meeting for next Wednesday to show her our ideas for the earth day clean-up (that won't actually be on Earth Day). After scheduling that meeting we went upstairs to the classroom and got to work on the mission statement. We finished up the part that talked about how trash affects the community, and started in on our proposal of what to do to solve the problem of trash! They worked really hard. Arielle and I prepared questions for them to answer to create their proposal such as-Who should be involved? (consider who you want to impact?) Where should we pick up trash? How long should we clean-up for? etc. It was great to hear all the wonderful ideas they had, and try to come up with the best one. I had a student writing the proposal ideas so it took a little longer to get it all down. I feel like a lot got done, and they worked really hard, but I still don't feel like we are quite prepared to go to the Principal's office next week. I had to applaud my group though, they were on-task pretty much the whole time. I think it helped that we were in the classroom, but also because I split two of the boys up; they just can't sit together and stay focused. There might be one more part of the proposal we have to finish, and then I wanted to go over a couple questions we need to ask the Principal when we get there. An important part that was missed was going over how to have a meeting. Another group did a wonderful job of role play. They were pretending that they were going to go into the Principal's office and practiced what they would say! Our group didn't really have time to even talk about it, so I plan on going in on Tuesday and working with them during their lunch. One of the students did volunteer to talk about the proposal to the Principle, but I still think there's some preparation to do before Wednesday! Though I didn't think we got everything done that I wanted to get done I think that this week was very encouraging. I'm excited to see how this all comes together! My students are doing WONDERFULLY!