Ashley Evans Blakely Position Papers 1 & 2 Position Statement 1 For me, Mesquite ISD has been home.

I began my education in Kindergarten at Rugel Elementary, and ended High School as a graduate of North Mesquite High School. Whenever I began school, it was not diverse. There were few Hispanics, and even fewer African American students. Now that I am an eleven year teaching veteran of MISD, I can see how much the demographics have changed, and how strained the teacher/student relationship has become as a result. After reading a journal entitled, Low-Income, Urban Consumers Perceptions of Community School Outreach Practices, Desired Services, and Outcomes, I was encouraged to focus my attention on parental outreach. In this particular study, the focus was on the effects of parental outreach in low-income schools with a larger minority population. In this particular school district, they teamed up with YMCA to form an outreach program, which aimed to involve the parents of minority students in their childs academic life. The organization provided a type of schooling for the parents that would not only teach them English, but also would teach them about the school district, and keep them privy as to what is going on in the educational community. The study found that many parents of minority students felt out of place and uncomfortable in their childs school. This type of insecurity can only add to the stress of many of these parents who a lot of times are working two jobs and trying to take care of multiple siblings.

I am not sure I can get a partnership with a YMCA such as the one in this study, but I can definitely make sure I am focusing more on reaching out to my parents. Research has proven over and over how important parental involvement is in the education of children and teenagers. Even in my career, I have noticed the positive effect of parental involvement. I have taught many students whose parents are teachers; and it is no coincidence that I have never had a student of an educator who performed poorly in class. So with this knowledge, it is quite sad that many teachers do not make more of an effort in reaching out to their parents; and even if the teacher tries to reach out to the parent of a minority student, there are times that the language barrier is a deterrent in perusing a parent/teacher relationship. The language barrier is not the only problem, either; many of these parents work long hours and simply do not have time to involve themselves in unfamiliar territory. It is not that they do not care for their childs education; they are simply having a difficult time balancing their day -to-day lives with the educational needs of their children especially whenever those needs are foreign to them and they do not know how to get involved. I know I need to make more of an effort in reaching out to my minority parents. I plan to team up with the ESL teacher and get their assistance when contacting a parent. I realize that the ESL teacher is probably overwhelmed, and if many teachers begin to take the same sort of initiative, there will need to be another avenue for assistance. Perhaps our administration should look into having our Spanish teachers assist the ESL teacher in communicating with parents. Even better, what if a way to reach out to minority students, includes reaching out to the parents of students who speak proficient English and Spanish, so that maybe they can assist teachers in communicating with parents who speak little English. We have the PTA and Booster

Club, why not form an organization that focuses on reaching out to our minority parents? I think that this is definitely something that needs to be addressed, and perhaps these ideas will spur a movement among our administration to work with these parents. Schools are struggling for many reasons; ESL learners are not to blame for the current situation in which public education has found itself. However, if we can start thinking outside the box and get out of our comfort zone, maybe we can eliminate some of the failure rate one step at a time. The Voucher system is not the answer to the current situation that we have found ourselves. There are successful public schools many successful schools; we just need to be more proactive and innovative in how we plan our school year, as well as how we educate the generation which exists today. To just give up on public education altogether is a tragedy.

Source Used:
http://www.adi.org/journal/fw08/ODonnellKirknerMeyer-AdamsFall2008.pdf

Position Paper 2 School violence has become a hot-button issue over the last few years. We see it in the rise of bullying, teenage suicide, and sometimes, even mass shootings. Many people try to find blame and point their fingers in various directions, but I believe it is safe to say that there is much blame to go around and cannot be aimed at one specific target. Furthermore, we have come to a point where I feel it is necessary to stop focusing on who or what is to blame, and try to make aggressive efforts in limiting school violence. Throughout our discussions both online and in class, my peers seem to agree that school should be a place where students feel safe, and that it is the responsibility of the teachers and administrators to ensure that the youth of today have an environment In which they feel secure. How do we expect our students to pass tests such as the STAAR test, which require a rigorous training, if they feel unsafe, insecure, isolated, and afraid each day as the walk in the door of their school? Furthermore, isnt it our moral obligation to take care of our students? I just try to imagine my child in someone elses care, and how much I would depend on their teacher to lookout for her and ensure she is in a safe environment. I think it is important that we as educators all realize the extreme responsibility we have in paying close attention to our students and classroom environment. The situation is not hopeless, and we can make a difference.
I recently read an article written in Australia, which offered explanations as to why the suicide rate had increased so dramatically over the last few years. It blames the breakdown of the family unit, trends in society, rise in individualism and

consumerism. The article even goes on to suggest ideas in fighting teen depression. It states that we (as teachers) are very responsible in this battle against mental illness among today's youth. The article suggests that since we live in a digital world, we need to use technology to reach our young students, by taking advantage of the technology and assisting the students in pursuing their passions and gifts. A professor from the University of Pennsylvania stated "By engaging one's strengths and passions in the service of others, one can inoculate against depression." Dan Haesler, the author of the article, states, "Depression is to suicide

as obesity is to diabetes, and it is killing our children. At the very least, can we please start talking about it?" This article really made me think about my own school and what we are doing to prevent bullying and to ensure a nonviolent and productive environment for our students. Although, there are a few videos we have watched and emails we have received, there is really very little training done in assisting students who are bullied or are depressed. After this realization, I began to focus on my own actions in regards to this important issue. Although there are times I have pulled students aside and spoke with them about their struggles in school, and even thought I have contacted parents concerned for their child if I have noticed undesirable behavior, I quickly realized that I am not doing enough to ensure a safe environment for all my students. After reading various articles, and having intense class discussions with my COHORT group, I realize how important it is that I make this a priority. First of all, I plan to make active note taking a part of my day-to-day activities. I want to make sure I am forcing myself to pay attention to my surroundings each day. Often times, I am so engrossed with classroom activities and keeping up with the curriculum, that I am unaware

of what it is going on around me. Even though it is unintentional, I know that being aware of my classroom environment is essential in maintaining a safe environment. Just the other day, I was getting some grades entered into the grade book, when a fight almost broke out between two of my make students. I was of course alarmed, as it is my pre-AP class and each student in there is always on their best behavior, but once I inquired as to what was going on, I realized that bullying was taking place. The ironic part of the debacle was that the student that got so upset (he actually cried) is a student that I have actually witnessed making fun of his classmates (always in a joking manner, of course). I have always corrected his behavior whenever I have heard him say something inappropriate to another student, but on this particular day, another student made a remark to him that clearly he could not mentally handle. On that particular day, the bully became the bullied. Fortunately, a fight did not break out, apologies were exchanged, and it became a great opportunity for me to speak to my students about the importance of keeping their language to each other in a respectful manner. However, because I chose to focus my attention on something I could have done either on my conference period or after school, a very bad situation could have occurred. In regards to my colleagues, I feel that communication is essential. We have such great access to our students thanks to todays technology, and we really need to take more advantage of the access we are given. We can see their class schedules, grades, and even their extracurricular courses. Teachers need to make better use of this asset and communicate with one another whenever there is concern about a particular student. For example, this year I had one student in particular that was having issues at home which was affecting her grades. I was able to email all her teachers to let them know the situation, and I do that, not only did she

receive encouragement from her teachers, but her grades began to rise as well. Something as simple as a few words of encouragement or taking notice when things seem off can really motivate a student to do better in school and not feel so alone and isolated. As teachers, we have a huge responsibility to our students; not only to teach them curriculum, but to ensure their safety as well. Often times, we are the only people in their lives that do care and we can really impact how they feel about school and themselves. The school climate and environment is the responsibility of the teachers and administration. We need to begin the discussion about how ensure an environment that promotes positive interaction and at the same time how to limit bullying.

Source Used: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/its-time-toconfront-the-deadliest-demon-of-them-all-20101102-17c9c.html