A b e c e d a r i a n

Bard

 

The first thing that stands out is the curriculum piece: The total immersion and ultimately what we achieved was the coordination of the curriculum, with the science and the language arts and everything became so nicely integrated . The teachers working together with the kids made it a very whole experience for them.

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The second thing was the sense of community. In the sense of the word: the kids were in classes together, but the social times they were still around and adults were involved, the counselors were involved, social times and meal times. It felt like people looked out for each other. Stuff would come up...and there was a compassion that I think made a difference. It certainly made it an enjoyable place to be.

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I think initially, I was relieved and happy to see to see that was intact. Because that's what, when they go on, that's what they hold onto. That sense of : this was something they belonged to. I rarely got the feeling that a kid there ... that what they were doing was being thrust upon them. That they were there with purpose, and that this was something they wanted to be a part of.

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Bringing urban kids to the country

 

I think it was unsettling. Which in some ways is good, educationally......Get them unsettled, then they can learn...It was a tough transition for a lot of them: the bugs, the weather. It was a very different place for them to be. For a lot of them it was hard being away from the city for such an extended period of time. But it forced them to rely on others in ways that they might not have, had the same program been done here, where they went home every night. There's just a different level of investment and engagement. They had to be in it for each other or it was going to be totally miserable. I remember at one point, every summer, where the kids started thinking of the trip back to the city. And that wasn't a happy thought for them. There was a lot of dread around that. I mean they were anxious to get back. To run out to the local pizza place and whatever... Eat mom's cookin' be able to play ball whenever they wanted and not be restricted to that hour or two every evening. I mean just having that kind of freedom. They looked forward to that kind of stuff and back in their comfortable surroundings. But there was a piece of them that was not looking forward of that ride back. They had reached an appreciation of this was a totally different environment...one that they did value, in some respects.

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What you derived from experience

 

To be able to think about curriculum in different ways. In more intense, shorter periods of time. One of the things I took from it was the developmental and constructivist approach was in fact a totally transportable philosophy. That while we had to work very hard in the initial days to set up the structures and expectations that would allow it to work; essentially convince the kids to come on board, that this was a totally different way of learning, totally different way of approaching materials and everything, than what they had experienced in most cases. So getting them to buy into that, by and large they did. And it confirmed to me the value of that pedagogical approach. That meant a lot.

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And also for me personally being somebody from ...couldn't be more different upbringing, background, environment, coming from the middle of nowhere Iowa. And coming in and the first year remembering not being sure how the kids would receive me. As being from such a different background. And finding that they did accept me and respect me as a member of the community. To come back and still see a lot of the kids from the very first year. We'd always just catch eyes. Then smiles and hugs and catching up. That was important for me to be connected to that community too. Know that my work could transcend any cultural differences.

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At Risk

 

Images of kids who don't have student skills, they haven't bought into the concept of the life long learner, that for whatever reason there is not a value on , almost a value on the future. When I see kids at risk I see kids that don't care about the future because they don't even know if they're gonna be there kind of thing.

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For whatever the reasons: the family, the neighborhood, their school, or whatever it is. I think that if you can't see yourself makin it to 20 then, then what's the point ?

Yea, there's the kids "at risk of failing out of school" but there's other stuff in place for them. Like if I work real hard and I can pass. Maybe not an Ivy League school but I can get into school someplace. It's the kids that think that they are not going to make it till that age , to be alive at that point, that's where it becomes tragic.

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How you provide the connection for them, the understanding... that there are things they can do to stay in the picture. That it is worth working to stay there.

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Culturally Deprived

 

It would have to come with a sense of identity. Not understanding the culture you are a part of. Not having connections to it. Not having experiences of the culture, the community you are a part of. The way we marginalize cultures. The dominant culture with people having the impression that we don't value the culture that they are a part of. The idea of the Met, the Opera, that this is what culture is, the whole European thing, that would certainly leave one with a feeling of being deprived and not feeling like what you were a part of was important.

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Hope

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If you are at risk you are probably feeling hopeless. You don't have things to look forward to, keep you going. Maybe you don't have anything to believe in, including yourself.

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Trust

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Trust is something you have in other people that you know that they are going to be there for you, that they're going to hold a confidence if you need it. They're going to have you back. That you can just count on them, if you need help with something; that they'll be there.