Promising Practices

On Saturday, November 3^rd, I attended the Promising Practices Conference.  To be honest, I was not thrilled about going.  As the day went on I ended up having a great time and I learned a lot more than I thought I would.  Dr. Dana Fusco gave her Keynote Address to the audience, which was primarily about youth development.  Youth development is maturation (biological) and learning (behavioral).  Youth and child programs can provide a healthy ecology for thriving and so can classrooms.  Another thing I learned during her speech was that sometimes school is not enough.  Children need to have relationships, hands on activities, and culminating events that celebrate accomplishments.  After school activities are great for children.  These programs help students to unwind after school; the children benefit from this because they form relationships with their peers and teachers.  There needs to be SPARK, theory of flow and engagement.  Teachers can celebrate the student’s accomplishments.  By doing this, the students will know that their teachers care about their academics and want them to succeed.  It also makes the children happy because they feel good about themselves.  Everyone wants to hear a little encouragement now and then, it is extremely important in youth development.  I found the correlation between youth development and equity interesting.  This had to do with the yin-yang visual.  One half represents youth development, “things that matter to children personally”, while the other half represents equity, “things that matter to me in the world.”  Agency divides them, but also brings them together.  Youth agency means supporting young people to be active in their own lives, but also active in the world.  Students are highly engaged when a professor “invokes dialog to get a solution.”

Workshop #1

 Once the keynote speech had finished, we were sent to our two workshops.  The first workshop that I attended was called, “Student Voice in School and Community Transformation.”  This workshop was taught by Emily Harris and several other Rhode Island College students.  Once they introduced themselves, they wanted everyone else in the room to do the same.  They asked to say our name, where we live, why we were there, and what our favorite childhood memory was.  Most of the people attending the workshop were RIC students and we all admitted that our professor’s told us to attend the conference.  I learned that this workshop pushes for improved discipline policies and stronger academic standards.  They also work together with other school groups to improve the school: the College Crusade, SMILE, and the Student Council.  I learned that we can make recommendations in our school or community.  In order for change to occur, people need to speak their mind and fight for what they believe in.  We need to focus on “planting the seeds of change.”  The class was then split into two groups and both groups were given this question.  Identify a change in your school or community you would like see?  My group and I decided that schools should not use standardized tests (NECAP) as a graduation requirement for the following reasons:

·         Every student learns differently

·         More hands on

·         Teacher focus on success

·         Testimonies (talk with students…still successful and passionate about whatever they do)

·         Focus groups

·         Focus on academic achievement

·         Go to Mayor or governor for help

- Board of Trusties, Superintendent, or Board of Education

- Students and parents

- Rhode Island Ready Program

·         College readiness

·         Do not let one test make the kid

·         If the kid is ready or not

·         Go to groups for help

This workshop taught me that I can make a difference in my school or community.  Anyone can “plant the seeds of change.”  However, not a lot people do it because they often believe that they do not have a voice and that no one will listen or take them seriously.  This is not true at all, we can all make a difference in the world; it just takes hard work, determination, and dedication.  I am glad I attended this workshop, it was helpful and fun.  Here is a website that shows one how to start a community action project.

Workshop #2

The second workshop that I attended was called, “Preventing Transgender Bullying Before Children Are 6 Or 7 Or 8 By Using Transgender Friendly Picture Books.”  Elizabeth Rowell taught this workshop.  She was extremely nice, sweet, and energetic.  She taught this workshop with such passion and was able to keep our attention the entire time.  In this workshop, I learned that over 50% of transsexuals will have a least one suicide attempt before their twentieth birthdays, some as young as 7.  This is why we have a Transgender Day of Remembrance, in honor people who took their lives because they were being bullied.  She gave us an example of a four year old boy who was thrown off the playground equipment because he was playing with a Barbie doll, the other children called him a girl.  These children are called names, made fun of, ignored, excluded, do not want to attend school because they feel unsafe, and they have been bullied at least once during school.  We discussed the “T” in LGBT because it is the one that is always left out.  The “T” stands for transgendered.  We were taught that we can stop the bullying and the only way to do that is to work with young children through anti-bias and anti-bullying activities!  The reason, transgender bullying starts then.  Children must learn to STICK UP for those who are being treated unkindly, unfairly or need some help.  One of the biggest myths/mistakes is that people think children are too young to think about these issues.  They are not too young at all, this is happening all over the world.  Another interesting fact that I learned was that most transgender adults always knew prior to six years old that they were in the wrong body.  The National Center for Transgender Equality estimates that approximately 1% of the population is transgender.  Each gender variant child is different.  However, most have strong and persistent interest in things deemed unusual for their gender such as: clothing, toys, play, and artwork.  This is why transgender children like the color people because it is a mixture of blue and pink.  Books are extremely powerful and validating for transgendered children.  When children are exposed to books like these it helps them learn about themselves and other people.  I was completely astonished when Elizabeth Rowell told us that most transgender books are soft cover.  It is rare to see a transgender book with a hard cover, but there are a few out there.  While reading these books to children, one would want the class to engage in discussions, empathy/building enhancement, role play, and act out the problems in the stories.  There would be three roles: the bully or bullies, the victim, and the bystanders.  This is the best way for kids to learn how bullying affects people.  Kids want to help other children who are being bullied, but they do not want to be bullied as well.  Here are several transgender books that the professor discussed during the workshop: “Are You a Boy or Girl”, “Be Who You Are”, “When Kathy is Keith”, “Tulip”, “Luna”, “All I Want to be is Me”, etc.  If you are interested in reading any of these books, you can go to the Rhode Island College library.  I absolutely loved this workshop and it is all thanks to Elizabeth Rowell, she did an amazing job.  This was by far my favorite workshop of the day.  I found two articles online that relate to this workshop: Research Shows Lack of Support for Transgender and Gender-Nonconforming Youth in U.S. School Systems and a story about how a transgender student overcame depression and bullying.  They are sad, but interesting to read, I highly recommend that you to read them both!

After the two workshops, we went back to the Donovan Dining Center, had our lunch, and the “Unconference”.  Dr. Bogad and her A.L.L.I.E.D. group gave their presentation during the “Unconference” on Youth Development.  They discussed Cultural Competency, which is the ability to recognize and work comfortably with cultural and identity markers outside of your own.  Each student that presented had an experience that they shared that was based on cultural competency.  I am glad they shared their thoughts because it is something that people do not see as important until it is addressed.  I especially loved hearing the poem, “For the white person who wants to be my friend”, by Pat Parker.  The members each read one line from the poem and I found it to be a great way to end their presentation.  You cannot judge people based on their race or social class.  We all deserve to be valued as our own person.  Everyone is different and it does not mean that all white people or all African American people are the same or do the same things.  People look at me and automatically assume that I am white, but I am also Portuguese and Hispanic.  No one would guess that I am Hispanic or Portuguese because I do not fit the stereotype.  We need to stop automatically labeling each other; instead everyone should be open minded.  Overall, I had a terrific time at Promising Practices and I intend on going again next year. I am looking forward to it!

Connections

1. Workshop #2 connects with the article, “Cinderella Ate My Daughter” by Peggy Orenstein.  I believe that they both connect because in the article Orenstein explains that girls are meant to play with girly items such as makeup and wear pink all the time.  While boys are meant to play with trucks and tools in order for them to be masculine.  “If you make a pink baseball bat, parents will buy one for their daughter,” she explained.  Then, if they subsequently have a son, they’ll have to buy a second bat in a different color.  I wonder what all that pinkness—the color, the dominance of the play pattern it signals—is teaching girls about who they are, what they should value, what it means to be female?” (Orenstein 43).
2. Workshop #2 also connects with GLSEN.  Although, in the workshop we discussed the “T” (transgender) because it is often excluded.  They both talk about ways to help elementary educators to help students feel safe and school.  Both agree that we need to start with young children through anti-bias and anti-bullying activities.  They want to focus on name-calling, bullying, and bias.  It is easier to teach this to young children instead of high school students because it is harder to build respect.  Bullying needs to come to an end.  I learned a few statistics in my second workshop about transgender children and how they bullied at a young age.  Take a look at this article that I found on the GLSEN website, “Playgrounds and Prejudice:Elementary School Climate in the United States.”  This article has more statistics in it.
3. At the end of the conference, Dr. Bogad and her A.L.L.I.E.D. group discussed cultural competency.  I believe this relates to Tim Wise and his book, “Between Barack and a Hard Place”.  Wise says that we do recognize race in the world, but he argues that just because we have an African American president, does not mean that racism is over.  Racism still exists today, in all parts of the world.  Dr. Bogad and her A.L.L.I.E.D. group are saying that we cannot judge people based on race or social class.  We cannot assume that racism is over because that would mean we are ignorant to the world.  People should be more open minded instead of just assuming.