Please enjoy

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• Please enjoy
• Marshall High School
• Urban Steel Band

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• Rochester City School District
• and the
• Department of Integrated Literacy
• THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO PRESENT.

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THE BIG

• A COMMUNITY
• READS
• A COMMUNITY
• RESPONDS

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REALITY

• There is a perennial dissatisfaction with how
  public schools educate young adolescents
• (Mizelle,2004).

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REALITY CHECK

• Developmentally responsive schools must take
  into account all that is known about young
  adolescents and the cultural context in which
  they live.
• (This We Believe, 1995)

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RESPONDING TO THE CALLFirst step

• A SUMMER BRIDGE PROGRAM
• AN OPPORTUNITY FOR STUDENTS TO LEARN HOW TO BE
  SUCCESSFUL IN HIGH SCHOOL
• AN OPPORTUNITY FOR EDUCATORS TO LEARN
• FROM OUR STUDENTS HOW TO BETTER MEET THEIR NEEDS

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Starting at the Beginning7th Graders
The stepping-stone into high school is often
characterized by emotional upset, and changes in
behaviors that can hinder students academic
progress (National Middle School Association,
1995).
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Starting Off RightGiving them a better chance

• Since large urban schools are notably
  impersonal, interventions must focus on reducing
  the sense of isolation students feel when moving
  from a less bureaucratic elementary setting to a
  more depersonalized high school environment with
  a diminished sense of community (Lee Smith,
  2001).

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Summer Program Experiences
Finding Your Way
Health/fitness
Gender Issues
Building Relationships
Needing People
Managing conflict
Got the Vision?
Attitudes
Test Anxiety
Citizenship
Manners Matter
Media
Tools for Learning
Exploring the Code of Conduct
Say No
Leaps to Leadership
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The Literacy Connection

• The Skin Im In
• By Sharon Flake
• Themes relevant to urban adolescents
• Engaged students in a community read (over 500
  students)
• Author involved in the project
• End of program event Sharon Flake reads the
  last chapter!

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The Student Connection

• We learned from our students projects, reader
  responses and journal entries.
• How they know a teacher likes them
• How they learn best in the classroom
• What worries them about high school

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When you look back at your high school
experience, what do you want your story to
be?WHAT THEY TOLD US

• I want my story to be great. I want everybody
  who goes here to know I had amazing grades, and
  on top of it all, I was a great sports player. I
  never cut class, or used drugs. I had a smart and
  a hot girlfriend, my high school sweetheart.

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When you look back at your high school
experience, what do you want your story to be?

• When I look back at my high school experience, I
  want my story to be about the A, B, Cs student
  who played some sports and helped others do their
  work. Also, when I look back I want to see myself
  graduating from the 12th grade.

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When you look back at your high school
experience, what do you want your story to be?

• I want my story to be that I was the most
  successful student, that I accomplished a lot in
  and out of school - that I had lots of friends
  and a hot girlfriend. A little popularity never
  hurt anyone.

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WHAT ELSE THEY TOLD US

• They worry about
• GANGS
• KNIVES AND GUNS
• RAPE
• BEING JUMPED
• FIGHTS
• BULLIES

ISSUES
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A Nation at Risk The Global Perspective
Although we spend more per pupil to educate our
children than any other country in the world,
every day in America, 7,000 students drop out of
high school Nationally, 68 of all eighth grade
students perform below grade level in
reading Research also now shows that 37 of
enrolled college students do not graduate as
well In 2005, China produced 3.3 million
college grads, India, 3.1 million and the US,
1.3 million
RESULTS
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• WE MUST DO MORE!
• MORE IN RESPONSE TO VIOLENCE!
• MORE TO IMPROVE STUDENT LITERACY!
• MORE TO GIVE OUR STUDENTS
• A FAIR CHANCE!

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THE BIG

• A COMMUNITY
• READS
• A COMMUNITY
• RESPONDS
• To improve literacy
• and
• To address violence

The Rochester City School District Finds a Way to
Do More!
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The Message

Video Presentation
Created during the Big Bang Initiative and shared
at the opening of the student conference
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THE BIG BANG INTIATIVEMaking it Happen

• THE RIGHT AUTHOR AND TITLE
• (Bang! by Sharon Flake)
• DISTRICT SUPPORT (Superintendent, Central Office,
  School Leadership, Teachers, Students, Various
  Departments, Clerical, The Students at School of
  Imaging and Information at Edison)
• COMMUNITY SUPPORT (Roots Consultants, Yurban
  Marketing, Mayors Literacy Commission)

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• EFFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION IN 15 SCHOOLS REACHING
  2350 STUDENTS TEACHER PLANNING DAY
• PROVIDING TOOLS AND MATERIALS TO TEACHERS AND
  STUDENTS
• (Books, Journals, Independent Reading
  Packet, Brochures to parents, posters for each
  classroom, DVD to frontload unit)

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• TIMELINES - NOVEMBER - COMMUNITY READING MONTH IN
  ALL 7TH GRADE ELA CLASSES
• STUDENTS CREATE PRESENTATIONS IN RESPONSE TO TEXT
  AND WRITE PROPOSALS TO PRESENT AT A STUDENT
  CONFERENCE
• BIG BANG STUDENT CONFERENCE HELD OVER 3 DAYS.
• NEXT STEPS Extended day program Speech and Be
  Heard and Community Media Campaign One Million
  Words to Peace

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Experience the Experience!
BIG BANG FILM A VIDEO PRESENTATION THAT CAPTURES
THE ENTIRE INITIATIVE Filmed and created by the
students at Edison School of Imaging
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Student Performance

• Please enjoy
• School 17 chorus
• And string ensemble

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(No Transcript)