+

UAB Red Mountain Writing Project Learning and Enrichment Center

“empowering teachers,enriching students.”

+What is RMWP’s Learning and Enrichment Center? What is our goal?

The center will establish continuity between RMWP fellows and Birmingham’s youth.

Why do we need this? We will empower teachers and enrich students. We will provide data that RMWP concepts work.

+Who will the RMWP center benefit?A select group of K-12 students from all of the

Birmingham metropolitan area.

Teachers as mentors, who will build relationships and practice skills they learned as fellows.

+What makes us different?

RMWP content and conceptsQuality, experienced fellows as

teachers 1-1 needs-based instructionCommunity outreach opportunitiesCollege campus experience

+Why is this relevant to today’s learner? Research increasingly shows the need for quality after

school programs to close the achievement gap and prepare students for college and the workplace.

Just one example, from the New York Times, “Urban Schools Aiming Higher Than Diploma” by Sara Rime,

“Ms. Wilson and her classmates ride the T over

an hour after school to non-profit programs where they get extra help with tutoring, and

with their college applications. They take free SAT prep classes at night.”

+What we can do…“Can do

descriptors” According to Richard Rothstein, in “Whose Problem is

Poverty?” educators have a unique responsibility to take on many social issues in order to make the world more just.

Among these, include after school programs,

“Fund after school programs so that inner-city children spend fewer nonschool hours in dangerous environments and, instead, develop cultural, artistic, organizational, and athletic potential.

“None of this is utopian. All is worth doing in itself, with the added benefit of sending children to school more ready to learn.”

+Where will this happen?1. Start in Sterne Library in study carousel rooms 2. Other possibilities…-UAB Buildings: School of Education, ArtPlay, New Arts Center

-Rental spaces nearby: across from baseball field and next to Birmingham Wholesale, Greensprings, Suite 121, 2nd Avenue North, 21st Street

-Red Mountain: (Trail, Park, Amphitheater, Building) site of old Discovery Place

+Projected SchedulePhase 1 (October 3-March 5, 2011)Time

3:30-4:25

Monday Tuesday Wednesday

Time Monday Tuesday

Wednesday Thursday

SaturdaySeminars (9am-12)

3:30-4:25

Tutoring in WritingGrade 5,6

ELLReadingMiddle School

ACT TutoringOrAHSGE

4:30-5:25

Tutoring in WritingGrade 7,8

Elementary Spanish Writing Classes

Photography and Writing Enrichment

5:30-6:25

Math ACT Writing Review

ACT Writing Class

Service Projects

+ Phase 1: Great Ideas… A few base teachers will be on-call for tutoring. Teachers would need to be available in the afternoons. Teachers need to be identified based on needs and

grade levels. Overflow: Hire students from UAB who are in advanced

education classes and have had background checks.

+ Phase 1: Action PlanBudget Dedicate $3,000 to project to start Base rate pay for teachers: Possibly $15/ hour Charge to Parents:

$20/ hour Sliding scale Allow volunteer hours as payment Or lead a service project for Saturday Seminar

20% of all funds go back to the project

+ Phase 1: Action PlanAdvertise, Recruite, Fundraise Brochures to all schools, application that includes a writing sample,

start with Summer Camp and Writing with the Stars participants On UAB campus: fliers, posters, yard signs Free Social Media: facebook, twitter, youtube video, fellows’ blogs,

schoology, wiki’s, nwp connect, rmwp website Newspapers: Black and White, Birmingham Weekly, UAB Reporter,

Birmingham News TV News: Host a “Fellows Fun-raiser” to gain media attention Post a Once Upon A School project idea Apply for grants: Change Fund, Community Foundation, NWP, etc.

+Models: other centers with similar ideas Valencia 826/ Pirate Supply Company, Dave Eggers Desert Island Supply Company in Woodlawn, Chip

Brantley Schletchty Center Stanford Redesign Center Ron Clark Academy Campus School at Boston College Center for Gifted Youth, John Hopkins University

+Once Upon A School. org http://vimeo.com/3020821 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaSF1gPBKrA

+Focus on Content: Continuity in RMWP conceptshttp://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/4029382/RMWP_Youth_Center

-Collaboration, Content, Technology

-Learner-Centered, Writing Throughout the lesson, Learners Use Technology, Outcomes/Standards-based, Explicit Instruction, Research-Based, Collaboration

-ADP Benchmarks: Language, Communication, Writing, Research, Logic, Information Text, Media, Literature, Grammar, Punctuation, Spelling

-Writing across all content areas

- Write to Learn, Learn to Write

+A Dream of RMWP fellows…“the generous risk-taker”

Adaptation of Mr. Choakumchild in Hard Times:

“Now what I want are generous risk-takers. Build a sense of trust and inquiry with these girls and boys. Generosity of spirit is the lynchpin of any civilization. Animate wonderment compelling us to risk pride and standing in order to learn propels all people forward. Plant nothing else, celebrate nothing else. Root out all hindrances whether human, or environmental that squelch the generous risk-taker. Then these children will be of service to community and country. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children. This is the principle on which I will bring up each student in my charge. Nourish the generous risk-taker.”

+A New Birmingham Catalyst Academy Vision: “The New Catalyst Academy will provide an

option for students from all over Jefferson County to receive, the best education we can offer through the public schools.  We value education as a means for students to accomplish any idea they can dream.  We are centered in downtown Birmingham.  We see this school as freedom.  We create opportunity.  We seek the higher roads, the more challenging path, and find the solution to all obstacles that arise.  We believe.”

+This we believe…

This We Believe... We believe in infinite possibility and incurable

optimism. We believe each student can achieve and be successful.  We believe in reading, we believe in opening minds. We believe that life is a journey, and we never stop learning, experiencing or questioning. We believe our school is a family and we treat each other as such.  We believe in the power of the individual. We believe in the development of each student’s voice. We believe in Birmingham, the future, and the wealth we have from our diversity.

+RMWP’s Learning and Enrichment Center…“empowering teachers, enriching students”