Keeping an eye out for our students who don't have a home!

I love this article because it brings attention to something I think gets overlooked way more frequently than it should.  Students who don't have a place to call home and/or are living on the streets can easily get overlooked in schools.  This specific person tells about how her and her little sister were never approached about needs or appearance of the two of them when they were living on the streets and always existing in an abusive environment.  No one ever asked why they were always afraid to "call home", or would flinch and hunch down if someone became angry.  She then goes on to give advice for teachers and schools if they ever think they may know some of these students.  She reminds them to offer resources, extracurricular activites, etc.  Then she gives advice to the students themselves; stay in school, education will be your biggest secret weapon, and focus on what you can control...and so much more.  It's such a relevant topic, great article!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/none-of-my-teachers-knew-i-was-homeless-they-should_us_581244e7e4b08301d33e06b5

Embracing Differences

I'd like to share two articles I found that are both related to the idea of embracing cultural differences. They both have excellent ideas for integrating a variety of subjects and tools into a balanced lesson of identity and culture.

First Article:

Celebrating Skin Tone: The Science and Poetry of Skin Color
Rethinking Schools Vol. 29 No. 3
Spring 2015
By Katharin Johnson

"Disintegration"

“Seeking Integration, Whatever the Path” by Michael Winerip
New York Times, February 27, 2011

Topic: Integration in the Wake County Public School System in North Carolina.

Summary: This school district has long been known for integration. Originally, this meant racial integration. After that was outlawed, the district went to integration based on socio-economics. Now there is a proposal from community leaders in the Chamber of Commerce to integrate schools based on achievement.

Intended audience: General public

Key Points:

• After race-based integration was outlawed in 2000, Wake County adopted socioeconomic integration.
• The integration plan was dismantled in 2009.
• New proposal (Mid-February 2011) suggests achievement based integration with a “70-30 mix – 70 percent of students who have scored proficient on state tests and 30 percent who are below grade level.”
• All the schools will be academically successful – Hurrah!
• Ultimately, the decision is up to the board; however, it has been received favorably by conservative and liberal members of the nine person board.

Relevance: This article was really interesting to me – what an innovative way to look at school integration! The article touches on issues of diversity that we have discussed student achievement, race, socioeconomics, and politics. I am interested to see how this idea plays out.

Note - Here is the clip from the Colbert Report mentioned in this article about the Wake County Schools issue: