Concluding Post - Building the Community of a Dream School

31 July 2013

Dear fellow colleagues, administration, and school board of The Dream School,

Our students come to us from all different backgrounds. They live in different communities, they celebrate different holidays, and their paths to school may be varied. Still, our students come together each day in their classrooms, at their lockers, and as they walk through the hallways amongst one another. When our students walk through the doors of our school, they know it is time to fill their classrooms with knowledge and learning. As our students come together at the Dream School, they are both leaving behind their communities but also bringing pieces of it with them. Their community, where they come from and where they grow up, are a part of their culture and who they are as an individual. As educators, we must honor their communities and bring pieces of who these students are into the classroom. My question then becomes, are we truly doing this for our students? Are we creating a learning center that unites both their Dream School and home communities? Are we allowing our students to bridge the gap in order to make both their school and their home a blended community? It is in these questions that I come to you with a community proposal for the Dream School. It is my goal, along with your support and teamwork, to foster community growth between the school of our students and their homes.

Nearly 60% of students in Detroit are living in poverty (http://www.skillman.org/Who-We-Are). The city of Detroit recently filed bankruptcy and an emergency manager was recently appointed to oversee Detroit Public Schools (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013307150114). It is no secret that Detroit is a city of struggle and turbulence. However, Detroit is never a city to give up. Detroit has true grit and each new generation of Detroit citizens are ready to participate in the fight to revitalize their city. Detroit does not seek those who will offer pity but rather those that will roll up their sleeves and get their hands dirty in the fight for change. I am a firm believer that education, in all of its various forms, is the single greatest vehicle for change in our world. I know that education is capable of being a driving force of change in Detroit. By uniting schools with their neighboring communities, beautiful things are possible and seeds of progress can be planted. It is in this context that I have formed my proposal of uniting our classrooms and learning with the Detroit community. I believe this will be achieved at the Dream School through three standards.

To begin, I believe it is paramount for the learning of our students to bring their lives to the classroom. In School and Society, John Dewey argues that a school must be made a genuine form of active community life rather than a place set a part to learn lessons. When our students enter the Dream School, I do not want them to feel as though they are leaving their community behind for the school day. I want each of our students to bring their community and their lives with them into the classroom. It is in this way that true and meaningful learning is able to take place. For example, when I teach my social studies students about the Ancient Greek and Roman empires, I do not have them just read from the textbook or take notes. Instead, our students host their own version of the Greek Olympics and they examine photos from my semester abroad in Rome. Even more importantly, I give my students a homework assignment in which they are required to look at their community through the eyes of the Ancient Greek and Roman empires. They are asked to walk, drive, bike, etc. through their neighborhood, write down what they see and explain how it reflects the Greeks and Romans. This not only brings the content material to life but it also brings my students' communities into the classroom. It also allows me to get to know my students even further thus enhancing our relationships and how I can best teach them.

In School and Society, Dewey points to the fact that a child's “activities represent or stand for the life that he sees going on around him.” The behaviors and actions of our students are a constant reflection and symbol of the community they come from. As teachers, it is then in our best interest to meet our students where they are and to truly get to know our students in order to teach them better. For example, at the start of each school year, I have my students fill out a survey which enables me to get to know them. Likewise, I also have them take home and return a form they must complete with their parent/guardian. The form only has a couple of questions but they are of utter importance. They ask for contact information and they also ask for the parent/guardian to tell me about their child. It is in this simple way that I am able to begin contact with my student's home which really enhances their learning experience in my classroom. Throughout the school year, I also ask my students to participate in numerous getting to know you and teamwork building activities. Each time, I am asking my students to give a piece of themselves to the activity. This allows them to get to know their peers but it also allows the classroom to become their own as they put more of themselves into it.

Even though I am actively involved in getting to know my students and their community throughout the school year, I would like to do more and I am encouraging my colleagues to join along with me. I would like our Dream School to begin making home visits to our students and their communities (http://www.edutopia.org/carol-sharp-home-visits). Home visits would be set by appointment and two teachers would attend together. The home visits could be completed in the summer time before school begins or early on in the fall, while continuing periodically throughout the school year. Of equal importance, all staff should complete a training for what to expect and how to plan for home visits with their students. The ultimate goal of each home visit is to increase the bonding of our school community. Through home visits, we are inviting parents/guardians into their child's school and encouraging the important role they play in their child's education. Home visits will also allow teachers and staff of the Dream School to encounter their students' communities first hand which can be correlated into the classroom.

Secondly, I believe that we need to foster our greater school community where there is the most need. In Missy Bennett's Understanding the Students We Teach: Poverty in the Classroom, the breadth of poverty and its implications on the classroom are discussed. More importantly, Bennett discusses that as educators, we must learn and study where our students come from in order to be culturally responsive teachers. Bennett also points out that “many times in our lives, we choose the realities we live in, even though deep down we know the real world does not go away.” It is on this note, that I propose a student led volunteer committee at the Dream School. Our students know first hand the challenges of their communities more than anyone. They know what their communities do and do not need in order to succeed. Being so, our students should be given the opportunity to give back to their communities where there is the most need. Although the volunteer committee will only be led by a selected number of students, along with advising teacher staff, each student at the Dream School must participate in volunteer work throughout the school year. For example, students could paint murals in their community in order to bring life and beauty to their neighbors. Students could host a clothing or food drive in order to give back to the most hungry and needy of their community. Through physical education class, students could help fix up community playing fields to enhance more participation.

It would also be in the best interest of the students to ask community members to volunteer alongside them. In Johnson and Johnson's, Learning Together and Learning Alone, it is explained that individuals are truly empowered when they are organized into cooperative teams. By inviting community members to participate in volunteer activities with our students, our greater school community will only continue to grow. Students will also be given the chance to bring their school life to their community peers and vice versa. What a learning experience for all parties involved! There is also hope that community members will want to help enhance our students' learning experiences. For example, many career men and women may know of other ways in which our students can help those in need, thus creating a full circle in our community building.

Finally, if we are to build our school community for our students, each teacher needs to be wholeheartedly involved. If we are to fully incorporate this proposal into our everyday lives at the Dream School, our staff needs to be on the same page and represent a cohesive team. Because of the challenges we may face as we develop our greater school community, it is necessary that we support and communicate with one another. In Ann Lieberman and Lynne Miller's Teachers in Professional Communities, honest talk between teachers is placed as high importance. It is only in this way, that we will be able to go outside the boundaries of what a typical teacher should be. This will also allow us to use “inside knowledge” (Lieberman and Miller, Teachers in Professional Communities) because it is well known that we have a gifted staff filled to the brim with incredible ideas. Most importantly, if our staff has created a meaningful and caring community, our students will take notice. We must lead by example and be a model to our students if we want them to bring their community into our school walls.

As educators at the Dream School, there are a variety of ways in which we can incorporate our students' communities into our classroom content. For example, I took my students on a field trip this past school year to the Detroit Historical Museum. The museum had reopened to the public after remodeling so not only were our students supporting their hometown but they were also learning its rich history. As a teacher, I have been privileged to watch science teachers create school gardens as a part of enhancing content knowledge. Whether a butterfly garden or one filled to the brim with fresh vegetables, each garden has allowed students to take ownership of their learning experience. The Dream School could even open its garden doors to the greater community as well. How amazing would it be for our students to discuss gardening tactics with local Detroit farmers?! It is also beneficial to have outside speakers come into the classroom. If family members or friends of students are involved in career fields that relate to your classroom content, invite them to come speak with your students. This will only further facilitate bonding between our students' school and the community they live within. As a school community, we can also host events in which teachers, staff, students, parents/guardians, and community members are invited. These events could simply be barbeques, they could be fundraisers, or possibly celebrate different accomplishments in the school community. These get togethers would provide yet another outlet in which the doors would be opened to the school and community for the growth of our students.

I recently watched a TED Global Talk from 2010 in which Emily Pilloton, an interior designer, spoke of Teaching Design for Change. Pilloton was able to help in the transformation of a rural school by bringing a fresh perspective on education. She spoke of education being hands on, “in your face”, active classrooms, and having classes be taught with a local purpose. In the school Pilloton assisted in renewing, students were able to build and remodel aspects of their community for the better. Students were not only learning and using content knowledge but they were also reviving their neighborhood. It was in this format of education that Pilloton explained, “youth becomes the biggest aspect.” Like Pilloton, I have a strong desire for our students to help in the transformation of their communities for the better. In Dewey's School and Society, there is no doubt that the author agrees in the potential of children when he explains, “But with growing power the child can conceive of the end as something to be found out, discovered; and can control his acts and images so as to help in the inquiry and solution.” What a beautiful thought to imagine and reflect upon. Our children truly are the future and we must give them the tools to help them shape the communities they will thrive within.

*The “Dream School” is just that … my “dream school”. I recently interviewed at the University Yes Academy in Detroit who I should hear back from any day now. This school would provide me the opportunity and support to do just what my letter proposes. If I were to be currently employed, this letter would be addressed to whatever colleagues, school board, and administration I would have the privilege of working alongside.