21st Century Learning

Part 4 of NAEHCY Keynote-Tips and "Must Knows" for Working with the Homeless

And the final podcast of 4 from my keynote for the NAEHCY conference. This shares valuable information that the homeless need you to know when working  with them, especially the 5 Es of blossoming. This clip also gives 7 tips of what you should do if you ever find yourself homeless.

Click below to play or download:

Part 4- Tips for Those Who Work with the Homeless Podcast

Please feel free to check out and add to the wiki (the virtual handout I used with my presentation)
http://naehcy.wikispaces.com/

Adult Years: NAEHCY Keynote cont... Unexpected Outcomes

As promised here is the 3rd podcast in a series of 4 from my NAEHCY conference keynote. This one relates my experiences after high school and into adulthood. Embedded are many stories and a theoretical justification about why we should use technology and inquiry driven approaches when working with high poverty populations. Specific examples of how I used technology at W.T. Cooke Elementary school (a Title One school with a high percentage of homeless students) are shared.

I also share ways to help children and adults experiencing poverty escape and begin to develop a skill set that will enable them to break the cycles they find themselves in.

Click below to play or download:

Part 3-Homeless Adult podcast

Other Related Resources

http://www.masters.ab.ca/bdyck/bd/new_page9.htm

http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/tech157.shtml

http://www.teacherleaders.org/misc/Beach_principal_intervw.pdf

http://www.readingonline.org/articles/voices/nussbaum-beach/

K-12 Years Revealed in Keynote at NAEHCY: Unexpected Outcomes

As promised, here is the next segment of my keynote at the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth. If you haven't joined NAEHCY, you ought to consider it.

Disclaimer
As a disclaimer, this post and podcast have nothing to do with technology or Web 2.0 per se, except to help the reader gain an understanding of how a high poverty student's schematic development actually dictates the need for inquiry based methods to learn and master the content in your courses.

Many Stories Untold
In this edited podcast of my NAEHCY presentation, this section is the story of my life during my K-12 years. The fact that it takes place in 10-15 minutes makes it obvious that there are many stories untold-both positive and negative. What I tried to do was put enough detail in to paint the picture of what life is like for some of our students in terms of constant chaos and drama. Many children who are homeless have even a more intense life because of living in the streets 24/7. In my experience as a child, we moved about constantly, but managed more times than not to have some sort of place to "live." My "living in the streets days" occurred as an unaccompanied youth after I left home at age 14.

Life Changing Strategies
Embedded in this part of the story are some strategies to use with children who are experiencing poverty. My hope is that they will be useful for reaching the children in your classroom who so desperately need you to notice them and their plight.

Ask Yourself...
As you listen, ask yourself-- are the current methods and curriculum being used at your school going to equip this student to climb out of the circumstance that has been forced upon her? Will sequential, text based delivery of state mandated curriculum truly help this child become literate in the 21st century? I think you will see very quickly that with the changing demographic of students we are seeing in our classrooms, it is past time to make principled changes in the way we "do" school. Seamless integration of technology isn't a choice or option any longer. 21st Century teaching and learning needs to be happening NOW. These kids can't wait on policy changes- having access to a positive force (you) and gaining technical literacy will be the key to providing their unexpected outcomes.

Click below to play or download:

Part 2: K-12 Years Podcast

Other Resources (from the NAEHCY Website)

National Center for Homeless Education
Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Center for Homeless Education is a national resource center of research and information enabling communities to successfully address the needs of homeless children and youth and their families. NCHE products include educational rights posters, parent brochures, the LEA Homeless Education Liaison Handbook, the State Coordinators' Handbook, and the NAEHCY listserv.

National Center on Family Homelessness NCFH is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to developing long-term solutions to family homelessness. The Center is committed to: (1) building a rigorous knowledge base in the areas of family homelessness and poverty; (2) creating model programs, service demonstrations and technical assistance products; and (3) disseminating information to increase public awareness and improve national, state, and local policies and programs.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty NLCHP monitors and enforces compliance with the McKinney-Vento Act, providing technical assistance to attorneys, service providers, parents and educators across the country to ensure that homeless children gain access to public school. The NLCHP web site includes a self-advocacy kit, a flowchart for determining homelessness, reproducilble Q&A booklets, and many other materials.

The National Network for Youth
The National Network for Youth is dedicated to ensuring that young people can be safe and lead healthy and productive lives. In doing so, young people are championed, especially those who because of life circumstance, disadvantage, past abuse or community prejudice have less opportunity to become contributing members of their communities.

The National Policy & Advocacy Council on Homelessness NPACH is dedicated to ending homelessness through grassroots advocacy and inclusive partnerships. NPACH works to accomplish its mission by educating the public and policymakers on the causes and consequences of homelessness, creating and advocating for appropriate federal policies in collaboration with local communities, connecting community-based organizations, schools, and work places to national anti-homelessness policy through advocacy and public education initiatives.

U.S. Department of Education
The U.S. Department of Education is the federal agency charged with administration and oversight of the McKinney-Vento Act's Education for Homeless Children and Youth program.

Introduction to Keynote at NAEHCY: Unexpected Outcomes

I have decided to share my keynote from the National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth conference to help create an awareness about homeless children and to debunk some of the myths, as well to help those of you in the Web 2.0 world to make a connection to the urgency of addressing the digital divide... starting with your schools and spheres of influence. I will be sharing it in pieces with supporting dialog to the ideas I presented. Today, is part one- my intro, next, I will share my childhood, and so forth.  I hope you will join in on the conversation through your comments here on the blog.

Click below to download or play:

Part one: Podcast : Introduction

A wise man once said... that what you are in life has not so much to do with what you have accomplished, but the obstacles you overcame in doing so.

The Intro of Unexpected Outcomes: Empowering Those Who Need it Most
In the intro to my presentation I tell a story about my son Noah and how his brush with disfluencey led me to an important life lesson, a lesson taught by an enthusiastic speech professor who just happened to be handicapped. She taught me that disabilities should be celebrated. She explained that because of being disabled she had become smarter and more creative. She said that disabilities nurture creativity and out of the box thinking in those who are seemingly (to the rest of us) confined by them. She helped me realize that in life we often measure success by time to complete the task. We even dole out degrees based on Carnegie Units of time spent in a seat in a classroom.

The problem with this type of thinking is the presumptions that are made. We presume that if you complete a task quicker it some how makes you smarter or better and that if you do the time in a classroom you will emerge enlightened. The truth is-- especially in the Web 2.0 world-- that time is irrelevant. We must realize that those with disabilities (or circumstances that have conspired against them) can do anything that an able-bodied person can do... it just takes them longer and they need to be imaginative in their approach. 

Those who overcome challenges to achieve what you and I take for granted become very astute at problem solving, adaptive expertise, and creativity in the process. Which are very marketable skills in the 21st Century, skills which those of us who haven't been faced with huge obstacles to overcome and who have been educated in public schools structured for 20th century outcomes, simply haven't developed. So in essence, it gives those we presumed to be at a disadvantage, a clear advantage once they emerge from their circumstance, and it is our responsibility as educators to make sure they indeed do emerge.

Innovation
In terms of homeless children, we simply need to make sure they have the time they need to accomplish the tasks. Sure it might take them longer due to the circumstances that have conspired against them, but they can accomplish any task other children can accomplish and it is our responsibility to make certain they have more time, more opportunity, or more of their basic needs met so they can achieve.  And as those who serve children  impacted by extreme poverty it is our responsibility to  use our full creative capacity to be imaginative in how we come up with out of the box strategies for making sure they get their chance to succeed.

Homelessness Defined
When you look below at how homelessness is defined by the McKinney-Vento act, I have been homeless at several stages of my life; as a kid, as an unaccompanied youth, and as an adult.
Please take a moment to read more so you can become more informed about this controversial issue.

For those of you that need homelessness defined please take a look here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness

By the mid-1980s, there was also a dramatic increase in family homelessness. Tied into this was an increasing number of impoverished and runaway children, teenagers, and young adults, which created a new sub-stratum of the homeless population.

Also, in the 1980s, in the United States, some federal legislation was introduced for the homeless as a result of the work of Congressman Stewart B. McKinney. In 1987, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act was enacted.

In 2002, research showed that children and families were the largest growing segment of the homeless in America ^{[9] [10]}, and this has presented new challenges, especially in services, to agencies.

Homelessness according to McKinney-Vento has been defined as such:

II. Definitions

    Section 725 of the McKinney-Vento Act defines the following terms:
    (a) Homeless children and youth means individuals who lack a fixed, 
regular, and adequate nighttime residence. The term includes--
    (1) Children and youth who are sharing the housing of other persons 
due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are 
living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the 
lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or 
transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting 
foster care placement;
    (2) Children and youth who have a primary nighttime residence that 
is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a 
regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;
    (3) Children and youth who are living in cars, parks, public 
spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train 
stations, or similar settings; and
    (4) Migratory children (as defined in section 1309 of the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended) who qualify 
as homeless because they are living in circumstances described in this 
definition.
    (b) Enroll and enrollment include attending classes and 
participating fully in school activities.
    (c) Unaccompanied youth includes a youth not in the physical 
custody of a parent or guardian.

NAEHCY Keynote

On Monday, I had the most awesome time delivering the keynote at the National Assoc. for the Edc. of Homeless Children and Youth conference. Where a caring group of homeless service providers, policy makers, higher education, K12 teachers, administrators and other interested stakeholders gathered, all with the goal of advocacy for those who can't advocate for themselves- homeless and high poverty children. It was awe inspiring talking to and be with such dedicated folks who are making such a difference in the lives of so many.

I arrived Sunday night just in time to hear the acceptance speeches of the Le Tendre Education Fund Scholarships winners. These are all children who have or are currently experiencing homelessness and they want to go to college. Their stories are powerful. Here are their names. Expect great things.

Stephanie Emanuel, Bennettsville, SC
Roni Antoinette Flakes, North Little Rock, AR
Jessica Funk, Kansas City, MO
Chad Gossett, Centre, AL
Syhemia Gray, Elgin, IL
T’airra Johnson, Cleveland, OH
Kenneth Randall Kurfi s, Denver, CO
Amber Lockhart, Edinboro, PA
Beatrice Martinez, Las Cruces, NM
Charlotte Murry, Cleveland, OH
Michelle Rowland, Anchorage, AK
Kristin Schmitz, Arlington, TX
Aruna Sukhu, Brooklyn, NY
Ashley Utzman, Arlington, TX
Simone Williams, Denver, CO

On Monday, I gave my keynote. The title was Unexpected Outcomes:Empowering Those Who Need it Most. Download NAEHCY_keynote.ppt   I am editing my recording and will share the podcast of the event this weekend. Basically, my presentation tells my story of growing up as a highly transient child and unaccompanied youth, intertwined with strategies you can use for reaching at-risk kids and their parents.

I followed that session with one entitled Schooling for Tomorrow: Learning to Bridge the Digital Divide. Download schoolfortomorrow.ppt This was my favorite session ever! We talked about how schools needed to change to truly serve the way technology has changed society, but also to meet the need of the changing demographic of students. I shared this clip that explains what demographers believe the population will look like in a few years and how redesigning curriculum so that it will meet the needs of children who are highly mobile will be critical if schools want to remain relevant.

Then I shared the Hole in the Wall Experiment.  Here is the clip.

From a Businessweek Online Daily Briefing,
March 2, 2000.

http://www.greenstar.org/buttrflies/Hole-in-the-Wall.htm

An Indian physicist puts a PC with a high speed internet         connection in a wall in the slums and watches what happens.         Based on the results, he talks about issues of digital divide,         computer education and kids, the dynamics of the third world         getting online.New Delhi physicist Sugata Mitra has a radical proposal for bringing his country's next generation into the Info Age.

We discussed why student centered, inquiry-based approaches were best for at-risk and high poverty students. And we ended with Skyping in several guests from different schools in the US and Canada that serve these populations. (Darren Kuropatwa, Felicia Myers, Jon Hanbury, and Kevin Johnson)

In the afternoon, I had the honor of watching my colleague from my previous school (W.T. Cooke)- Jill Belch, receive her national award for the work she does with homeless children in my home town. She is so deserving.