Community Walk- Curtis

7/28/2019 Community Walk- Curtis

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Community Walk

Curtis School of Excellence Residents

Ashley Doucette

Jessica Johnson

Megan McCall

Eileen Rogers

Rebecca Shaw


2/26

Significance ofGeographic Location

Due to the past of Roseland, there aremany single family homes surrounding

Curtis instead of large apartment

buildings.

Being located on the South side, this

largely determines the gangs as well asthe demographic population of the

community.


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Real Estate Trends

The average home valuessurrounding the school isestimated to be less than

$86,000. Several families rentinstead of own their homes.

Additionally, there are lots ofspaces around Curtis where

there are no homes butbusinesses in the gray areas.

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Roseland-Chicago/2950/

The article in the link below communicates oneresidents campaign to change, beautify and restorethe housing and real estate trends in the Roselandcommunity.

http://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hell
http://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hellhttp://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hellhttp://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hellhttp://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hellhttp://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hellhttp://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hellhttp://www.chicagoreporter.com/news/2011/11/razing-hell


4/26

Housing & Buildings

Surrounding the schoolare many closed

buildings and stores.The homes down theblock included many

boarded up houses.The firemen statedthat on many blocks in

Roseland there arenumerous boarded up

houses. This couldaffect how our

students live and whathome problems theybring with them to

school. We will have tobe sensitive to living

situations.


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Demographic Data

Age Distribution

Source:http://www.zillow.com/local-info/IL-Chicago/Roseland-

people/r_275251/


6/26

Median Income

http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Roseland-Chicago-IL.html


7/26

Crime Rates

http://www.trulia.com/real_estate/Roseland-Chicago/2950/

Crime rates data for the past 3 months in the blocks surrounding Curtis.


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Gang Territories

Surrounding Curtis


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Thoughts on Demographic Data

"The United States not only has the highest povertyrates for children among industrialized nations,but it also provides fewer social supports for theirwell being and fewer resources for them atschool" (Darling-Hammond 31).

Many of the students at Curtis come from poverty

and are unable to receive the proper care thatthey need. The high crime rate in the area isalso causing a high need for health as well asmental health support. Unfortunately this is fewand far between in the area surrounding Curtis.


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Program Resources inRoseland

Resources:

Greater Chicago Envangelistic

Hargrove

Ray and Joan Kroc Corps CommunityCenter

The Deborah Movement: RoselandChapter

Southside Help Center

Friends First Mentoring Program

YMCA

Park District

demoiselle2femme

H.O.P.E. Center

Fire Station

Kids Off the Block

Roseland Public Library


11/26

Benefits of CommunityIncorporated into School"The key to using democratic localism as a lever for change was

parents' shared interest in securing a quality education for theirchildren. Consistent with democratic political theory, this common

interest would motivate the necessary voluntary associationsamong parents and community residents to improve their local

schools.'... of decentralized reform worried that, while schoolslocated in neighborhoods with strong human and financial

resources might well improve on their own, other schools locatedin more-disadvantaged, low-resource neighborhoods would be left

behind."

Anthony S. Bryk;Penny Bender Sebring;Elaine Allensworth;StuartLuppescu;John Q. Easton. Organizing Schools for Improvement:

Lessons from Chicago (Kindle Locations 1677-1678). KindleEdition.


12/26


13/26

Conversation withFiremen

The firemen shared information about theneighborhood:

In the past months the neighborhood has beenrelatively quiet

Do not take public transportation


14/26

School

From the back, 114th St...Behind the school there are manyempty stores and warehouses.

The school has a playground behind itby the parking lot. The community canuse this playground and it providesactivity for small children both in andout of school. The play space can beused for lessons outside as well. Thoughit is rarely utilized.


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School: 115th St

The front of the school is off of a busystreet. The building has two entrances:

a middle school and an elementaryschool entrance

Students all walk to school or are droppedoff by parents. Across the street is a largeempty field that is filled with garbage anddebris that several students walk throughto get to school each morning.


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Food & Grocery

In the neighborhood, therewere only a couple of small

corner stores. As teachers,we need to be aware of thefood situation and what'savailable in these grocery

stores to help us withunderstanding students'

lives as well as resources forprojects and homework if

we assign them.

Corner Store and othersmall storefronts


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Palmer Park

Palmer Park District offersvarious services to theresidents of Roseland.

There is a large playgroundwith outdoor sprinklers, an

awesome water parkcomplete with slides and

various other amenities.The employees stated thatwhile there has been more

than enough money allottedto offer a multitude of

services, those services arenot being utilized by the

community residents sooften, a lot of goodresources go to waste.


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Kids Off The Block

This is an overwhelmingly sad but crystal clear depiction of what our students willhave to face living in this community. Day after day, month after month, year

after year, another young person loses their life to senseless violence. Ms. Diane,founder and operator of Kids Off The Block Club (KOB), erected a curbside

memorial across from the center with the names and dates of all of the youngpeople who have lost their lives. Each child gets a brick detailing their info. Ms.Diane has run out of space and, sadly, still has more to add. Ms. Diane and KOBwere recently featured on the ABC ShowSecret Millionaire. Steve Kaplan, the

Secret Millionaire, spent time with, volunteered with, donated largely to, and stillworks with this organization, trying to make a difference in the Roseland


19/26

Kids Off the Block &Curtis

After discussing this program with students and community members, I found that thisprogram is underutilized by Curtis students.

To view more about KOB and Ms. Diane's mission follow the links below to prezi videos:
http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190http://prezi.com/yipbu1t_aip9/kids-off-the-block-kob/?kw=view-yipbu1t_aip9&rc=ref-16519190


20/26

Institutional Initiatives

GEAR UP- GEAR UP is a program that exposes students to lifebeyond elementary school. QUOTE DARLING HAMMOND

School Sports-

Academic All Stars-A program where Title 1 tutors andteachers come into school and assist students in areas ofacademic needs.

Pre-K or Head Start-Linda Darling Hammond quote

Geoffrey Ballet- A program for K-4 students where a Chicago

ballet company gives lessons to students after school Local School Council-A school board that involves a couple

of parents as representatives along with teachers andadministration.


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Increase Relevance ofInstitution

Continuation of AUSL Model allows schools to implement supports thatDarling-Hammond suggests will be necessary to improve failing schoolssuch as: recruiting well prepared teachers, organizing sustainedprofessional development and resources, and ensuring high-qualityinstructional resources (Darling-Hammond, 271)

Continuation of Increased Funding & Support: In OrganizingSchools for Improvement, it was stated that the schools originally had anabundant amount of resources within the school and partnering outsideresources. After a few years, resources faded until they were left withnothing.This is Curtiss 3rd year being turned around. The resources havedecreased since the first year of turn around and now the school isbecoming completely understaffed.

Strong leadership increased "This observation is key to understandingthe significant function served by relational trust in school improvement.Regardless of how much formal power attaches to any given role in aschool community, all participants remain dependent on others toachieve desired outcomes and feel efficacious about their efforts. Thesestructural dependencies create a sense of vulnerability for all

involved."(Bryk, 1992)


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Resources at the Donut Shop

At the back of the donut shop, therewere numerous community resourcesavailable for parents and families foreducation, health, and community

news. These could be shared with the

school as additional resources andcommunity partnerships.


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Continuation

Incorporate parent voice to make a direct connection betweenhome and school and gain parental support of school proceduresand policies

Smaller class sizes: Class sizes at Curtis hover around 25 andare supposed to increase to 35 next year. "Ferguson also foundthat class size, at a critical point of 18 students per teacher wasa statistically significant determinant of student outcomes..."


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Increasing Relevance ofInstruction

A quote from Jennifer Winters describing herteaching in an urban school: "I found myself havingproblems with cross-cultural teaching issues, blamingmy kids because the class was crazy and out of

control, blaming the parents as though they didn'tcare about their kids" (Darling-Hammond 209).

At Curtis, we try to be as culturally aware of thecommunity we work in as possible. We are learningto become more aware of our individual identity as a

teacher and to how to best relate to our students.We bring in community resources to classroom andmake a genuine effort to get to know the parents andcommunity support.


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Works Cited

Bryk, A. S., Sebring, P. B., & Allensworth, E.

(2010).Organizing schools for improvement, lessons fromchicago. University Of Chicago Press.

City-data. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.city-data.com/

Darling-Hammond , L. (2010). The flat world andeducation. New York: Teachers College Press.

Kids off the block.(Designer).(2003). Retrievedfromhttp://kobchicago.org/

Trulia. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.trulia.com/about

Wikipedia. (2012, July 7). Roseland, chicago.Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Roseland,_Chicago
http://kobchicago.org/http://kobchicago.org/http://kobchicago.org/http://kobchicago.org/http://kobchicago.org/http://kobchicago.org/


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Curtis School of ExcellenceCommunity Walk

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Community Walk- Curtis