It's an interesting task that the Boyz to Men group has before us. We are supposed to put together a program that is both applicable and empowering to African American and Hispanic boys. At first I thought a "separate but equal" approach was the best way to reach out to these boys meaning that we would have two different lesson plans for the different ethnic group, but when really thinking about the boys, why would we want to separate them? There's a known conflict between African Americans and Hispanics in the United States. We need to promote the boys to embrace each others differences and similarities and work together to better and empower themselves and each other.
It is important to create a bond between the boys, true camaraderie.
There's no argument that African American and Hispanic boys fall into the lower brackets in regards to achievement in school. They have among the lowest test scores and the highest dropout rates. I think we should inform the boys of these similarity that these two groups share and encourage them to overcome these challenges. We should help them brainstorm ideas to overcoming the achievement gap.
I think we should research methods/activities that people have been using in regards to closing the achievement gap and encouraging the boys to achieve beyond the limitations they may think society has placed on them.
For next semester, I think we should turn Boyz to Men into more of a club with leadership positions and allowing the boys to help the UT students design curriculums that they feel they want to discuss after participating in the 5 week program with us. We need to empower them by giving them leadership roles and allowing them to help develop the program so they feel more involved.
Katie, brilliant! I think you're definitely on to something here with having the boys take over a portion of the leadership of boys to men. What better way to involve them than to ask them to co-create their own empowerment! How can we start planting this seed in their minds? What are some ways we can leave them with the tools to implement success in leading the group into next semester? We could leave them with Dr. G's email address, or what about teaching them how to use blogs like these to communicate with us and eventually a new crop of students. Challenge them to coordinate another campus tour next year..this time for the younger students coming into the middle school behind them?
ReplyDeleteIf you all are still looking for methods to overcome the achievement gap, you should google Teach for America and search for related materials. They have lists of books and articles that may be helpful to your project.
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