TED 717 Week #7 June 27-July 3

I can't believe it.

Week seven already.

Okay. Tt 7 17 wow. I always feel this particular course.

I've had it now a handful of times and

it's deep.

It makes us ponder.

Um,

it starts and it ends just bam. Um, so much to think about.

So many things we want to try.

So many things that are very daunting in my opinion, but powerful. Um,

well

last week

of our course, if you are taking a second course this summer, it starts on july 5th,

so not on monday fourth of july but on july 5th.

So keep that in mind. Um,

week number seven june 27th through july 3rd.

I won't have final grades and things done for a couple of weeks after this,

after today here.

Um, so once you turn it in your last assignment on july 3rd,

I will grade those that following week after fourth of july

and then post those grades. So your patience is appreciated.

Happy 4th of July I hope you're finding time to do something with friends and family.

Um, looking to be somewhat nice out. So

let's keep our fingers crossed for that. Right,

Okay. Let's do our recap first.

Last week was all about that community peace and really the data and what to do with

it and how to interpret it needs to be a big piece of that in my opinion.

Then we have I mentioned and it was also in the book that board make up your,

your school boards and the makeup of it and having a community piece to that.

Um, and,

and civic engagement and making that community feel like

they have some ownership to that whole piece.

And then we talked about surveys and it not being just like this little check box,

like, yep, I gave a survey out now we check the box, we're done, whatever we get,

we get,

I don't know a lot of schools do that, I was in a school that did that, so I get it

more so for the families, not communities.

Um,

so

that next piece is now really that now, what do we do? Right.

And that's where it's all going to tie together for this week.

Okay. Family school and community all as a partnership,

we need to remember. So these were my big takeaways after going through this course.

Now a couple of times of

students have to be first, no ifs ands or buts about it.

Students are first,

they are front and center and we were thinking like a backwards design or

universal design by learning of learning all

of those types of planning instruction pieces.

We want our objective to be students first student growth.

Okay, and then that next piece is how is the family gonna support that?

How are the schools going to support that?

And how is the community going to support that?

So I look at it as these three

spheres coming together for supporting those students.

How do we advocate

for our students? How do we advocate

for our families? How do we advocate for our communities?

How do we make it all happen together?

Um,

can we teach

everyone each other to be advocates?

Okay.

I don't know

you now though, have gained tools,

the ability to create this change and to really get

that ball rolling and it can be a snowball effect.

If we can get some peace of this rolling and and go from there,

it's going to become bigger and better.

So voice and choice, we we always say that, or I used to say that in my classroom,

you have a voice and you have a choice,

Okay. You do too.

We all do at this point,

so now it's time to be that voice in our

schools or be that voice in our communities and really

lead the change.

We also need to acknowledge our limits.

Okay, This, like I said, is a daunting task. We're all in a different spot,

know your limits, give what only you can give, so it doesn't affect

all those great things that are happening in your classroom.

Um,

we don't have all of the, the knowledge, we don't have the, all of the expertise,

We need to put our heads together, okay?

We need to work as teams, we need to find resources, it's a work in progress,

we are building our capacity on something

like this and something new and I've said this before in other courses and this one,

it's a marathon and not a sprint.

Okay,

so we have all of us bring a certain skill

set into this and then we can all work together.

Okay, this is teamwork at

at the best.

We also need to be, I think in my opinion,

thinking about the school I came from is to give

a voice to our families and not just in a survey

form and perhaps that's creating those small round tables and our

our book this weekend attacks a little bit about that.

I've seen that work pretty well.

Um, I was on a roundtable committee,

a strategic intervention committee for the school district my Children go to,

which is a huge school district

and just recently,

within a like three months ago and great conversations came about it,

but as I was sitting there,

there were barriers and then I mentioned those barriers being

that we had the small population of our parent base, we were missing many,

many pieces of that.

And quite frankly it was all

white

women sitting at that table, so we were missing some places there.

And so that was a piece that becomes a barrier.

But again,

I think a good place to start is those small round tables

to have those more in depth conversations that are less stressful,

less anxiety inducing that we have to start small.

Again, marathon, not a sprint,

You're gonna go run a marathon,

you're certainly not going to just jump in and run 26.2 miles.

Okay, you're gonna start with a couple of miles and build your stamina,

just like we want to build our capacity in this regard.

Um, getting our communities involved and

creating community opportunities and not just like we're having a big concert,

we're having our choir concert and everyone's coming in and

we're having a science fair and we're bringing everyone in.

We need to think about smaller community opportunities versus that one big event.

Okay.

We need trust,

we need commitment

and we need to listen

that those are my other big takeaways.

Um, you are all new leaders, your leaders in your districts,

your leaders in your school buildings, your leaders amongst your peers.

Um, leaders don't have to be just administration, share the power.

And if you're lucky to have administration that

believe that also you will do great things.

Again, small steps, big investment.

Okay.

Chapter seven.

Now we've skipped around a little bit in this book. Last week was Chapter five.

This week's Chapter seven.

Chapter 7 co designing justice and well being

in with and in systems and conclusions.

Um,

again, I have minds all marked up, but

I love this. I love this chapter as it kind of tied it all up.

But it also made me think, wow, this is a daunting task.

Okay, so that's where I always keep coming back on small steps.

Okay,

this is a work in progress.

And I,

and the book mentions that and I think it always

will be and I say that it always will be because

our clientele changes in the school

right

from year to year or every few years, things change.

So it's you might get it working really well and have great engagement,

family engagement,

and great community engagement and things are going

really well based on data that we are taking

and then all of a sudden sudden something changes.

Okay, so we need to change with it.

Okay. Being flexible, just like we are with lesson planning

being that change

kind of is hard because it makes you stand

out okay because a lot of people don't like change

and but a lot of people are thinking this

in regards to community and family engagement and involvement.

So say it, don't just think it anymore. Now, it's time to really be that leader. Okay.

Um,

I mean this, I have so many notes, but again,

getting that community buy in is important.

Getting that family engagement important,

not just checking a box and this really just shows the

commitment that has to go in to this and how this

could be a fine line trying to navigate it at times

and it's going to be trials and tribulations it is.

Um but I feel like we all have really good ideas and

a good starting point and we know our schools so well.

But anyways, chapter seven,

then

we are going to tie it all up

with,

there's an optional article and I almost feel like I shouldn't make it optional

because I really like this article and it's under under the reading module.

But it's an additional resource and it's called organizing engagement.

And it's really about family school community partnerships, but it's got a weave

to it.

There's this piece that's weaved together and I like it because it really ties in.

It solidifies what happened here

into this article and it talks about the principles of equitable collaboration

and those pieces that need to be weaved together are the following

community capacity,

authentic

partnerships.

Families

as the experts,

educators as learners,

balanced power

and family driven goals.

Okay,

I didn't say anything there about test scores. Okay,

I didn't say anything in there as

the educators leading this.

Okay.

It says educators as

learners. Families as experts. And this is a hard switch because

were the teachers we know how to teach, that's our job to deliver content.

Remember, think back to the very beginning of when you became a teacher,

you should have been preached that that community

environment that you are teaching in has to be solid.

You have to know your kiddos has Maazel's hierarchy of needs has to be met

and once that is then you can teach all the content you want.

So again,

you need those families because they need to tell you everything they can about your

community and their communities and and how

their kiddos tick because that will only strengthen

that data

and student growth.

So

even though it's an optional additional resource

read it, it's really good. I like it.

No videos,

no discussion board.

Okay I want you to spend time um really working on your final project. It's 5-7 pages.

That's not including your title page or reference.

And again I got wiggle room either way they're always do but just

know that about 5-7 pages you really are going to be hitting on

five main points. OK

that there's cultural proficiency barriers

and family school community collaborations,

family engagement, community involvement, equitable collaborations.

That's the gist of this.

So you're taking everything you learned in seven

weeks and you're really piling it together.

Um

Then there is a specific title for this and the reason I chose that is because

it's called the title I want you to

use is from parent participation to equitable collaborations,

visions for the future.

Except one thing I thought of and I didn't put it because not everyone

maybe has a clear understanding but I wanted it to be from P.

T. A.

To equitable collaborations. So parent teacher association, the P. T. A.

And it's funny I just got a thing um from my my middle school or

or she's gonna be in high school next year but their schools saying the P.

T. A.

At their middle school is going to dissolve because

they didn't have anyone to take it over.

Um So to me of course I thought about this course and I thought well I

wonder if times are finally changing but what are they gonna do and replace of it?

But

um that title though of this paper from parent participation I I

did kind of want to add in that snippet up from P.

T. A. But

anyways

that's it

that that's all I've got.

Um You're working on that final paper,

finish reading things and then start start getting your thoughts down.

Um And I should have flipped slides. Sorry I didn't hear.

So there you are in your typewriter. Good thing. We don't have to do that anymore.

Anyways it's been a pleasure. It's always a pleasure.

Um It's been fun working with this crew.

Uh So many of you I've had in previous courses so we kind of have a system which is nice.

You

know if you need anything this week please reach out to me, I will mention that

I will be checking email. Of course I'll be on um today 28 June 2019

but then it's gonna be spotty.

I will be gone for the long weekend and I will try to check my email at night

but I will triage what's important because I have

very limited service where I'm going to be.

So it'll be really through my phone is all

um

So

know that if you needed an extension or something

went on and you couldn't get something done,

please just send me an email and make it back to.

I may not until fourth of july or just after.

I need everything done and in the oh I will throw this date out there.

I need it to me in my inbox in canvas by july 5th Tuesday july 5th by noon

then I will have plenty of time

to get your final grades in because there's a pretty quick turnover

so I won't give any extensions best july 5th at noon, Tuesday july 5th at noon.

So just kind of keep that in mind to going

forward but reach out to me if you need something.

Alright. My pleasure as always to work with you. I learned so much from all of you.

I wish you nothing but the best and I hope to see all of you and work with all of you soon.

Take care goodbye.

TED 717 Week #7 June 27-July 3

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