Public Achievement at Southside Family School - Minneapolis

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Permalink Reply by Zack Anderson on September 24, 2009 at 6:23pm

FIRST MEETING:
Had 8 kids, 6 girls 2 boys. Laid out expectations (personal - Respect, Maturity, Responsibility; professional - Important to You, Something you can change, Is "Public"). Spent a lot of time on maturity and had to waste a lot of time getting a few kids to calm down. Made it very clear that PA work is not something to goof off about, or a way to get out of class. One student in particular was visibly upset at the lack of maturity and self-control of her classmates, and I took extra care to make sure she was heard when she voiced her concerns. I would say that 4 of these kids really know that they are here to do serious work, and are ready for it. I don't anticipate too many problems and I think these kids are going to be able to do something big.

We went over core concepts briefly. This is a diverse school and group, so I scratched 'diversity' and inserted 'justice', as this school is a Social Justice school. In fact, I ordered the concepts so that each one stems from the previous:

1. Freedom
2. Justice
3. Citizenship
4. Power
5. Responsibility
6. Politics
7. Interests
8. Democracy
9. Free Spaces
10. Public Work

The idea is that Freedom is the foundation of our society, and Justice is the way to preserve freedom, and Citizenship is the responsibility to uphold justice, and Power to do that comes from citizenship, and with Power comes Responsibility, and Politics is people basically sharing that responsibility, and Interests are how those people define their responsibilities, and Democracy is the way to make sure that all Interests (ideally) are equally represented, and Free Spaces is where people exercise democracy, and Public Work is the physical, material manifestation of this process.

I came up with that on the city bus.


We then did a little questionnaire:

Who are you?________
One thing you are good at:_____________________
One thing you are bad at:_____________________
One thing you like about working in a group:_______________________
One thing you hate about working in a group:_______________________

There were a few very thoughtful answers. If some of the kids don't get settled down, then I will remove them from PA before the kids who are serious about it get discouraged and give up... but I am very optimistic about the work that will be done, and I have a commitment from the lead teacher to give us this hour every week until at least winter break. Next week, my co-coach will be joining me, and we'll have one good session at least before possibly doing the issue convention in two weeks. Maybe three. Then we'll split the teams (I want either 4 & 4 or 5 & 3), and get to work.

I'll post more as it happens.

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Permalink Reply by Shelly Robertson on November 2, 2009 at 7:32am

Zach,
Not sure where you are with your team. Just a quick check in to see if the students who were disruptive to the teams work have settled down. As you mentioned it is important for those who are serious not to become discouraged by a few, also setting the environment that you are here for important work was critical. I'll be interested to hear how you and your team are moving forward.

Shelly R
Missouri

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Permalink Reply by Zack Anderson on January 18, 2010 at 3:26pm

Sorry for the late reply. We ended up removing one student when it was apparent that another unproductive meeting would make the kids not want to do it (and we were right -- they told us), but on the condition that if they improved in the classroom as observed by me and the head teacher, they would be re-invited. So it took a few months to get the kids to break up into groups around issues, and when that happened, we invited the student back, and are not regretting the decision. Lindsey could maybe speak more on it as the student is in her group now.

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Permalink Reply by Kim Carter on November 2, 2009 at 9:38am

Zach,
I really like your conceptual organization of the core concepts. I wonder about the relationships between "diversity" and "justice"... Could you say a bit more about your reasoning for the change? It occurs to me that there are many different ways to find diversity - and that the students you're working with are illustrating that in their varied ways of being in the PA group.
Given that I'm a month "late" in posting my response, I'm really curious about how things are going for you and your group now!
Thanks so much for sharing!
Kim

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Permalink Reply by Zack Anderson on January 18, 2010 at 3:38pm

Having months to think about it, I think that "justice" relates to "diversity" in that each person has their own unique perceptions of what is Just and Unjust, and that realizing and accepting that is the way to connect Freedom (the etheral concept) with Citizenship (the exercise of freedom in concert with and respect to others' freedom)

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Permalink Reply by Ellen Tveit on September 29, 2009 at 11:01am

Zack,
The Center for Democracy and Citizenship at Augsburg College is leading a training for PA coaches on Saturday, Oct. 10, from 8:30am to 2pm. It'll be at MCTC. There is no charge to participate, but we need RSVPs this week. Please let me know if you'd like more info or would like to participate.
Ellen Tveit (tveit@augsburg.edu)

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Permalink Reply by Shelly Robertson on November 2, 2009 at 7:34am

Sorry I missed this.. What are the possiblities of pulling together a 3 day PA Workshop for all. It has been a while since we have met nationally or internationally. SR

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Permalink Reply by Zack Anderson on January 18, 2010 at 3:22pm

It's been awhile and I lost a lot of data from the fall, but we're now halfway through the school year, and I'll post a short update.

The 8 kids split into two teams in November. Lindsey Kish and I are each coaching a team; she took the team that chose Animal Cruelty, and I took the team that chose Homelessness as their issue to tackle.

The Animal Cruelty team is recording a Public Service Announcement that will air on local radio. Hopefully, Lindsey will comment more on their activities here.

My team is planning an event in April to raise awareness of issues that affect the homeless community, and just began making a video about their PA project. They selected the name PEOPLE (Peace Everyday on PLanet Earth) and want to begin making connections in the community, which I am encouraging but have been having a time trying to set up out-of-school trips. I don't want to make the calls for them, but I need to do what I have been planning to do for a few months, which is give them a list of people to call. I think the reason that the Public part of this has been slower to develop is that I have been pushing my kids (3 girls, 10 & 11 y/o) to find an unaddressed part of the homelessness issue and work towards that. I also apologized to them last week for expecting them to do this on a college level and have resolved to be more pro-active in suggesting ideas.

Support from the classroom teacher is strong, and she is willing to be flexible and consults as to the best slot each week for PA. Usually they miss a reading class in the afternoon.

I've been having fun helping my kids try to grow up a little and squash their petty social beefs (you know how 11 year old girls are) with each other and other kids, and to really think about the root causes of homelessness: a society which requires that most go hungry so that a few can gorge themselves. They see homeless people on the streets everyday, and are deeply saddened by it, and one of my girls just said this (and I quote from the video I have):

"The stuff you need, you shouldn't have to pay for. The stuff you want, that's the stuff you should have to pay for."

And I was very very proud and told her she will make for excellent Cadre when she's older.

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