I Am My Brother’s KeeperA Vision of Alandra Abrams

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A vision to unite our older students to our younger ones through experiences and fellowship.

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I Am My Brother’s Keeper at Tilden Middle School

8th Grade students partner with 5th grade students to develop positive and healthy relationships. They work together to help each other academically and socially. The younger students look forward to the support, caring and love the older students provide. The older students listen, support and encourage their “buddy”, letting them know that they are there for them.

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A Project of LoveWhen the project began, it was important to find out what students thought “To be My Brother’s Keeper” meant to them. Some students had very little concept on what that really meant. They were asked to take the “gender” out of it and to think of it as helping your fellow man, whether they were male or female.The students were told that their experiences would be documented. The eighth grade students would be paired with fifth grade students. They would be introduced to the each other and expected to do various activities together. The intention was for the eighth grade students to “step up to the plate” and show that they were responsible, mature young adults willing to help someone younger than them. The fifth grade students would soon realize that they had someone that was on their side and willing to support them and help them feel comfortable in a school filled with older students.We would soon realize that this project was going to mature all of us We were going to see young people in a different light. We were about to see a wonderful transformation in our school and excitement explode in the lives of them all.

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This was the day all of the students would meet with their new found partner. Mrs. Stone’s Class and Ms. Wooter’s fifth grade class was filled with rambunctious, lively and excitable students. The eighth graders didn’t know what to expect, what they had just walked into, and how they were going to handle it. The students were randomly, but carefully paired. Some of the eighth grade students were ESOL students and spoke very limited English. We had to make sure they were paired with someone that spoke their language or at least close to it. Juan was the master interpreter in the eight grade class, so we created a quad team with him. This allowed the four of those students a better quality environment.

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The fifth grade class had more females in it than males. Juan ended up with a female student because of their language barrier, but I believed the union would work. Lisbeth seemed to be a nice, adaptable and quiet student and that helped a lot. In the students first meeting, they were to introduce themselves and found out at least three things about each other. Each student had a card so that they could write down their partner’s name and the three things they learned about each other. The atmosphere in the room was loud, but tolerable. We decided after that meeting to make sure we divided the students into two classrooms for the next sessions.

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Evaluating Our Own ProgressThe eighth grade class met the next day and had a conversation about their first meeting. They were able to share their thoughts and offer suggestions. For the most part everyone felt good about their meeting. They commented on the behaviors of the fifth grade students. They wanted to call them “bad” and wild, but were quickly reminded that they were just like them three years ago (hmmm, how soon we forget!). It was their responsibility and a great opportunity for them to help the fifth grade students grow and mature to be better students for their own success.The students were curious as to know how this entire project

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8th Grade students meet together to discuss the Project and share ideas to help make the program better. They talk generally about their accomplishments with their partner. They also share how we can make the project exciting for our younger partners and other suggestions they may have for the benefit of everyone involved.

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Favorite - Students completed a form on their favorites, then shared them with their partner.Snack Food, Fast Food Restaurant, Movie, Holiday, Subject in School, Sport, Color and A vegetable they hated. After individually completing their own questionnaire, they met with their partner and shared the information. They were then asked to create a Venn Diagram and place their “Same and Differences” in the proper place. They were soon to discover that they did have a lot in common despite their age differences. They worked very well together on this portion of the project. Some seemed to feel more comfortable with their partners after this meeting. I believe they felt they were going to be so different from each other. It was refreshing to see the relief on some of their faces

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A Touching MomentThe students came together again. This time they were to share a “Struggle” or “Success” with one another. The rule to the eighth grade students were that they had to listen and be very respectful to their younger partner. They needed to let their partner know that they were there for them and willing to support and help them through anything. This was the time of realization for some of our students. They found out that some of the younger students were

actually having some of the same issues they had at their age. They were able to share how they overcame some of the same obstacles and to encourage them. This, I believe was a life changing moment for some of them. They actually began to know what it felt like to help someone.

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Sharing Our Successes and StrugglesThe students share a special moment with their partner. In this session, they talk about their strengths and struggles. Some students are very open about the academic issues they are having in different classes. Some talk about the language barriers because of the varied ethnic pot in our school. Student speak several different languages including but not limited to: English, Spanish, French, Swahili, Mandingo, Arabic, Vietnamese, and more. As much as possible pairing of partners was with students that spoke the same language or with a student interpreter creating quads instead of paired partners. Many students were surprised to find out that some of their problems were their partners also.

The Egg Experience

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This was a very interesting experiment and lesson on responsibility. Each student was given a boiled egg. They had the option to decorate it anyway they wanted. The supplies offered were: eyes, yarn for hair, paint and markers. They were also given felt and created small blankets for the eggs. They worked together with their partner and gave their eggs a name. They had fun decorating them. The next part of the project was for them to trade their eggs with their partner. They had to take care of each other’s eggs for almost a week. They were to protect it and bring it back unscathed. So many values would be involved in this project. Trust, responsibility, caring and respect were integral to the success of this. At the conclusion of this experience, some eggs were returned intact, some were cracked but still returned. Most of the students were pleased with how their partner took care of their egg. Some were disappointed with their partner, but proud of the fact that they cared for their partners. One student commented that they threw their egg away because it cracked. I had to give them a scenario. If your child broke their leg, would you throw them away? Or would you take them somewhere and have them fixed and continue to care for them? That was the idea with the eggs. Hmm.

The Egg ExperienceStudents get to learn about responsibility through this experience. Each student was given an egg to decorate with their partner. They were given a blanket to place their egg in for protection. They exchanged eggs and were responsible for taking care of their partners egg for approximately four days. A chart is developed monitor the progress of each student and their partner.The students came together after the time period was over and shared their progress.

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Some students took really good care of their eggs and brought them back unharmed. Others had little mishaps and their egg cracked, but they still returned the egg. That proved they were showing ownership and responsibility for something other than themselves. There were a few that threw away their egg after it cracked , but now understand the importance of accepting responsibilty for their actions and “if it were your child and they broke something on their body, you still need to take care it them, in this case “it” the egg!

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The Best Part! Creating My Own Song or RapThis is a real partnership effort. Each person had to contribute to the creation of their own song or rap. At first I was going to leave all of the creation to the students, but somehow I felt that was not going to work since we don’t spend as much time as I would have liked together. So, to expedite time, a fill in the blank was created. The students still had to choose which words they wanted to collectively put in their piece.All in all, this project was everything I wanted it to be. Students were joined together that more than likely would never have associated themselves with each other. Relationships were developed amongst our students that will hopefully continue to flourish. I believe that Students have a better understanding of what it really means to be “My Brother’s Keeper”. Thank you Ms. Boswell, Ms. Jones, Mrs. Stone and Ms. Woodington for all of your help and support. I am sure that each student’s book will tell the story in their own words about how they felt about living and saying “I Am My Brother’s Keeper” for a moment

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To Sum It Up!The project was an awesome experience for our students. It was very time consuming, but worth it to see the expectations of our 5th grade students as they anticipated seeing their 8th grade partners. This would not have been as successful if it had not been for the teachers that helped to encourage the students to keep documenting their work and creating their wonderful books.My gratitude goes out to Ms. Wooter and Mrs. Stone. They were the 5th grade teachers that allowed their students to be a part of this project. I thank them for allowing us to use their rooms for the “messy” activities and stirring up their children for the rest of the day. The students enjoyed the project.

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Alandra Abrams Ms. Abrams has been the Music Teacher at Tilden for Twenty-one years. She holds a B.A. in Music Education from Temple University, M.A. in Education, Curr. & and Tech., Grand Canyon U.,, and credits in Computer, University of the Arts. She has received several awards for her commitment to the Music Programs and our students including “Teacher of the Year”, Wal-Mart, International Society of Poetry Recording Contract, “Ambassador of Education”, Met-Life, “Respect Challenge” from Facebook, and “Give A Note Foundation” Music Award to name a few. She was one of the guest conductors of the All-City Middle School Choir this past March. She is committed to the students and seeks to bring out the best in them. Alandra began the “I Am My Brother’s Keeper” Project after observing the 5 grade students struggling with adjusting to Middle School, and thinking that it would be a good idea to have the 8 grade students mentor them. This gave the 8 grade students an opportunity to learn about helping others, responsibility and maturity. She believes that the project was a success and hopes to begin the Project at the beginning of the school year. It is her goal to build stronger relationships between our older and younger students through this type of project. She also wants to spread the word to other schools about the process, and how it can increase the bond between students. This also encourages our older students to understand their importance to society. Our younger students feel safer knowing they have a “Brother’s Keeper” right there to help them.

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I owe a lot of debt to Ms. Connie Boswell the 8th teacher of my music students for pushing them on, emailing, making sure that they sent their work to me through “google docs”, fussing at them and constantly asking me if there was anything I needed or that she could do. This encouraged me to go on and not feel like I was alone in this process. She is a wonderful person and is already strategizing on how we can begin at the beginning of the school to create a greater bond between students. We will be ending the project with a social. The students will get a last chance to be with their partners through this project. Our hope is the grade 5 student learn something from this experience to enhance their life and allow them to feel better about themselves and those around them.

We hope that this project has helped our 8 grade students to be aware how important they are to others. It is our hope that they will carry this experience into their future life at their high schools and accept the challenge of helping others along the way.Again,Thank you all for your helpAlandra AbramsVisionary of “I Am My Brother’s Keeper Project”