Stephen on connecting the dots with students

Stephen writes about talking to students about the bigger picture:

One of the opportunities that I love about our program is the chance to work with students and talk with students about school-wide problems and how to address them. For one thing we always have informal conversations with our students about things that concern them, which is often the school. We always try to push them to develop their thoughts and also try to keep them informed about anything we hear from our work in the school and around Philadelphia. Dr. Ackerman’s Imagine 2014 strategic plan for the district could have enormous impact on the lives of the students but many of them didn’t know anything about it. They were all interested though. I even got some students interested in looking at that who rarely look at anything except celebrity gossip websites.

Another way that we get to connect students to a wider perspective has been through the Peer Leadership program from the Anti-Defamation League, and the Peer Mediator program from the school district’s office of climate and safety. We have been able to leverage some of our influence with students to get them involved in these programs. Peer Leadership was designed to bring ESOL and American students together to address bias and discrimination, and then to go on to lead activities for students in the rest of the school. It was an extremely fulfilling training for the Peer Leaders, who all appreciated the time they spent getting to know students in a different way from almost anything else that they had experienced in the school. We have had some successes and a lot of frustration trying to keep the group together and using what they learned, but the school continues to be supportive of the program and we’re trying to figure out exactly what issues need to be addressed to have a successful program.