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Student Voices | |
Boston Student Advisory Council ~ Energy, Enthusiasm and LeadershipThe Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) is a citywide body of student leaders representing Student Government, Faculty Senate/Instructional Leadership Team, and Headmaster of their schools. Among their many activities, BSAC members convene monthly; meet with the Superintendent and members of the School Committee to offer their perspectives on high school renewal efforts; and inform their respective schools about relevant citywide issues. BSAC members have had a busy year thus far. ACC 9th Grader Asiya Williams is BSAC President and Student Member of the School Committee. She attends bi-weekly School Committee meetings and reports back to monthly BSAC membership meetings. BSAC members from 26 different high schools have surveyed their student councils on the status of school-based student government and attended Community Forums on the Student Assignment Plan, School Committee meetings, and Budget Hearings. They've also hosted School Committee members at monthly BSAC meetings with enthusiastic exchanges about school issues. The Superintendent is scheduled for an upcoming meeting. Look for BSAC Updates in a future issue. For more information, contact
Keith Love, BSAC Student Advisor, 617-592-1944 | |
Charlestown High School | |
Critical Thinking and Student VoicesCharlestown High School helps students see the value of a compassionate and educated society and offers them opportunities to think critically about their world. Senior pathway students recently attended a "Dialogue on Diversity" at UMass/Boston where they participated in a simulated negotiation with students from other schools in the Boston area. Participants used a case developed by "Workable Peace" in order to negotiate around issues of civil rights in post-9/11 America. These students also attended a field trip to Camp Edwards where they facilitated team building activities for a 9th grade unit from CHS. A mentoring program between these two "small learning communities" is being planned. Juniors worked with a visiting film crew from Facing History and Ourselves. The students were taped while investigating the Nuremburg trials and debating the issue of whom should be held responsible for the Holocaust. The tape will be used as a promotional video for Facing History. Currently, juniors are studying the Rwandan Genocide and will be visited by a guest speaker who is a survivor of the genocide in Rwanda and a current student at Clark University. In addition, Junior pathway students had a joint class with Champlain Valley Union High School in Vermont. Students discussed and debated Human Rights and the UN Declaration of Human Rights. CHS students hope to visit Vermont to continue the relationship! | |
West Roxbury High School | |
  | Students Becoming AuthorsWest Roxbury students in the TEACHBoston I classes have begun the process of writing fictional children's books. In cooperative learning groups, students discussed writing for an audience and explored the kind of books that might grab the attention of six or seven year olds. Reflection on the students' own reading interests at a young age helped to foster many ideas. The next step was to brainstorm the creation of characters and story plots using a graphic story map. Once the story map was completed the writing task began as students developed interesting scenarios. Peer reviewing and teacher support was used to encourage the writers and prevent writers block. Students are now editing and rewriting their second and third drafts. In the TEACHBoston II class, student writing is focused on non-fiction. Students are completing research on the Boston Women's Heritage Trail using the Internet. They have decided to write a biographical story on Lucy Stone for first graders. Women's rights have sparked a real interest for the students and this interest is fueling their writing process. When the stories are completed, students will transform their stories into books for children using images and graphics to add visual interest. This project is giving the TEACHBoston students a first hand experience of what it might be like to be an author or publisher. |
WriteBoston | |
WriteBoston Partners with BCLA and the OdysseyWriteBoston, an educational initiative out of the Mayor's Office, is going strong in its second year. While developing strong relationships with its two partner high schools, Boston Community Leadership Academy (BCLA) and the Odyssey School in South Boston, WriteBoston continues to work toward the goal of creating a community of writers and changing the culture of writing in these schools. WriteBoston's success stories include dozens of classrom visits by local writers and an email program between high school and college students. "Writers don't have to be from somewhere else" Local writer Dave McLaughlin inspires BCLA students. Local playwright and BRA employee Dave McLaughlin visited several WriteBoston classrooms of Boston Community Leadership Academy students on December 9, 2003, to discuss writing his recent play Back to Before, which recently ended its run at the Black Box Theater in the South End. Students, who had read one scene from the drama, flooded McLaughlin with questions about casting actors and relating to the characters you write. The script McLaughlin showed students was full of edits, cross outs, and revisions. He stressed to the young writers the importance of revision. "Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. That takes the pressure off getting it right the first time." McLaughlin even admitted to cutting out 10% of the play and changing the play's ending once rehearsal began. "Revision is the key." McLaughlin's tales of writing in Hollywood also fascinated the classrooms of freshmen and seniors. McLaughlin also wrote the screenplay for the movie Southie. Upon learning this, several students asked for his advice about becoming actors. "There may be ten different ways to start acting-to start anything. But the important thing is just to get started." One group of ninth grade teacher Lauren McDade's students remained so interested in McLaughlin and his play that they were invited to a complimentary performance of Back to Before on December 17. McLaughlin and cast members such as Robert Wahlberg and Heather Lee spoke with the students for an hour before the performance, talking about movement on stage, acting techniques, and lighting design. After the intimate performance, the actors signed the students' programs and thanked them for their rapt interest during the play. McLaughlin and WriteBoston hope to collaborate for future projects that inspire young people to explore writing and the many related possible careers. A Shocking Experience: Odyssey Students to be published on Culture Shock! Another way WriteBoston works to create a community of writers is by enlisting writers in the community to communicate with students via e-mail. In its second year, WriteBoston is developing electronic pen pal programs with each of its partner schools. The results with the first collaboration of the year, the Odyssey School and MIT, demonstrate that the E-pal programs are a huge success. On Tuesday, December 2, 2003, thirteen high school seniors from the Odyssey School in South Boston trekked to the MIT campus to spend the afternoon meeting their e-mail partners and reading and editing essays with their college mentors. The essays will be compiled onto a website called Culture Shock! These students, part of the WriteBoston electronic pen pal program, collaborated with a class of writing students from MIT to write essays about pop culture. After e-mailing back and forth for several weeks, students on both ends wrote compelling essays on such topics as clothing, tattoos and body piercing, and Tupac Shakur's influence on teens after his death. The MIT students, responsible for the design and promotion of the website, all wrote pieces that had to pass through an editorial board to be published. Similarly, Odyssey students learned first-hand the stress of writing for publication and adhering to strict deadlines. Their college mentors also offered firm but helpful criticism of their essays, which many students accepted in order to have their papers published online. WriteBoston is continuing the success of electronic pen pal mentoring this year in its other two partner schools. In January, Sovereign Bank will pair with the McCormack Middle School to engage 7th graders. And at Boston Community Leadership Academy, two classes of 9th graders will be partnered with the editorial staff of the Boston Globe. For more information about WriteBoston, please contact Betty Southwick, Director, WriteBoston, 617-541-2604. | |
East Boston High School | |
 | Oral Presentations Improve Literacy and Self-EsteemStudents in East Boston's Academy of Health and Human Services are regularly asked to deliver oral presentations about the ProTech Program at MGH. On December 11th, at the "Building A Culture for Learning Conference" sponsored by the Office of High School Renewal and its partners, Jobs for the Future, Boston Plan for Excellence, the Center for Collaborative Education, and the Boston Private Industry Council, two of our ProTech students, Alicia DiStefano and Carla Casaletto spoke about their MGH ProTech Internships. This was only one of the many venues for which these students are asked to speak publicly. Making presentations is a regular part of the School to Career curriculum at East Boston High School. In fact, all signature projects include a public speaking component. Instruction in the fine art of making effective presentations may be more work for the teacher, in terms of planning and assessment, but practice in speaking in public is well worth it for the student. Alicia and Carla proved they were very proficient in the use of PowerPoint and showed competence in planning and presenting content, analyzing the audience, and designing visuals. It was truly moving to hear how Alicia, once an extremely shy young lady, had overcome her shyness as a result of the ProTech program which includes many opportunities to speak publicly about the valuable job skills and experience gained through ProTech. She said the program and the expectations of her teachers had changed her life and that she is now so full of confidence that she feels she can do anything she sets out to do in the future. Carla expressed that she too had gained self-esteem because she was expected to present the various components of the ProTech Program ,as well as other issues in Health Care, in public at a moment's notice for all sorts of visitors to East Boston High School from other cities, states and countries. School to Career Coordinator Mary Shea notes that "public speaking is an effective way to improve students' literacy and it should be encouraged more in all classrooms." |
Academy of Public Service | |
Academy of Public Service Students Attend Journalism ConferenceThe Academy of Public Service was one of ten area schools to participate in the 2004 High School Journalism Conference at UMass Boston on Friday, Jan. 9. Other participating high schools were Latin Academy, Burke, South Boston Education Complex, and Hyde Park. The students, freshmen Michael Rivers and Charlene Tate; sophomore, Ahlia Mahara; and junior, Trung Trinh, along with newspaper adviser Mrs. Aleisa Dunn, spent the day at the university attending workshops. The workshops, coordinated by Carole Remick, the high school journalism director, included topics on how to develop story ideas, how to take better photographs, how to design a newspaper and how to cover sports. The day also included discussions and lectures with newspaper editors and reporters from the Boston Globe and the Patriot Ledger. The APS students will be eligible to participate in the High School Journalism Program's summer institute. Remick announced that students can apply to the institute and if selected will be writing newspaper articles for the Democratic National Convention this summer. The institute will be held at Regis College in Weston, MA. Scholarships and internships at local newspapers are also available to the institute participants. Mrs. Dunn and the students will be producing the APS student newspaper this spring. They are currently producing the 2003-2004 APS Yearbook. | |
News From Schools | |
Academy of Public Service | |
Academy of Public Service Seniors Awarded Posse ScholarshipErma Drigo and Lisa Brathwaite of the Academy of Public Service can now breathe a sigh of relief. The Posse Foundation recently notified these seniors that each of them has been awarded a full four-year scholarship to Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. "It is a relief to know where we will be going next year," said Erma. In the meantime, both students realize that the scholarship requires that they keep their grades up for the remainder of the year. Drigo and Brathwaite are two out of 30 students selected by Posse for this scholarship program. This year teachers, principals and coaches nominated more than 500 students for possible scholarships. Teachers Sandy Simpson and Marcie Federle nominated the APS seniors for this prestigious award this past fall. Before being notified of their scholarships, both Drigo and Brathwaite had to attend several interview sessions between September and November. They had their final interviews in December and were notified just after the Christmas holiday. Erma and Lisa have visited the Bowdoin campus and both said they liked that it is "a small school." Neither senior has decided on a major; however both said that Bowdoin offered appealing courses of study in its liberal arts program. The families of both students were very pleased with the awards. "My mother knew all along that I would get it. She was very positive," Drigo said. | |
East Boston | |
Academy of Management Mentoring ProgramEast Boston has just begun a mentoring program for seniors in the Academy of Management. The program hosted a meeting on December 2, 2003 with about twenty mentors and mentees. The mentor program will be used as an advisory board as well as to recruit opportunities for job-shadows, rotations and tours of hotels. The following hotels have already signed up: Sheraton, Hilton, Hyatt, Colonnade, Embassy Suites, Royal Sonesta, and The Ritz Carlton. We also have one entrepreneur from GoBoston Destinations. | |
Economics and Business Academy | |
Trefler Foundation Sponsors Senior/Alumni DayOn Tuesday, January 13th, 2004, the Trefler Foundation sponsored Senior/Alumni Day with the Economics and Business Academy. The breakfast event brought together two Boston-based non-profits, Year-up and the National Black College Alliance as well as Dorchester High School alumni affiliated with their programs. In addition to having guest speakers from the non-profits, several Trefler Foundation scholars shared their college experiences with seniors. The message of the speakers was a clear one; regardless of a student's high school experience, there are options for after graduation. No student graduating from the Economics and Business Academy should be without a plan. Linda Swardlick-Smith, Director of Admissions, and Talainya Thames, Outreach Coordinator for Year-up explained that their non-profit focuses on "empowering urban talent to reach their potential." They believe that " everyone deserves the opportunity to realize his or her potential." Their program prepares urban young adults for life as well as work in the field of technology. Year-up guides their participants toward successful and rewarding careers as well as higher education. Robert Saunders, DHS/APS alumni from the class of 2000 shared his experiences at U-Mass Amherst and U-Mass Boston and how both college experiences were not right for him at the time and Year-up gives him the direction he needs. And, while he completes the Year-up curriculum, he is earning up to twenty-one credits at Cambridge College. George " Chip" Greenidge, Executive Director for the National Black College Alliance (NBCA), reminded students that " A's and B's are scholarships, C's and D's are loans." So, when it comes to getting into college, and more importantly when it comes to graduating college, a student's priority needs to be academic because you don't get a diploma just for getting into college. Chip explained that NBCA's priority is to create an atmosphere where high school students, college students, alumni, and adults can experience educational and personal growth. They work hard to introduce high school students to the community of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU's) and help prepare students for application and graduation from said institutions. E. Chris Summerhill, DHS/APS alumnus from the class of 2001 spoke with seniors from the perspective of a National Black College Alliance student participant and as a Trefler Foundation "I have a Dream" scholarship recipient. His message was strongly understood by all who heard him. You can graduate from Dorchester High School and make something of yourself but only if you are committed to prioritizing your schoolwork and focusing on your time-management. He stressed that extra help is out there if you know to look for it and actually get it together to ask for assistance. Other Trefler Foundation scholarship recipients, including Daphnee Antione and Mark Chery from DHS/EBA class of 2003 and Max Hilaire and Curt Chiverton (DHS/APS class of 2003) talked about the importance of balancing school, work, and social time. Several students discussed the adjustment from high school to college and how much weight is on personal responsibility. They assured Yael Nimon, Director of Special Programs and scholarship coordinator for the Trefler Foundation that they are working hard in college and taking advantage of their college experiences. | |
Health Education and Careers Network | |
First Semester Completion Celebration
Program director, Elizabeth Buckley, began the night's formal program after everyone had enjoyed a multi-cultural buffet and viewed student projects detailing information about the circulatory system, nutrition and an array of diseases. Health Career Explorer students provided information on "Tingsha" meditation bells and their purpose. Students received praise and congratulations from Dr. Pat Toney, chairperson of the HECN Advisory Board, and Mr. Charles Cafferty, Director of School to Career/Career and Technical Education. The students also received cheers and words of motivation from one of HECN's most successful graduates, Djenny Lobo-Delaney. Members of HECN Team 2004 wowed the audience as they each presented their group mission statements. Case Managers, Gail Brown and Donna Hannon, were bursting with pride as they awarded first semester completion Certificates to Patient Care Interns, Homemaker/Home Health Aide/Nursing Assistant Trainees and Emergency Medical Technician Trainees. EMT trainees were also awarded their Health Care Provider CPR/AED certificates. Many students were also acknowledged for building a professional reputation for excellence in attendance and punctuality. One of the evenings many highlights came as Kathleen Mullin, Special Assistant to the Superintendent, closed the ceremony by asking all the students to come up on the stage together to celebrate their hard work and accomplishments. It may have been a dark and stormy night outside. But inside, the hall was filled with warmth, love, joy and all of the wonderful emotions that come from having worked hard, respected yourself and others, and taken one more giant step towards your goal of becoming a health care professional. | |
Jeremiah E. Burke High School | |
Musical PerformanceDuring the holiday season the Jeremiah E. Burke chorus and dance ensemble and technology crew were invited to perform at the New Pilot Middle School. The Burke's JROTC opened the program with a performance, followed by the chorus who sang Christmas carols for the middle school students. The middle school students joined the chorus in some of the songs. Judged by the loud and long applause, the program was an huge success. The Burke and the New Pilot Middle School look forward to exchanging more programs and events in the future. | |
Madison Park | |
Articulation Agreement Signing between RCC and Madison Park
All enjoyed the morning's festivities and the refreshments prepared and served by the Culinary Arts students at Madison Park after the signing ceremony. Articulation Agreements at Stage One were signed in: Legal Office, Networking, Fundamentals of Networking, Microsoft Office Specialist, and Child Care. Adding to the Stage Two Agreement in Hotel and Hospitality is Nursing Assistant. Congratulations to the teachers and students in these programs! | |
Madison Park | |
Best Performance Goes to Madison Park!
On Friday, January 23rd, nine students and Bakery teacher, David Lucas, prepped and assembled over 1000 desserts, designed by one of the celebrity chefs, and amazed the staff with their expertise in producing the baked brioche and apple and quince desserts on the menu. On Saturday, January 24th, nine culinary students and their teacher, Bob Buoniconti worked from noon to 10:45 PM to make sure the first course, beet terrine on toasted flat bread finished with a walnut vinaigrette, was prepared and plated. After a short dinner break, the students helped set up 3500 designed dishes. Some said that the best performance of the evening was Earth, Wind and Fire, but the convention center staff feels it was the students and teachers from Madison Park! | |
Madison Park | |
  | Convention Center VisitMadison Park continues to benefit from the Enhanced Learning Collaborative (ELC), a team effort of the Boston Convention Center, Clarke Construction, and School to Career. On Friday, January 23rd, the Madison Park student carpenters paid a visit to the Convention Center job site. They were given a private tour by lead supervisor from Clarke, Mr. Dave Overberg. The students were impressed by the enormity of the project and the large number of trades busy at work finishing this record-breaking building. Standing in the cavernous hall, student and teachers alike were overwhelmed with its scale. Upon completion of the tour, students were treated to a fine luncheon in the management trailer, where they were presented with two superb Milwaukee brand power tools. This collaboration has been extremely successful in introducing the students of Boston to the world of multi-million dollar construction projects. Madison Park Technical Vocational High School is proud that two members of last year's graduating class have joined the Carpenters Union and are employed at the Convention Center by Carr Construction. |
NFTE | |
Harvard Study Shows Entrepreneurship Education Makes a DifferenceWe are pleased to share the findings from Year One of an independent evaluation of NFTE (National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship) entrepreneurship classes in Boston's School to Career Pathways. The study was conducted by Project IF ("Inventing the Future") of the Harvard Graduate School of Education and designed to investigate how a youth entrepreneurship program such as NFTE could affect a range of academic and psychosocial developmental outcomes. The study was designed to test the hypothesis that the greatest impact of NFTE's entrepreneurship program would likely be in deepening students' interest in learning and changing their future prospects. The hands-on, interactive nature of the curriculum has the potential to engage students by making learning interesting and relevant to their real-world experiences. The findings in the first year are encouraging and demonstrate a positive shift in:
The Year One results showed that among students particpating in NFTE interest in college, the priority given to college attendance, and hopes for future success increased. In addition, NFTE students reported that they were reading more in their free time and enjoyed independent reading more. Findings from Year Two of the study (2002-2003) will be available in the spring of 2004. For additional information, please go to http://www.nfte.com or contact Margaret Dunn at margaret@nfte.com. | |
Resource Shelf | |
Resources and IdeasVisit the Boston Teachnet web pages for creative ideas this month:Black History ~ Beyond February | |
Small Schools Big IdeasEducation Week, published by the non-profit Editorial Projects in Education Inc., provides an extensive and interesting website of articles about educational issues. If you would like to register at their website, you can have access to their news archives and receive your choice of newsletters. Check it out, and be sure to read: Small Schools Big Ideas, Dec. 3, 2003, an interesting editorial about the Gates Foundation, small schools and high school reform. | |
Campaign Websites as a Teaching Tool
GeorgeWBush.com ::The Official Re-Election Site for President George W. Bush |
Recently Madison Park Technical Vocational High School signed five new, Stage One Articulation Agreements and another Stage Two Articulation Agreement with their neighbor Roxbury Community College. Headmaster Chuck McAfee welcomed newly installed RCC President Dr. Terrance Gomes and his staff as well as the many teachers, staff and Madison Park students who also were in attendance at this important event. Mr. McAfee told students to take advantage of all the resources at RCC that will come from the signed Stage One Articulation Agreements and he urged the Nursing Assistant students to consider RCC their post secondary school of choice as they pursue their degree in Nursing with credits already earned!
This is the first Presidential election in which the internet has played such a leading role in voter outreach, fund-raising, information and communication. The campaign websites of the candidates offer an interesting learning opportunity -- providing clear overviews of the major issues of the campaign, interactive electoral maps, online tax calculators, instant polls, campaign videos and more. Here are the official campaign sites of the candidates (in alphabetical order). Teachers and students are invited to