Dorchester Education Complex

College Awareness Program: A Win-Win Partnership

Since September 2004, students from the Economics and Business Academy (EBA) and Academy of Public Service (APS) at the Dorchester Educational Complex (DEC) have participated in a College and Career counseling program, designed to offer information and instruction on how to navigate the college application process. This program, the College Awareness Program (UMass/CAP), is offered by school psychology graduate students from the University of Massachusetts, Boston and is an offshoot from Harvard University's College Opportunity and Career Help Program (C.O.A.C.H). The program operates out of the College and Career Center at the Dorchester Educational Complex.

The UMass/CAP graduate students work in teams providing instruction, information and guidance to students in their exploration of educational and long-term career opportunities. The UMass/CAP program started with two graduate students working with fifteen APS/EBA students and has now expanded to include ten UMass/CAP graduate students working with thirty-five APS/DEC students in college and career counseling.

Another area where the UMass/CAP program and EBA make for strong partners is in the area of counseling and consultation. Because of the unique training that school psychology students receive in psychological assessment; counseling, consultation, prevention and intervention, as well as evaluation services, the school psychology graduate students have expanded their role within Economics and Business Academy to include group and individual counseling services that go beyond college and career planning. One example is the recent introduction of a wellness group that offers emotional and practical support to pregnant teenagers and young mothers. This group is led by two UMass/CAP graduate students and provides a safe environment where the EBA students are able to discuss their situation and receive feedback and support from other students with similar concerns and interests. The UMass/CAP program hopes to begin a support group for young fathers very soon.

The UMass/CAP graduate students meet onsite with APS/EBA students every Tuesday. Beyond the tremendous support that the team receives from the staff, an onsite university supervisor, Dr. Cynthia Waltman, faculty in the Counseling and School Psychology Department, supports the team. Dr. Waltman monitors the experiences of the UMass/CAP graduate students and conducts seminar sessions, allowing the graduate students to share insights and learning experiences. A student team leader, Barbara Ball, coordinates the efforts of the graduate team and is responsible for developing team cohesion, coordinating schedules, and managing the APS/EBA and UMass/CAP relationship. The team leader role is currently funded by the Trefler Foundation. "Without Barbara's coordination and attention to detail, CAP. would never have been as successful." says Joan Dolan, School to Career Coordinator. "She is truly the key person to this project."

"We believe our relationship with the Dorchester Educational Complex to be a win-win situation for everyone involved," said Barbara Ball, Student Team Leader for UMass/CAP Program. "We are not only providing guidance and support students in their college and career endeavours but through this partnership, the UMass/CAP graduate students are gaining valuable experience in a school setting as well as an opportunity to work with adolescents in developing coping skills for dealing with some of life's many challenges."

Jack Leonard, Headmaster of EBA, states "CAP brings us not only one-on-one mentoring for the seniors applying to college, but valuable counselling services for our young men and women. I do not know what we would do without this support from UMASS/Boston."

Charlestown High School

Summer Arrives Early At CHS!

Despite the recent chilly temperatures and mid-March snowstorm, summer IS on its way! Summer arrived a little early this year at Charlestown High when juniors and seniors were exposed to an early dose of summer fun at the 2nd annual COACH sponsored Summer Programs Fair on March 5th. Representatives from a wide variety of area enrichment, community service, and employment programs came together to showcase their summer opportunities and help get students excited about how they might spend the upcoming warmer months!

For some students, enrichment programs such as the Simmons College Upward Bound Program and the Boston Architectural Center Summer Academy were intriguing as they began to start thinking about life after high school. Other students were excited about employment opportunities featured by organizations like the Boston Private Industry Council, Securitas USA, and the USS Constitution Museum. Still yet, other organizations such as the Bottom Line, City School Summer Leadership Program, and the US Coast Guard Academy AIM Program enticed many other Charlestown students with their nearby engaging summer programs.

The Summer Program Fair is one of many activities offered by the Harvard COACH program at Charlestown High to get juniors and seniors excited about life after high school. Over the years, the coaches from the undergraduate and graduate colleges at Harvard have recognized that the summer between junior and senior year can be an important time for students to get practical experience for their future college and career choices. By offering this summer program fair, in combination with a medley of other interactive activities, the COACH program works to empower students to make informed choices about life after high school.

Martha Mullane, Harvard COACH

Burke High School

Burke Health Fair a Success

The 5th Annual Jeremiah E. Burke Health Fair sponsored by the Physical Education and Health Education Department in conjunction with the Student Health Center was held in the Burke Gymnasium on March 16th. The JROTC kicked off the fair with a marching drill. Students from Health Professions I & II, Physical Education, Health Education, and other classes participated in the fair.

There were a variety of healthcare providers who took the time out of their busy schedules to help make the Health Fair a success. Some of the providers were WIC, Children's Hospital, UMASS Nutrition Program, Dimock, MAPS, Project 10 Isisi, BPS Area Health Education, HECN, and Dr. Taylor just to name a few.

Students took part in discussions on Nutrition, HIV, AIDS, STDs, Tobacco Prevention and Dental Hygiene. After being instructed on how to eat right by following the Food Pyramid, the students enjoyed making smoothies. Since sports is an important part of the high school extracurricula activities, we made sure there was a Physical Therapist on hand from Children's Hospital talking with the students about how to prevent and treat sports injuries. The students especially enjoyed the free giveaways by our own Student Health Center which consisted of flashlights, gym bags, pens, pencils, notebooks and water bottles.

Mark Thacker from State Lab, State Trooper Lisa Brown and Luscious Murchison gave informative workshops on preventing STDs, recognizing and preventing abusive relationships, and forming healthy relationships.

As an added attraction to our Health Fair, this year students and staff donated blood to the Red Cross Blood Drive. This year's Health Fair was a real success.

West Roxbury High School

West Roxbury High Launches New Interdisciplinary Projects

West Roxbury High School teachers who are involved in the Small Learning Community (SLC) teacher mini-grant program are now implementing interdisciplinary projects within each SLC. Core curriculum classes are working with signature classes on projects in which students become aware of how curriculum and skills overlap. For example, the tenth grade honors English class also takes photography so when the students put on a Shakespearean play in the auditorium the photography students documented it. Students then discussed the activity and what they learned from it with other students, teachers, and literacy coaches. The oral discussion served as pre-writing material for students to develop an essay on the learning activity. This project at the same time promoted interdisciplinary work with teachers and students within the Media SLC. Students in Communication Arts have paired with the Graphic Arts class to produce a newsletter on a Career Day that they organized in the Media Center. The newsletter "Job Find" describes the activity and reflects upon what the students learned through the interview process. The graphics in the newsletter were vivid and the writing informative.

East Boston High School

BU Hosts Leadership Conference for Academy of Management Students

On Friday, March 19, 2004, juniors in the East Boston High School Academy of Management attended a leadership conference at the School of Hospitality Management at Boston University entitled Developing Capacities to Lead. The National Society of Minorities in Hospitality sponsored this conference. Boston University Hospitality Management students, decked out in their dress for success attire, hosted the event and acted as mentors to our EBHS Management students for the day.

The day began with a lovely breakfast and a welcome by Dean James Stamas from the Boston University School of Hospitality Administration. The greeting was followed by several outstanding workshops on Public Speaking with Professor Nicholas Washienko, Sales and Marketing with Angle Lenord of Hilton Hotels Corporation, Time Management with BU Dean Kenneth Elmore, Motivating Employees with Josh Hubbard, Director of Dining Services from Aramark Corporation and final remarks on Leadership Development from Professor Michael Oshins, a long time friend and board member for the Academy of Management. Students were treated to a lovely lunch in the BU cafeteria, which is operated by Aramark Corporation.

The students enjoyed having an opportunity to experience life on a college campus and they were very enthusiastic about the workshop on public speaking because it was so engaging. The students were shown videos of speakers and asked to comment on how they could improve. Then they were shown the video with their suggestions added. It was amazing how much more effective the speakers were when they followed just a few simple suggestions, such as using more volume and body language, and adding more enthusiasm. The importance of communication skills, particularly for those in leadership roles, was stressed to the students.

Madison Park Technical Vocational High School

Students are a Class Act at RCC

Earlier this month thirteen Madison Park Technical Vocational High School students had their literacy pieces published in the ACT Roxbury Literary Annual. In addition, six of the Graphics Arts Program students were asked to submit pen and ink drawings to illustrate the work of some of Boston's finest young literary talent. Students were asked to submit a favorite poem, short story or reflective work that they had produced recently. Teachers worked with the students and staff to finetune work and ready their graphic pieces.

Thanks to ACT Roxbury, the artistic, cultural and trade program of the Madison Park Development Corporation, and Roxbury Community College, an evening of celebration and literary reading was held earlier this month in the College's Media and Arts Auditorium. Five Madison Park students were picked to read their work while the rest of the writers and artists, accompanied by many staff members from Madison, cheered them on! After the event, the Roxbury Literary Annual went on sale in the lobby and many proud parents, grandparents, teachers and community leaders lined up to purchase autographed copies for their libraries. It was an event that brought down the house at RCC as the auditorium echoed with the strong and powerful voices of now published journalists and artists.

The Roxbury Literary Annual may be purchased at the Madison Park School Store or through Donna O'Brien (Phone: 617-828-0270; Email: dobrien@boston.k12.ma.us. The cost of the Annual is $5.00 and $2.00 of that supports the Madison Park School Store. Please contact us if you are interested in purchasing the Annual.

Donna O'Brien, Madison Park

Madison Park Technical Vocational High School

Move Boston: Strategies for Youth Fitness and Nutrition

On February 27, 2004, ten students from the Medical Assistant, Nursing Assistant and Child Care Programs in the Health and Human Service Academy at Madison Park participated Move Boston: Strategies for Youth Fitness and Nutrition. The daylong conference was sponsored by the Mayor's Award for Excellence in Children's Health, the Boston Public Health Commission and the Boston Nutrition and Fitness Coalition.

Students assisted the planning committee with attendee registration, guest relations and had an opportunity to discuss with Mayor Menino their future career goals. As the conference got underway students listened to leading experts present how system change and collaboration can impact youth fitness. Before leaving for the day all the students reviewed the health exhibits to stimulate ideas for their senior research project.

Deb Fox, Madison Park

West Roxbury High School

Regional Academic Competition

On March 1st the NJROTC academic team from West Roxbury High took a regional academic test. Every NJROTC academic team in the northeast competed. There were two tests, one was for the NS1s (first year cadets) and the other for NS2s, NS3s and the NS4s (senior cadets). The results were recently read at the Durfee High School drill meet in Fall River, MA. The unit found that Westie had two winners in the academic competition. A winner for the NS1 competition was C/PO3 Kevin Boggie who took 2nd place. C/Ens Carlos Rosario took 3rd place in the varsity academic test. This is the second year in a row that Cadet Ensign Rosario has placed in the regional academic competition! Westie is proud of their cadets for their outstanding performance in this test and their ability to transfer skills when necessary.

Adult Education

The External Diploma Program

An alternative diploma program for adults, the External Diploma Program (EDP) is a viable option for those who wish to get a high school diploma. Working toward this goal, the Boston EDP encourages use of the variety of educational and cultural resources within the City of Boston.

EDP is competency-based program providing credentials to adults who demonstrate generalized life-skill competencies in the following five areas:

• Community Resources
• Consumer Awareness
• Occupational and Career Awareness
• Health
• Government and Society

There is also a required individualized competency in one of the following areas:

• Academic
• Occupational
• Skills Training
• Parenting
• Volunteerism

After having demonstrated the competencies listed above, adults receive a high school diploma at one of two graduations held each year. This program is free to Boston residents and operates out of twelve neighborhood agencies in Boston. Anyone seeking information about EDP can call Chris Luongo at 617-635-5114 or e-mail at cluongo@boston.k12.ma.us.

Read more about EDP at: http://boston.k12.ma.us/stc/adulted/edp.html

Chris Luongo, Adult Education.

West Roxbury High School

Students Explore Women's Heritage; Produce Children's Books, Learning Festival, TV Show

"Legacies of the Ladies"

West Roxbury High School students are learning about the Boston community and the role of women in that history to celebrate Women's History month. TEACHBoston II students completed Internet research on Lucy Stone and then wrote children's book on the information they learned. At the "Legacies of the Ladies" learning festival they read those books to first and second graders from the Philbrick Elementary School. ELL students studied immigrant women who have lived in the Boston area and conducted a vocabulary lesson with the elementary students. "Book Club" students taught the younger students about Phyllis Wheatley and read ther original poetry to the Philbrick students. The TV production class dressed up as Abigail Adams, Lucy Stone, and Phillis Wheatley and conducted a theatrical memory corner with the younger students.

The festival created an awareness of women's rights and how those rights have made a difference in Boston and our country's history. The younger students left with a folder to help them reflect upon what they learned at the festival and to use as they share that reflection with their parents or guardians.

Boston Neighborhood Network

Since September, TV Production students from West Roxbury High have been participating each month in the Boston Neighborhood Network program "Let's Talk About Schools." The students research information that relates to the show and then create questions to ask invited guests. This month's show, "Women of Substance", focused on the The Ladies Walk that is a herstory trail designed in honor of the Boston Women's Memorial with guests Sylvia McDowell, Vice President of the Women's Heritage Trail and Marie Turley, Boston Women's Heritage Trail Commissioner. The students developed questions for their guests comparing the Freedom Trail with the Women's Heritage Trail centered around the question "Where have all the women been?" The show was a challenging one and the students learned a great deal more than what they had set out to discover. They are hoping that the show's audience learned as much as they did.

Home, Inc.

Twenty-four Teachers in Five Boston Schools Develop New Media Literacy Curriculum

Can students learn to influence their peers by analyzing and producing media messages? Will students become inoculated from media that glorifies violence and risky health choices by learning how to critique violence in music videos, news and entertainment programs? Helping students and teachers with these questions is one of the key goals of HOME Inc.'s Media Literacy and Health project that is in five Boston schools. A team of teachers from each school are developing curriculum that helps students deconstruct popular media, analyze an audience, and construct a video public service announcement aimed to reduce either violence, substance abuse, or disrespect in their school. Teachers received ten hours of training where they developed media-related skills including: analyzing audiences using online surveys, how to identify persuasive techniques used in advertising and how to develop a media campaign in their school. During this spring, many of the school media literacy teams will be implementing their new standards-based curriculum and learning the answers to many important questions about youth and the media.

All participating teachers are included in HOME's "best practices CD-ROM" which is being produced this year. Adam Schatten, HOME's Media Outreach Specialist is video taping the classes and working closely with the teachers to feature class activities, and interviews with students and teachers. Each of the school teams have developed curriculum that is unique to their teaching styles but is closely aligned to their school improvement plan and curriculum frameworks. Here are some of the projects and project teams that make up the Media Literacy and Health Project.

Media Literacy in the High Schools

Brighton High School's Katie Linso, and Virginia Kropas are dividing their media literacy and health classes into three different teams. Each team will analyze one of the project's main themes: substance abuse, disrespect, and violence, through the lens of the media.

Katie Linso asks students to describe how they would cover a news story about their school.

One class period is focused on how local television news handled a weapon incident at a high school in Boston. The students examined the news coverage using critical analysis. The teachers were prepared with a variety of questions to stimulate some challenging discussions. Some questions were about the students who were shown on camera and how they were characterized. Another question was whether the media is pre-judging a person's involvement by the types of shots that are shown?

The students in the class felt that more interviews with students at the school would have helped the story cover student safety. Another question was "why didn't the reporters play up the 'teacher as a hero'?"

Critical questions were raised, and the fact that students were involved and featured in the story helped the class to personalize the issues of violence and how the media can help clarify or confuse an issue.

At English High School the Media Literacy and Health Project helped redesign the school curriculum during the reorganization of the school into three small learning communities. A core group of teachers from the newly formed Media and Arts Small Learning Community took HOME's Media Literacy and Health training. The school created two media labs based on the technology, computer software, and courses that were being developed in the project. At English we set up a second team of teachers to complete the training and continue to develop new curriculum this year. English High School's new teacher team includes Ryan Rud, Laurina Morgan, Winnie Eke, Julian Farietta, Gerald Hogu and Kimberly Nettensheim. Sue Mortensen and Colonel Paul Jones, are continuing to support the project with the media lab. Each of the teachers on the English High team are developing curriculum units and Public Service Announcements.

For example, Kimberly Nettensheim developed her curriculum unit on surveys to help students learn how to gather and analyze audience data. Her objectives are:

• To help students understand how surveys are used in media and how they are focused.
• To recognize bias in surveys and how it can affect responses.
• To understand how surveys influence the media.

Kimberly also directs students to a web site where they can develop their own surveys and be more analytical about the kinds of questions they ask. To find out more check the web site: Conducting surveys at http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/557book/e112.survey.html

At the TechBoston Academy the Media Literacy and Health teaching team includes Ken Brack, Steven Ensdorf, Shannon Oatey, Marsha Turin and Alycia Scott-Hiser. The TechBoston Academy team created a matrix of classes on a floating schedule. One of the challenges was to be sure that all student media literacy projects were grounded in a solid understanding of the audience. For TechBoston Academy, audience analysis created the basis for each student project by focusing on clear objectives:

• Students will become aware of the tools and methods that are used to create media messages and practice deconstructing messages in media.
• Students will analyze various persuasive techniques used in media messages and become familiar with them.
• Students will become familiar with the concept of a target audience and understand how advertisers research and prepare a message with the goal of creating a receptive audience.

The classes are full of discussions. But ideas have to be backed up by facts. The class emphasizes the importance of audience research and directs students to a variety of good resources. One web resource for audience analysis, http://www.wsu.edu/~amerstu/pop/audience.html, has a compendium of links to many popular culture sites that appeal to the teen market.

Media Literacy in the Middle Schools

At the Cleveland Middle School, Dulce Carvalho, Jody Calabro, and Julie White have been collaborating on some very exciting class projects. One of the first steps is to have students take an on-line survey that produces data about student opinions on violence, disrespect and drug abuse. The data is output as bar graphs which along with the raw data, helps students analyze and prioritize a number of issues that can be highlighted in media projects and school wide Public Service Announcements. Some of the themes that were dominant in their first survey are that the images of violence, alcohol use, and tobacco use "are made to look cool" in the media, while violence in their community is often presented as a negative characteristic of their neighborhood.

The classes will analyze the survey data and will be developing their own public service campaign after they have examined how the media shapes public opinion on the issue they choose for their project.

The Lewis Middle School team is well on the way to developing their first student projects. The Lewis team includes members David Stamper, Paulette Squares, Larry Rolland, Bruce Thatcher and Brenda Jones, Principal. One of the challenges at the Middle school is to involve students who are self conscious and often critical of each other, in projects that ask questions about themselves as the audience. Paula Squires, the health teacher wanted to tackle the difficult issue of body image for the girls and boys and she realized that the class would be more comfortable discussing the subject if the girls and boys were separated. She and Larry Rolland split the class into two classes to discuss media messages and themes for young women and men. Students were able to analyze how they are portrayed in the media and to examine themes of body image and acceptance, male and female student interactions, sports and bullying, and the difficulty of living up to the ideal fashionable image.

Contact Us

The BPS Media Literacy and Health project has spawned some wonderful and challenging curricula for middle school and high school students. The success of the projects and curricula has been based on the collaboration of wonderful teaching teams. The students and teachers have accepted the challenge of projects that validate student opinions with research on the subject matter. Students then form project teams where they can test their ideas and allow their ideas to grow and mature through the creative process. With the Media Literacy and Health project students become better communicators, problem solvers, and contributing members of their school learning community. They learn to analyze the media and gain a healthy understanding of the intent of media messages that sell a product, issue, or lifestyle. To find out more about the Media Literacy and Health project, contact Alan Michel at alanmichel@homeinc.org or Nancy Strunk at the Boston Public Schools at nstrunk@boston.k12.ma.us. To learn more about the project go to the HOME, Inc. web site at http://www.homeinc.org.

Resource Shelf

Through the Harvard Coach program, Harvard students help BPS students with the college application and financial aid process. (See news stories from Charlestown High and Dorchester Education Complex.) The Coach program website includes information about the program itself as well as useful college and test information links. Go to http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/coach/info_for_students.htm. Find additional college and career planning resources on the High School Renewal website at http://www.highschoolrenewal.org/collegecareer.htm.

Learn more about the Boston Women's Heritage Trail at http://www.bwht.org. While at the site, check out related Boston history sites, at http://www.bwht.org/boston.html. (See the related news story from West Roxbury High.)

Visit the Home, Inc. website to learn more about the Media Literacy (news story above) and other projects at http:/www.homeinc.org.