Social and Emotional Practices: Open Circle Topics for Students of Color

1. Social and Emotional Practices: Open Circle Topics for Students of Color

2. Mwalimu donkor Issa Coordinator of Targeted Programs 10 Boys Initiative & 10 Girls Initiative Office of Opportunity & Achievement Gaps @10boys_10girls_bostonps

3. Krystal Semper, M.Ed Director of the Young Queens and King Scholar Program. 10 Boys and 10 Initiative Facilitator You can find me at @yqksp_boston on instagram Or ksemper@bostonpublicschools.org

4. His-Story becomes Her-Story

5. 10 Boys/10 Girl Initiative Dr. Ingrid Carney • The aimed at beating those odds by providing Black & Latino boys with the encouragement and support they need to achieve personal and academic success • Keep boys of color off the street, out of prison, out of graveyards, and get them to graduate Dr. Carroll Blake • Focuses on improving the academic performance, social emotional development, and leadership skills of participating boys within the BPS • To increase the likelihood that they will graduate high school and move on to postsecondary education Mwalimu Donkor Issa • Create reciprocal processes that allow young men & women to transition from where they are to a more enlightened state of awareness • To create positive peer group dynamics that produce healthy lifelong relationships

6. Misson Our mission is to teach, motivate, and inspire young Kings & young Queens to think, persevere through, and do for themselves, their families, and our communities through critical thinking, healthy choices, academic excellence, and the pursuit of social justice all of our lives.

7. 46 groups 32 Boys Groups 14 Girls Groups

8. 10 Girls Initiative est. 2017

9. In-School Structural Model

10. Who? Heterogeneous Groupings

11. Dismantling Bias & Making Privilege Equitable • Targeting traditionally disenfranchised students • “he/she doesn’t deserve to go on that trip” • The Globe’s Spotlight Team ran a 7 Part Series on Boston’s racism and segregation.

12. A programmatic model that provides academic and holistic interventions Drugs, alcoholism, joblessness Low SES, “homelessness” • Currently serving 300+ Black and Latino males • Has served 1000’s of students over 30 years • Character-based curriculum model working to reshape participants’ life trajectory • Positive Group Dynamics • Academic Rigor • Rooting experiences in Cultural Identity racially segregated Boston neighborhoods Lack of identity development Schools’ bias learned helplessness street violence

13. The Problem we are Tackling • Young people cannot see themselves in context beyond their current realities. • Young people cannot see themselves in what they are learning. • Young people cannot see themselves in the larger global context.

14. Curriculum

15. Efforts to Change Life Trajectories • Eliminate “learned helplessness” • Decolonizing the curriculum • Promote identity development as well as global critical consciousness • Dismantling Bias & Making Privilege Equitable

16. Picture of playground

17. Photos

18. One way we fulfill our mission is through culturally enriching experiences • Students will travel abroad through Hope for Africa • Value alignment with this NGO • Enhance the development of urban youth by exposure to global cultures to engender stronger self-concepts and historical insight • To expose urban youth to positive aspects of world cultures to increase awareness and connectivity to their peers’ experiences • 30+ students to Ghana in June 2018 • Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissua, Gambia, Senegal 2020

19. Benefits

20. Achieving on State Assessments

21. "We desire to give two things to our children: roots and wings." - African Proverb

22. Learning the WHOLE student, not the hole in the student The Who, the How and the Why

23. Introduction of Self Student introduction themselves *take mental notes Exit ticket/Journaling (What was learned today and the impact?) Introduction of Self 10 mins 10 mins 30 mins 30 mins 15 mins Ice Breaker with students Bonding activities

24. Maps You are HERE Where are your students from?

25. What is the connection trying to be made and how do we reach building the whole child?Let’s start with the three triangle method

26. The Three Triangle (#1) Establishing the foundation Body Language • Body Language • Tone • Eye Contact Tone Eye Contact

27. The Three Triangle (#2) Building the Frame & Structure Family • Education • Family • Career Education Career

28. The Three Triangle (#3) Insulation & Maintenance Stability • Identity • Stability • Culture Identity Culture

29. Strategies Self-awareness, time management & Modeling the Behavior

30. Time to model/practice! We can not ask our students to do anything, that we wouldn’t do ourselves. Let’s begin the process and lets get uncomfortable.

31. Circle Time • I need four volunteer to do the next exercise. • The rest of the room, please form a circle and place two chairs in the middle back to back.

32. Open Circle active Activity (Peer to peer) Back to Back • Find a partner and sit back to back in a chair. • Do not introduce yourself. (purpose-most student barely know each other, so it's unfair to introduce yourself, that gives you comfort/relief,) • Once everyone is settled, take two deep breaths, relax your mind and get ready to open up. • The SEL Circle Exercise “What do you fear? Face to Face • Find a partner and sit face to face in a chair. • Do not introduce yourself. (purpose-most student barely know each other, so it's unfair to introduce yourself, that gives you comfort/relief,) • Once everyone is settled, take two deep breaths, relax your mind and get ready to maintain eye contact. • The SEL Circle Exercise “Do you trust me”?

33. Can I ask you a question? You can’t Say No Group #1 • Who am I? • What is my story? Group #2 • What is my cultural background and where does that story begin? Group #3 • Am I privileged? • How were you raised?

34. SEL Practices Let’s start with the first set of slides

35. Unify your thoughts Understanding Cultural Norms Social Expectations

36. Weekly Accountability Sheets

37. What’s your process…. Repair/ Repeat Relationship building/ Foundation building Listen

38. A picture is worth a thousand words What data tells you that you are effectively and affectively impacting your students’ lives?

39. Any Question, comments, concerns?