Running Head: PLANNING FOR ACTION 1

Planning for Action

Christie Ellis

Johns Hopkins University of Education

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Planning for Action

When analyzing my needs assessment plan and conducting an overview of

the findings therein one thing was abundantly clear-- students were lacking joy.

While these results were not pervasive across the class as a whole, there were

pockets of students who lacked happiness within our classroom. Lavoie (2008)

noted that teachers must be willing advocates for students within their classroom

and communitiesand empower students to be leaders in that cause. In planning

for future action, it is essential to harness the voices of students and seek

opportunities and action steps that will have a greater impact on our classroom as a

whole. Furthermore, the cycle of youth engagement is a tool that was critical to that

processcreating opportunities to listen to students, validating their thoughts and

ideas, authorizing them to take action, mobilizing them to act, and reflecting upon

the process (Fletcher & Vavrus, 2006). This cycle has been prevalent throughout all

steps of this processfrom teaching students the Learn, Create, Act process of

advocacy that was inspired by SoCh in action (n.d.), to conducting a Needs

Assessment Plan that sought the opinions of students throughout the waythis

process was embedded in the ideal of student-led leadership and advocacy.

Action Plan

Identified Quantitative Results

Needs - 77% of students sometimes felt happy at school. Only

23% always feel happy at school.

- 54% of students sometimes feel very sad at school.
- 31% of students sometimes go home with negative

feelings about school, 23% always go home with negative

feelings about school.

Qualitative Results
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- Students mentioned sources of sadness come from

- Stress and anxiety from constant test taking.
- Negative relationships with teachers.
- Lack of play time.
Identified By the end of the year, less than 10% of students will have

Goal negative emotions during and about school.

Action Steps #1: Prioritize positive activities

and Timeline - Students want to make sure that specific activities occur

daily or near-daily to ensure breaks from stressful school

events. These events are (but are not limited to)

afternoon meeting, student of the week, brain breaks,

mystery walker, and playground time (if Dojo goal is

met), and end of the week Fun Friday, with fidelity,

regardless of extenuating circumstances (i.e. testing

schedule).
- Student representatives (Teachers Helper, Games

Manager, and Meeting Leader) will be responsible for

ensuring that these events occur i.e. reminding

teachers as necessary and making preparations.

- Timeline: Begin 4/3/2017 End of Year
o Afternoon Meeting: 1x a day, M-W and Friday
o Brain breaks: 1x per class period
o Mystery Walker: Daily
o Playground Reward: As needed
o Student of the Week: Weekly
o Fun Friday: Weekly

#2: Friend to All Job

- We will designate one person to be a friend to all, a

class member will be voted to have this job. This job will

be a person that students know they can write notes to,

ask to sit with, or talk to (if appropriate) if they need

someone to talk to or are feeling upset.

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- Timeline: Classroom vote 4/3, job implemented until end

of school year unless issues arise.

#3: Learning about Emotions

- Twice a week during afternoon meeting we will have

classroom lessons based on the PATHS program that help

students understand and manage their emotions.

- Timeline:
o 2x week during afternoon meetings

#4: Mailbox and Classroom Meetings

- I will put a mailbox on my desk that students can use to

write any issues that they might be having. Furthermore,

if issue can be resolved with the help of the entire class

we will have classroom problem solving meetings that

will help students give input to help each other.

- Timeline:
o Begin 4/2/2017 until End of Year
o Classroom problem solving meetings as needed
Roles - Teacher: Responsible for ensuring that students are able

to do positive activities, create problem solving meetings,

and empower students to utilize the Friend to All

position when necessary. Be continually open to the

necessity of these items, regardless of extenuating

circumstances (i.e. testing). Create an integrate social-

emotional focused lessons twice a week.

- Games Manager: Responsible with choosing brain breaks,

and advocating for brain breaks from teacher.

- Meeting Leader: Responsible for planning, executing, and

leading afternoon meeting.

- Teachers Helper: Responsible for tracking student

rewards including student of the week, mystery walker,

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dojo point rewards, and Fun Friday.

- Friend to All: Responsible for being kind to others and

being a supportive shoulder to lean on, and being

instrumental during problem solving meetings.

- Problem Solving Meeting: All students will be responsible

for treating each other with respect, in order to help each

other solve critical social-emotional issues.

Insights

Speaking with students openly and honestly about the results of the needs

assessment plan, and the important findings from said plan was extremely eye

opening. Students are extremely cognizant of the issues that our school facesand

they also have extremely engaging perspectives about the solutions to these issues.

Utilizing Fletcher and Vavrus Cycle of Youth Voice, our classroom was able to allow

students to be heardand for many, the conversation validated their beliefs and

pushed them to be more firm and staunch about their needs (2006). From our

discussion, it was clear that the foundation of a strong social-emotional support

system already existed within our school and classroom, but that students felt that

critical pieces were falling by the wayside far too often due to extenuating

circumstances (most often cited, testing). While testing cannot be removed, it was

critically important to my students that specific positive events remain a strong

portion of their time at schoolincluding afternoon meetings, and brain breaks.

Furthermore, I was able to push my students to give themselves a larger role in the

creation of positive behavioral supports by steering them in the direction of creating

the Friend to All job, problem solving meetings, and emphasizing the importance

of their classroom roles. As a result, the action plan brings students towards roles as
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leaders in the positive movementthey are in charge of selecting activities, carving

time out of the day, and rewarding each other. As a result, they have become

authorized to mobilize and ultimately change their classroom environment (Fletcher

& Vavrus, 2006).

Highlights and Aspirations

Overall, utilizing the Needs Assessment Plan process and creating a student-

led action plan has been extremely insightful. As an educator, it is critical that

students are heavily invested in our classroom community. However, as much as

the classroom must serve their learning goals, it must also be readily building their

social emotional capacities. Fletcher & Vavrus (2006) Cycle of Youth Voice provides

an important framework when leading students to create changeprimarily, it

encourages adults to actively listen and seek out the opinions and needs of

students prior to enacting change. At the beginning of this process, the quantitative

data that I had originally gathered had led me to believe there was a rampant

bullying issue in my school. However, after deeply investing my students and myself

in this process we found that the solution was much clearerstudents require

positive outlets in order to strengthen their emotional connection to schools. In the

future, I think it will be essential to utilize this needs assessment process with every

set of students that I haveas each class will be different. However, the results of

this process will be instrumental in creating a regularly available process of youth

advocacyin this situation, students have become empowered to be champions of

positive emotional supports in the classroom. Ultimately, these structures can be re-

utilized throughout the years to come.

Conclusion
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Over the past three years, most of the changes that I made in the classroom

were based on my own observationswere students engaged in specific lessons,

were my test scores low, or how much I personally enjoyed a process. While these

changes were often for the better, I now know that there is a better way of seeking

classroom change. Student-led advocacy requires a deeper thought process, but the

reward is unquestionably great. From this process, we were able to utilize Fletcher &

Vavrus (2006) Cycle of Youth Voice, and ensure that students needs were listened

to, and that they were empowered to make changes. However, the implications of

this activity extend much farther than our singular classroom. If students are

empowered now, as children, they will undoubtedly believe in their ability to make

important changes in society as they grow older. Therefore, it is imperative that I

continue to utilize this processand extend it further to include activism and issue-

based topics that are critically important to students.

References

Lavoie, R. (2008). Fighting the good fight: How to advocate for your students

without losing your job. Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/22720/

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Fletcher, A. & Vavrus, J. (2006). The guide to social change led by and with young

people. Common Action. Retrieved from https://adamfletcher.net/wp-

content/uploads/2015/06/SocialChangeGuide.pdf

SoCh in Action. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://sochinaction.com/