Otterbein’s Ubuntu Mentoring and College Clubs

1. Columbus City Schools Academic Acceleration Academy and Otterbein’s Ubuntu Mentoring and College Clubs 3.change brings liberation 2.choice brings change 1. insight brings choice James Hollis in Creating a Life: Finding your Individual Path (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto, 2001) • The Academic Acceleration Academy (AAA) is the only charter school sponsored by Columbus City Schools. We provide students with traditional academic courses in a nontraditional environment. Small classes, highly qualified teachers and technologically well-equipped classrooms afford students an interactive and challenging learning environment. • Students will be expected to: • Pass the Ohio Graduation Test • Study to be successful in passing academic subjects • Use technology effectively • Find and maintain employment (with our assistance) • Take full advantage of the benefits the school has to offer • I. AAA as a school provides a learning environment that supports teaching and learning, which begins the moment the student sits down to interview for enrollment. AAA believes that by getting to know its students, e.g. who they are and where they come from, we can eliminate problems that spill over from the community into the school. In addition, AAA responds to student discipline by developing relationships with students around their interests and goals. • II. Teachers are trained as facilitators of student learning; teachers create an educational process which emphasizes helping students develop basic skills through tutoring and extra help. Staff members engage students in the helping process, teaching problem-solving and decision-making skills that can be transferred across disciplines and into a variety of work and social experiences. • III. One of the basic goals of AAA is to boost the graduation rate of the Columbus City Schools district: pulling from the traditional schools’ enrollment students who are at-risk for dropping out and increasing the percentage of students who graduate from CCS high schools. • IV. AAA employs the following recognized strategies for dropout prevention: • 1. Community Collaboration • AAA has established partnerships with Columbus State Community College, The Ohio State University, Otterbein College, Hocking College, the Association of Building Contractors, Directions For Youth, Goodwill Industries, the Greater Linden Community Development, St. Stephen’s Community House and the Columbus Urban League. • 2. Safe Learning Environment • AAA supports a teaching and learning approach, which begins the moment the student sits down to interview for enrollment. • 3. Family Engagement • AAA engages the student’s family in the learning and personal development activities which lie at the center of the educational process. • 4. Early Childhood Education and Early Literacy Development • AAA offers programs for teen parents to be their child’s first and best teacher, and through the GRADS program, AAA offers the Student-Parents Information Center and the Resource Center in which teen parents can access materials and information related to pre-natal care and child development, and activities supporting literacy and career options for working parents. • 5. Mentoring/Tutoring • AAA, through a partnership with Otterbein College, offers a weekly mentoring circle. AAA and OC students talk about personal identity, strategies for building self-esteem and personal assets, college aspirations and career goals. The group writes a diary of their reflections. • 6. Service Learning • AAA works with the Columbus Rotary Association and the local First-Link organization to develop service projects within and around the school. • 7. Alternative Schooling • AAA provides small classes, a core academic curriculum, various forms of personalized instruction, support for non-academic barriers, and individual career planning. • 8. After-School Opportunities • AAA encourages and makes arrangements for all of its students to become involved in positive after-school experiences: working, receiving academic assistance, job-training programs, and access to community services and assistance. • 9. Active Learning Strategies • AAA faculty employ active learning strategies for students who are typically hands-on learners, who require instruction to be delivered in manageable segments tailored to their learning styles and whose learning styles are highly relational. • 10. Individualized Instruction • AAA creates an Individual Graduation Plan (IGP) for each student who • applies. • 11. Career and Technical Education • Through their IGPs students explore and research their occupational • interests and plan a course of study to meet their identified career goals. • Otterbein’s Ubuntu Mentoring and College Clubs • Established in 2006, Otterbein’s Ubuntu Mentoring for College • Club Program challenges students to form a community and set • out on a path to college. • The African concept of ubuntu—a Zulu word—as Desmond Tutu • writes, links humans “inexorably” as a community. Our program • applies the concept of ubuntu, teaching students that by • preparing themselves for college and mentoring others, they • contribute to their community. Personal development is • community development. • 1. Weekly, over three academic quarters, Linden-McKinley HS, • Mifflin HS, and Academic Acceleration Academy (AAA) attend • COMM 190—Mentoring: Theory and Practice, a service-learning • course,at Otterbein College. In a collaborative learning setting, • Otterbein students and 11th and 12th grade Linden-McKinley, • Mifflin, and Academic Acceleration Academy students study • mentoring skills and practices; they define college aspirations • and learn college access pathways: • a) identifying goals and careers • b) pursuing academic achievement • c) developing admirable characters with strong values • d) learning higher education opportunities, college entrance • requirements, the application process, and the “ins and • outs” of financial aid • 2. Then as active members of COMM 190, the Linden and Mifflin • 11th and 12th grade students experience a college service- • learning class focused on planning and conducting regular • mentoring sessions for groups of Linden and Mifflin 9th grade • students. Together, the college and high school students explore • important college access skills, develop personal values, and form • mentoring relationships. The students develop their individual • characters and their futures, and they serve the community. • 3. Mentoring sessions are held at Otterbein or at the high • schools. Throughout the year, Beery MS and Champion MS students • participate in mentoring sessions at Otterbein. In small groups led • by Otterbein students, the middle school students also learn • college access skills, identify values, and develop self-esteem, self- • confidence, and leadership skills. • 4. As a second community service project, the students write entries • for the fourth volume of Ubuntu Diary. The diary serves as a means • for the middle school, high school, and college students to reflect • on and write about their values—stemming from obstacles they • have faced, their relationships, and their goals, purposes, and • dreams. The Ubuntu Diary is shared with students outside our • ubuntu community, drawing more students into our community . “ Kicked out of my home and foster homes, I have been homeless for two years. . . . yet with all of my struggling, when I become successful, I am going to take care of my whole family. “At AAA, I’m getting to the education level that I need to be on, and I will be graduating in June 2010. So I have overcome my fear and my difficulties and reached a new-school state of mind, and I am succeeding in my education.” insight brings choice choice brings change change brings liberation James Hollis in Creating a Life: Finding your Individual Path (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto, 2001) Over four years, the program has been funded by Otterbein College Columbus City Schools;the Columbus Foundation; Learn and Serve America/The Corporation for National and Community Service; I Know I Can; GEAR UP; SeaBridge International; The Ohio Foundation of Independent Colleges, through the generosity of J. P. Morgan Chase; and TG.

2. 2. We develop our identities and build self-esteem Otterbein’s Ubuntu College Club Learning Model Our program applies the concept of ubuntu, a Zulu word, which, as Desmond Tutu writes, links humans “inexorably” as a community and teaches students that by preparing themselves for college and mentoring others, they will contribute to their community. Personal development is community development, and community development is personal development. Branden’s Six Pillars #1—Live consciously:respect facts; be present to what you are doing while you are doing it. . .. seek and be eagerly open to any information, knowledge, or feedback that bears on your interests, values, goals, and projects; seek to understand and control the shaping power of your external world and internal worlds #2—Practiceself-acceptance: own your experience and take responsibility for your thoughts, feelings, and actions, without evasion, denial—and also without self-repudiation #3—Practice Self-Responsibility: realize that you are the authors of your choices and actions; be responsible for your own life, your well-being and for the attainment of your goals #4—Practice self-assertiveness: be authentic in your dealings with others; treat your values and person with decent respect in social contexts #5—Live purposefully: identify your short-term and long-term goals or purposes and the actions needed to attain them; organize your behavior in the service of those goals, monitoring actions #6—Practice personal integrity: live with congruence between what you know, what you profess, and what you do; tell the truth, honor commitments; exemplify in action the values you profess to admire; deal with others fairly and benevolently Branden, Nathaniel. Self-Esteem at Work: How Confident People Make Powerful Companies. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998. About Self-Esteem: In Rock my Soul (Washington Square Press, 2003)bell hooks writes: Looking at ourselves holistically, seeing our emotional wellbeing. . . , as rooted in our capacity to be self-defining, we can create the self-esteem that is needed for us to care for our souls. (20). hooks points to Nathaniel Branden’s work for educating for self-esteem. 1. We form mentoring circles. About the Mentoring Circles Dear Diary, . . . . “Through mentoring—in trying to help the mentees discover themselves—I have learned more than I thought I would. I think I have learned, most importantly, that we all need each other. As John tells us, our mentoring does not place one person above the other; we all sit at the same level, giving and receiving. This goes back to the ubuntu ideas of “I am because we are” or “a person is a person, because of other people.” Both of these ideas really speak to me, and they have inspired me in this course. We do group mentoring, forming small circles of Otterbein students with high school or middle school students. I had never experienced group mentoring, but I have found that it brought different combinations of students together weekly and gave us all an opportunity to work as members of a different ubuntu circle.” --Otterbein Student Mentor • Definition • Self-esteem is the disposition to experience yourself as being competent to cope with the basic challenges of life and of being worthy of happiness. It has two components: • Self-efficacy is confidence in the efficacy of your mind, in your ability to think; by extension, it is confidence in your ability to learn, make appropriate choices and decisions, and respond effectively to change. • Self-respect is experience that success, achievement, fulfillment—happiness—are right and natural for you. The survival value of such confidence is obvious. So is the danger when it is missing. (23-24) • Branden, Nathaniel. Self-Esteem at Work: How Confident People Make Powerful Companies.San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998. Individual Consciousness Dear Diary, . . . Through my actions I will become a woman whom others can look up to, a role model. I will raise a beautiful family and instill values in them to make them achieve greater goals than I was able to achieve. I will show empathy to all people, regardless of race, gender, age, sexual orientation, and class. We are all one. The quicker we figure out that we’re all one—that we’re all fighting for the same thing: to get close to the “American Dream,” and if not the “Dream,” for internal happiness—then the quicker we will all come together and help each other out instead of putting each other down. --Otterbein Student Mentor 5. We write a personal development plan. 3.change brings liberation 2.choice brings change 1. insight brings choice James Hollis in Creating a Life: Finding your Individual Path (Toronto: Univ. of Toronto, 2001) Goals: What do I do to attain my vision? Vision: What will result if I live my purpose? Community Consciousness Community Consciousness Mission: How do live my purpose? 4.We write the UbuntuDiary. 3. As we raise our self-esteem, we learn about our assets and college aspirations and access. Purpose: What is the purpose of my life? About Narrative Theory Robert Kraft, in Memory Perceived (Praeger, 2002), describes the benefits of drawing on narratives as the basis for our work in developing self-esteem and other developmental assets: Narrative memory is constructed from the images in core memory, shaped in accordance with narrative conventions and conveyed primarily in language. Narrative memory calls upon existing knowledge to organize the images in core memory, forming coherent representations designed to communicate with one’s conscious self and with other people. . . . . And James Pennebaker, in Opening Up: The Healing Powers of Expressing Emotion (Guilford, 1990), reports that Writing resolves traumas that stand in the way of important tasks. Following major upheavals, people tend to obsess about them. In thinking about the traumas, and even in trying not to think about them, individuals use a great deal of their thinking capacity. Hence, they become forgetful and cannot sustain their attention on large new tasks. Writing about trauma helps to organize the traumas, thereby freeing the mind to deal with other tasks. (56) • Internal Assets • 1. Commitment to learning • 2. Positive values • 3. Caring • 4. Social competencies • 5. Positive Identity • External Assets • 1. Support • 2. Empowerment • 3. Boundaries and Expectations • 4. Constructive use of time About Internal and External Assets As stated clearly in All Kids Are Our Kids, Peter Benson’s principles, his lists of internal assets and external assets, form one of the theoretical bases for the writing and the conversations of the Ubuntu College Clubs: Our theory begins with the generous view of human potential and capacity with people as active agents in producing their own development along the lines that optimize their goals and give expression to what sparks passion, energy, and commitment. This kind of flourishing is advanced when a young person engages, or is embedded in, social contexts that support, nourish, and give opportunity for the expression of one’s sparks. Dear Diary,…. Many times students shared after we had read entries from the Ubuntu Diary together. I think the more people are willing to share about their lives, the more others see how similar our experiences are or even how the same lessons are learned from so many different experiences and interactions we all encounter. I am beginning to believe that we are all storytellers and through the story telling process, as we learn about each other, we truly are learning about ourselves and together, creating our ubuntu community. It is when we take the time to listen and reflect that our communities become stronger and we have the opportunity to develop understandings of where other people are coming from and of what we have to gain from them and share with them if they will let us. • The Ubuntu Diary— • 1. Obstacles • 2. Self-Esteem: • A—Live consciously • B—Practice self- • acceptance • C—Practice self- • responsibility • D—Practice self- • assertiveness • E—Live purposefully • F—Practice personal • integrity • 3. Values, Assets and • Character 4. Relationships 5. Mentoring 6. Images and Dreams 7. Purpose, Mission, Vision, & Goals These assets are about taking school seriously and making the most of every opportunity to learn. Getting an education is important to your life; being curious and open to learning new things—and developing the skills you need to learn them—are vital to your success now and in the future. These assets will help you feel motivated to do well in school and continue your education. (Benson, 79) Individual Consciousness Reduction in Risk Behaviors Develop-mental Assets for • College Access • College Aspirations • Academic Achievement • Admission Process • College Entrance Standards and Process • The In’s and Out’s of Financial Aid • Career Choices-- Connected with Purposes, Talents, and Goals Promotion of thriving From Peter Benson’s All Kid’s Are Our Kids (Jossey-Bass, 2006) U B U N T U

3. Have You Ever. . . . Have you ever felt that you just don’t belong? Have you ever felt that you were all alone even when you were around people? Have you ever felt that the people around you were fake Or just wanted to use you? ‘Cause I feel that way about a lot of people, Even the ones I cherish the most. AAA Students’ Reflections and Diary Entries Dear Diary,The person who helped to better myself is myself. My family barely helped me with anything that I have done in my life. When I was younger my mom never let me out of the house because she always put me on punishment. In retaliation I snuck out and started to hang with the wrong people. Most of the people were in gangs and all of them smoked weed. . . . When my mom saw I was bringing money into the house, she didn’t say anything. My school years I got average grades just to pass out of that grade. My dad was always in and out of jail, and I barely saw him, but when he was out all he did was smoke with me. Now I am 19. Since he is paralyzed, he can’t do anything anymore. I was in foster care, and at first my foster family took me in, but I grew up, I ate too much, and I stayed outside. They all knew where I was, but they would get mad at me. So they kicked me out and sent me to another foster home. There I got jumped and sent to jail. . . . When I got back home, none of my real family wanted me so I became homeless and moved from house to house. Still to this day I’m homeless, but I have been helping myself to make it, yet with all of my struggling when I become successful, I am going to take care of my whole family. Dear Diary, . . . As I think of all the things that I have had difficulty with, the biggest thing that I’m having difficulty with in life is school. Being in school has brought me through so many circles and I have had so many bumps in the road. When I first started high school I didn’t want to go for the work, I wanted to go to get popular and make new friends. Then after I got through my years of not getting good grades and getting kicked out of school, I had to do something because I knew I wanted to succeed in life, and that wasn’t the route. So when I enrolled in Academic Acceleration Academy, I first started off kind of rocky, but now as I get slowly to the end, I’m getting more and more successful in the work that I do, and a lot of things that I thought I couldn’t overcome I have. So finally after getting expelled from my old high school, I basically had to start my education all over. At AAA, I’m getting to the education level that I need to be on, and I will be graduating in June 2010. So I have overcome my fear and my difficulties and reached a new school state of mind and I am succeeding in my education. Dear Diary, . . . . When we broke up I was depressed. I tried to commit suicide. I felt worthless to my kids because I couldn’t provide them with what they needed. I would call their father for help, but he would not give me anything. He wouldn’t even visit his own kid. It was hard for me to function. At times I wouldn’t eat, or even get out of bed. Then, I got enrolled in AAA the summer of 2008 while I was pregnant with my daughter. I was still not too committed to school because of being preoccupied with my baby dad and trying to take care of my son, and my new daughter was born July 30, 2008. Then, after the breakup I started attending school every day, finishing all of my required classes, and trying to distract myself from thoughts of him. Starting ubuntu helped me to realize how strong I was as a person. I met a girl named Stannisha here at AAA, and she has always encouraged me and helped me see the positive sides of life. She gives me rides and diapers, and she helped me clean. We have became very close and could talk about anything. She has been going through the same situation so we can really relate to each other. Now I realize that no one can stop you from what you want to do, no matter if you have kids or no kids. I know that I can do what I need to do when it comes down to it to make a better life for me and my kids. Dear Diary,. . . . My mother died on October 26th, 2009, and it broke my heart; I am an only child and it was just me and her. We came through so much, from arguing and actually fist fighting to talking every day and just joking around and doing stupid things in the mall. She was my best friend and she did so many things for me. I seriously feel that she was the only person that really loved me and now that she’s gone I don’t know what to do. Now I live between two of my aunts. Personally, I think that I was born into the wrong family. In my eyes God made a mistake. I just don’t fit anywhere. My aunt gets drunk and argues with me over my things, my other aunt holds the longest grudges, and both of them want custody of me for the simple fact that I come with a social security paycheck. I am a black butterfly and I will only emerge if I leave this world of chaos. Whether I go to college or not (I plan to) I will be leaving Ohio because I can’t stand the circumstances and conditions that I am under. I am out. Have You Ever? Have you ever been hurt so bad you don’t even know what to do? Have you ever been hurt so bad you just want to roll over and die? Have you ever been hurt so bad— to the point—you just don’t trust anybody you love? . . .NO MORE! The Model of personal transformation that guides the program Dear Diary, . . . But outside my house I heard different voices telling me it is wrong to be who I am because I had an African name, because I wore cultural attire, and because I had strong opinions that I expressed openly. For example, I stated my belief that African Americans had been taught self-hatred and that it was up to all of us to love and respect ourselves. People I met didn’t want to hear me tell them that they were responsible for their lack of knowledge and behavior. I told them that it was up to them not to listen to others who put them down, and that they were responsible for who they are. But while I was growing up, my peers did not listen to me, and they taught me self hatred. I can say their words rubbed off on me. I thought I knew who I was, yet I was being teased—my hair, my looks, and my ideas—almost to the point that every time someone said anything to me, I would fight, and at the same time lose my self-esteem. But the more I have done research on our ancestors, the more my self-esteem has risen. Knowing myself led me into finding a new sense of freedom. I am now at the point that if a peer makes fun of me or asks me anything about my heritage, I am mostly silent. I have just grown to accept that my peers are just lost and that I teach them through my artwork, freeing myself and liberating more and more minds. U B U N T U

4. Story Title: Personal Change/Transformation: Purpose, Vision, Mission, Goals AAA Student Voices on; Where am I now (who have I become) Student Voices: Where will I be in the future (who will I become) Research: values/assets, Narrative theory Photo Story Photo U B U N T U

5. Otterbein’s Ubuntu College Clubat Academic Acceleration Academy Description of AAA Ubuntu Photo Photo Description of Otterbein U B U N T U

6. Otterbein’s Ubuntu College Clubat Academic Acceleration Academy Description of AAA Unbuntu Photo Photo U B U N T U

7. Story Title: Dropping Out Research: AAA Student Voices on Dropping Out: general causes Student Voices: Remedies for Dropouts Photo Research: Story Photo Photo Story Research: survey results: U B U N T U

8. I think the students became more encouraged to share their stories once they listened to their peers open up about their lives. Many times students shared after we had read entries from the Ubuntu Diary together. I think the more people are willing to share about their lives, the more others see how similar our experiences are or even how the same lessons are learned from so many different experiences and interactions we all encounter. I am beginning to believe that we are all storytellers and through the story telling process, as we learn about each other, we truly are learning about ourselves and together, creating our ubuntu community. It is when we take the time to listen and reflect that our communities become stronger and we have the opportunity to develop understandings of whereother people are coming from and of what we have to gain from them and share with them if they will let us. The person who helped to better myself is myself. My family barely helped me with anything that I have done in my life. When I was younger my mom never let me out the house because she always put me on punishment. In retaliation I snuck out and started to hang with the wrong people. Most the people were in gangs and all of them smoke weed. When my mom saw I was bringing money into the house, then she didn’t say anything. My school years I got verage grade just to pass out of that grade. My dad was always in and out of jail, and I barely saw him, but when he is out all he does is smoke with me. Now I am 19. Since he is paralyzed he can’t do anything anymore. I was in foster care, and at first my family took me in, but I grew up, I ate too much, and I stayed outside. They all know where I was but they would get mad at me. So they kicked me out and sent me to a foster home. There I got jump and sent to jail because the cop was racist. When I got back none of my family wanted me so I became homeless and moved from house to house. Still to this day I’m homeless, but I have been helping myself to make it, but thorough out all of my struggling when I become successful I am going to take care of my whole family. Tyrone Custer • I will not live an unlived life. • I will not live in fear of falling or catching fire. • I choose to inhabit my days, • to allow my living to open me, • to make me less afraid, more accessible, • to loosen my heart • until it becomes a wing, a torch, a promise. • I choose to risk my significance; • to live, • so that which came to me as seed • goes to the next as blossom, • and that which came to me as blossom, • goes on as fruit. • Dawna Marko A week has passed since I realized my life is controlled by my actions and the decisions that I make. After this incident, I started to see that there was more in life and I should aim higher. Now. . . I live each day to the fullest and take things one day at a time. I'm doing that by working more efficiently toward my goal. Planning high only to fall back to where I was is not an option. It's just too bad that all of my friends aren't ready to take that step and be king of kings rather than a king of men.  (Ubuntu I, 73)

9. Tri-Fold Poster • Results of focus groups • Focus group questions: • When did your motivation fall apart: trigger event; how did your personal decision contribute to your dropping out? • What role did social pressure play in your dropping out • What role did your family/personal relationship ply in your dropping out • Role school could play/has played in preventing dropouts • When was your motivation renewed: trigger event (s) • What role have you played? • What role have family/personal relationships played in your finishing school • How have you been changed/transformed? • What role does AAA play? • What is it about AAA that ensures you will graduate? • III. Panel Discussion at the Conference • IV. Brief film--looped in front of poster display