Maximizing the Potential of the After-School Hours

Session Two: Academy for Community Schools Development

ACSD II

Framing the Day

Maximizing the Potential of After School Hours

Quick Review - Session I Collaboration Setting a vision Beginning a plan Five conditions Planning backwards from success Focus on out of school time

Your planning/progress since December

A Community Schools Cycle for Success

Five Conditions for Learning1. Promote quality core teaching and learning

2. Provide students motivated for in-school and out-of-school learning

3. Provide for basic physical, mental and emotional health needs of young people and their families

4. Provide for mutual respect and effective partnership among parents, families & school staff

5. Promote a school that is safer and more connected to the community

Today’s Focus -After School Hours Essential to every community school Only public funding available in Calif. Great national popularity and demand Much more than day care Effective programming is thoughtful,

connected to both youth development principles, resiliency, and standards

Objectives Participants will identify how after-school

and school-day activities can be integrated in order to achieve maximum learning and development results

Participants will learn and apply child developmental domains, youth development, content standards, and effective after-school practice to better link school day and after-school practices.

Early Adolescence: A Time of Opportunity & Risk

Developmental

Domain

Opportunities Risks

Physical Promote fitnessPromote positive view of sexuality & health

Early pregnancySTD’s Alcohol, tobacco, other drug use

Developmental

Domain

Opportunities Risks

Cognitive

Build on natural curiosity

Build on expanded horizons

Promote abstract reasoning, critical thinking, problem solving

Provide consistent messages about importance of education

Boredom

Falling behind in school

Disengage-ment from school

Developmental

Domain

Opportunities Risks

Emotional

Increase awareness of own and other’s feelings

Increase ability to deal with feelings (positive and negative)

In-adequate supervision/

too much freedom

Depression, suicide

Developmental

Domain

Opportunities Risks

Social

Increase opportunities for positive relationships with peers and adults

Increase skills around getting help when needed (resilience)

Negative peer pressure for risky behavior

Cliques can lead to isolation

Inadequate protection from hazards

Developmental

Domain

Opportunities Risks

Moral

Build on natural altruism

Increase “spiritual” assets

Lose opportunities to build on natural altruism (use it or lose it)

Beliefs may become negative

Team Activity Participants will self-select an age group to

focus on for which they would like to identify the risks and opportunities.

Groups of no more than 8-10 will write on large butcher paper the risks and opportunities for age groups 5-7 or 8-10.

Groups present out.

School-Day Interventions that Promote Developmental Opportunities (IS 218) Positive Behavioral Intervention System Town Meetings Community Service Academy Structure Advisories Student wellness center String orchestra

Out-of-School Time Opportunities that Promote Positive Development Sports, fitness, recreation and dance Sexuality education for students and parents Family life education training for adults Lots of academic enrichment—chess club, Harry

Potter book club, field trips Holiday and Saturday programs/special events Summer enrichment camps (college exploration) “Zero” Period (before school)

Linkage: school-day and after-school practices at I.S. 218 Educational Coordinator (works in both

programs) Ongoing Joint Planning (particularly

between principal and CS director) School Leadership Team (as monthly

coordinating vehicle) Principal’s Cabinet Informal as well as formal (office location)

3 Kinds of Academic Programs

Academic Remediation: Emphasis on review and mastery of previous content

Academic Support: Emphasis on promoting school success

Academic Enrichment: Emphasis on exposure to and engagement in new content

Academic Remediation Some, but not all, children need this Examples are one-to-one and small group

tutoring; computer-assisted instruction Emphasis on mastery of basic skills Historically, Title I has been a major

source of support New part of Title I is Supplemental

Education Services

Academic Support All children need this kind of help—from

multiple sources (school, home, community) Examples are homework assistance and test

sophistication Quality of homework help depends largely on

quality of assignments Homework generally should not introduce new

content Ten-minute per grade guideline (NEA, PTA)

Academic Enrichment Remember the three E’s—Exposure, Experience,

Engagement Two ways to do it—Embedding into other

programs (cooking, sports, theatre); and using high quality enrichment curricula

Research-based Good evaluation results All children need this but poor children get less

Other Kinds of Enrichment/Youth Development

Social Cultural Recreational

Pitfalls to Avoid Working with the partners you get rather

than the ones you need. Working with the kids that come rather

than the ones that may need help the most. Mistaking activities for program –

worrying about what we are going to do v. the nature of the experience

Mistaking remediation for enrichment

Team Activity Work in school teams. Look at your current program schedule Rate what you are currently offering and

determine whether they are either Remediation (R) Support (S) or Enrichment (E)

Community Schools and the California Content Standards

Content Standards - why are they so important?

Essential to 5 conditions for learning Chart the course for academic achievement Extended day/after school activities are

expected to contribute to improving academic achievement

Calif. has a good track record with Healthy Start and After School

California’s track record HS participants in the lowest quartiles

improved their reading scores (25%) and math scores (50%)

AS participants who attended 4 days/week improved on standardized tests 2-3 times faster than non-participants in a control group

Your community schools will continue these trends!

Today’s Focus - 6th Grade Standards ELA - English Language Arts Math History and Social Science - World

Cultures Science - Earth Sciences VAPA - Visual and Performing Arts -

Dance (how cool is that?)

6th Grade ELA - sample Standard 1.Word analysis, fluency, and

systematic vocabulary development 1.1 word recognition - read aloud narrative and

expository text fluently and accurately with appropriate pacing, intonation and expression, 1.2 vocabulary and concept development - identify and interpret figurative language and words with multiple meanings. Ideas - hip hop poetry slam

6th grade Math Measurement and Geometry Standard 2.2 use the properties of

complementary and supplementary angles and the sum of the angles of a triangle to solve problems involving an unknown angle

Idea - create a lesson relating this standard to playing billiards or ping-pong

Keeping an appropriate standards perspective

6th grade History and Social Science - World Cultures Standards 6.2-7 Students analyze the

ancient geographic, political, economic, religious and social structures of Egypt, Hebrews, Greece, India, China, and Rome

Idea - social structures include food, create cooking units for each of these 6 geographic regions, periodically over the entire year

6th Grade Science Standard 5 - Ecology and Life Science -

organisms in ecosystems exchange energy and nutrients among themselves and with the environment

5.a-e address student knowledge of energy, matter, populations of organisms, kinds of organisms, and number and type of organisms

Idea - grow frogs!

6th Grade VAPA - Dance

Standard 3.0 - understanding historical contributions and cultural dimensions of dance

3.1 compare and contrast the features of dance already performed from different countries

Ideas - African, Latin American, historical and contemporary moves

Addressing standards requires 3 things Access them by grade and subject Know your school and teacher’s timelines

for addressing them (e.g. what math standard are they on in week 18 of a 36 week year?)

Deliberately relate all of your after school activities to multiple standards, especially ELA and Math

An insight...You will be developing activities your teacher colleagues long to include in their daily curriculum, so find ways to foster and honor this interdependence

How to Coordinate it All? Idea - some sites have hired an after school

curriculum coach, costs about $4,000 per year (like a club or sports coaching assignment)

He/She coordinates the standards timelines so your after school providers can focus on creating those great, youth development activities (like poetry, ping-pong and pool, ethnic cooking, growing frogs, and dance)

Your turn to create a lesson

Using the drumsticks (chop sticks), the standards on your table, and your imagination, create a standards-based lesson for after school

Cooking Club as an Example of “Embedding”

Kids will decide what they want to learn how to cook for the next 10 sessions.

Ask them to plan the next 9 sessions (with encouragement to be diverse, multi-ethnic, share family favorites & be adventuresome).

Large group discussion, kids will write all ideas on newsprint and take a vote.

Then set up a schedule and pick someone to be in “charge”. Plot dates and names on a calendar.

Let’s Cook – Session I For first class, we will start with pizza. Each youth gets a recipe, have them work

in pairs to read the recipe to each other, identify new words and discuss in the pair the meaning.

Post new words and meanings Organize materials for cooking by

providing youth different tasks – cutting tomatoes, grating cheese, rolling out bread (toasting muffins) everyone engaged.

Let’s Cook – Session I Kids can choose to search for other recipes or

read cook books while others are slicing, measuring, cooking or cutting recipe to half (and using fractions).

When pizzas are baking, ask the kids to: write to someone about what they did create an article for the newsletter. discuss other forms of popular foods are

from other countries, nutritional aspects, variety e.g. vegetarian.

relate cooking to job possibilities and career opportunities.

Session I – wrap up Eat pizzas ! Reflect on:

new learning, how can we do this at home, what would we need to buy that we don’t

have at home. Think about the costs and compare with

what we need to buy next time. Clean up and share leftovers.

Other Examples of Embedding Use theatre programs to reinforce reading writing

and speaking skills Offer chess clubs to promote critical thinking

skills Connect visual arts with reading Conduct poetry slams Offer community service projects that encourage

youth to read about current issues, testify at hearings, map neighborhoods, interview others

A Few Examples of High Quality AE Curricula KidzLit and KidzMath (DSC) Foundations (literacy enrichment) Math 24 Game Operation SMART (Girls Incorporated) The Comic Book Project Figure This! Math Explorer World in Motion