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Fitchburg HS: Service Learning in AP LIT

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Fitchburg HS: Service Learning in AP LIT

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AP Lit students brainstormed ways that the skills they develop in class could be applied to make change.

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AP Lit students brainstormed ways that the skills they develop in class could be applied to make change.

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AP Lit students brainstormed ways that the skills they develop in class could be applied to make change.

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10/12/18

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Changemaker 2019 Cohort - 10-13-18 cropped

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This video explores why changemaking should be a part of our education

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Ashoka is the global association of the world's leading social entrepreneurs-men and women with system changing solutions for the world's most urgent social problems. Since 1981, we have elected over 1,800 leading social entrepreneurs as Ashoka Fellows, providing them with living stipends, professional support, and access to a global network of peers in more than 60 countries.

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Changemaking Ecosystem in North Central Massachusetts

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Changemaking Ecosystem in North Central Massachusetts

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In partnership with leaders from Ashoka and facilitated by United Way Youth Venture of North Central Massachusetts, Mount Wachusett Community College,
Fitchburg Public Schools, and Leominster Public Schools have elected to take part in a
Changemaker Education Framework Pilot initiative over the 2017/2018 academic year.

Through a series of professional development sessions, administrators, educators, staff and students came together to learn the Changemaking philosophy and co-create ideas to embed it into the culture of our schools, communities, and students.

Changemaking is a journey that has no definite destination or path, but a common duty to prepare our students for the world they will graduate into and a realization that youth have enormous potential to bring impactful change into communities.

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By Peter Jasinski, pjasinski@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated: 02/28/2018 09:18:05 AM EST

LEOMINSTER -- Sky View Middle School Principal Tim Blake does not beat around the bush. "Do adults in Leominster care that kids don't have art classes here?" he asks a student in a video he posted to Twitter on Sunday.

The student replies: "They probably don't know the full extent of what art can do for kids... They probably don't care that it's not there, but they don't know the full extent that it's not there."

Middle school art programming was one of the larger losses sustained at Sky View during last year's budget cuts, and Blake has taken to social media ahead of this year's budget season to ask local residents for their help in bringing it back.

The video titled "Art at Sky View 2018" can be seen on YouTube and features narration from Blake as he asks students about their thoughts on the lack of art programming at their school.

It begins with a photo of a deserted classroom and a set of unused drying racks for student art projects as Blake says: "Seeing these empty racks is an unfortunate reminder of art at Sky view. The point of this video is not for you to call your mayor or write to your superintendent, instead it's a plea to adults to do something about art at Sky View."

Blake specified that he is looking for "change makers" that could help with the program and has urged anyone with an interest in being involved to contact him by the end of March.

"If people have a talent they'd be willing to share, great. I'm not looking for someone to come in and be an art teacher, but maybe they could come in and do a presentation or a project where kids could help out," he said on Tuesday. "Our kids do a lot of good things with Youth Ventures in the community and it would be nice if we could get parents to come in and do something similar."

Only a few days after the video was posted, Blake said some parents and community members have already reached out with ideas, though he's optimistic they're only the first ones to do so.

The interviews with students in the video begin with Blake asking them if they've noticed the change in programming before moving on to questions of whether students think people in the community care that they no longer have an art class.

"Some may, but most I feel don't really," replies one student. Another responds: "Others may just not care, they just think it's how it works."

Leominster state Rep. Natalie Higgins shared the video not long after it was posted on Twitter, saying, "As a proud (product) of the Leominster Public Schools system, it breaks my heart that students (at Sky View) don't have access to art class. Will you help us fix this?"

Blake's plea came just two days before members of the School Department's Finance Subcommittee met to discuss a presentation they plan to give the rest of the School Committee on the fiscal 2019 budget.

While little concrete information is known about the new school budget, interim Superintendent Paula Deacon recently warned that state education funding in Leominster will only be increasing .28 percent over last year, while employee health insurance is expected to increase by about 6 percent and student transportation costs by an estimated 3.5 percent.

Dozens of parents and students attended both School Committee and City Council meetings last spring and summer to protest proposed cuts to arts classes. The first 90 minutes of a City Council meeting last July was devoted to a public comment period in which residents spoke about the values of sustaining these programs.

"We have already spoken up on behalf of our kids, now is the time to do something different," Blake says toward the end of his video. "I'm asking you to be a changemaker. Let's show our kids that art is important by doing something."

Follow Peter Jasinski on Twitter @PeterJasinski53

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At Leominster's Sky View Middle School, no art class means empty palettes, untapped creativity (VIDEO)

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By Peter Jasinski, pjasinski@sentinelandenterprise.com Updated: 02/28/2018 09:18:05 AM EST LEOMINSTER -- Sky View Middle School Principal Tim Blake does not beat around the bush. "Do adults in Leominster care that kids don't have art classes here?" he asks a student in a video he posted to Twitter on Sunday.

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Principal Brian Hass Testimonial on Changemaking

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Principal Brian Hass Testimonial on Changemaking

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A look at how changemaking has impacted students and schools.

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United Way of North Central Massachusetts

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United Way Youth Venture - Brian Haas, Principal, Ayer Shirley Regional High School

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Believing in the capacity of young people to create change, in 2002 the United Way of North Central Massachusetts partnered with Ashoka's Youth Venture, and later in 2005, with Mount Wachusett Community College, in a unique and collaborative joint venture to spread United Way Youth Venture to local schools.

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What are some of the successes you have had over the last 5 months?                                 February 6, 2018

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What are some of the successes you have had over the last 5 months?                                 February 6, 2018

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Kids being kind to each other, showing empathy

Fostering children that believe in themselves, in their ability to make change

Watching children take changes they make in school home and into the community

Mood Changes - Happier teachers, happier students

Changemaking Day with kids

Engage the unengaged. Student doesn't want to leave class.

Student real life learning.

Opened communication with cafeteria. Worm farming.

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Kindness Challenge at Reingold Elementary

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Kindness Challenge at Reingold Elementary

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Segment starts at 16:16

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Citizen Science at Memorial Middle School

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Citizen Science at Memorial Middle School

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The Science Society is a different kind of science club. Our students are citien scientists. Citizen science is specific research conducted, in whole or in part, by amateur or non-professional scientists. The students also care for our Field Lab. Students maintain and expand on the field lab by adding QR Codes for visitors to explore the organisms there, as well as create stations and activities for visitors to do. Our sutdents also maintain and care for a worm farm to help the community learn about environmental issues and service learning.

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State Rep. Natalie Higgins talks about Changemaking experience

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State Rep. Natalie Higgins talks about Changemaking experience

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State Rep. Natalie Higgins talks about how her Changemaking experience through United Way Youth Venture led her to a career in government.

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Introducing Roots of Empathy, an award-winning charitable organization that brings empathy-based (and evidence-based) programming to children. Roots of Empathy is internationally acclaimed and has shown dramatic effect in increasing positive social behaviour and decreasing aggression and bullying. The organization's mission is to create a caring, peaceful and civil society through the development of empathy in children and adults.

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At Longsjo I teach math intervention classes. My classes typically have students who are at most risk for failing math, lack base skills, or struggle due to behavior. After coming back from a session, I decided that I would make one small change to how my students do the independent work session during class. I wanted each student to feel successful with the class lesson, I began letting students choose to work independently, with a partner, in a small group, listen to music, watch a reteach video or meet with me for a face-to-face reteach. I started to see more ownership of their work, once honeymoon period wore off, students began to see that when they owned their time, they engaged in the class work and started to see the rewards of better grades in my class, better grades in their general class, and an overall feeling of success.

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Students in The Independent Project at Leominster High School are creating their own learning experiences based on areas of their own interest. All kinds of learning are happening, all united by the idea that learning happens best when the learner decides what, how, and why to learn.

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By Peter Jasinski, pjasinski@sentinelandenterprise.com

Updated: 06/01/2017 09:25:11 AM EDT

LEOMINSTER -- When it was first developed as a class in 2013, The Independent Project offered Leominster High School students the opportunity to choose a subject they wanted to focus on for the entire school year.

The class was such a hit with students that they were able to successfully advocate for the program when it was cut in 2015. This year marked the first full school year the program has had since its temporary hiatus.

"When I first heard it was cut, I was devastated because I didn't know what I was going to do," senior Leslie Lopez said Wednesday during a year-end celebration of the program.

As Lopez explained, the program gave her enough time to balance her studies with the subjects that wouldn't normally be found among the high school's course offerings.

In her sophomore year she taught herself to speak Korean.

This year she split her time between learning three new skills: blade-smithing, knitting, and making lip balm.

For LHS junior Cristian Nunez, his goal was to spend the year mastering basic typing, a skill that had eluded him through his time in school.

By using teaching software designed for elementary school students, Nunez was able to go from poking at a keyboard with just two fingers to using all 10.

"Truly, this is one of the best classes I've ever had in my high school experience and I'd love to see it expanded," he said.

LHS teacher David Lane, the staff member who originally developed the program in Leominster, is happy to see the program up and running again, but credits its successful return to his students.

"One of the first days Dr. Chris Lord was visiting the school when he was starting as the principal, some of the students from the project decided they wanted to visit him," he said. "It was good because his first exposure to the class was the students who are in it."

The program was expanded this year to cover two semesters only after the students wrote a proposal to the school's administration asking if they could continue on with their work in the second half of the school year.

This was the first year that senior Alexis Yang had been enrolled in The Independent Project, which she used to paint a roughly 50-square-foot mural that will be displayed at the end of a hallway in the school's A wing. Her hope is that her work will start a new tradition of student murals that will eventually fill that section of the school.

"This experience has let me show my independence and express myself in my own way," she said. "I'm still undecided with what I want to do in college, but this helped me really figure out what I like and what I don't like to do."

Follow Peter Jasinski on Twitter @PeterJasinski53

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LHS students celebrate the return of a popular class

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By Peter Jasinski, pjasinski@sentinelandenterprise.com Updated: 06/01/2017 09:25:11 AM EDT LEOMINSTER -- When it was first developed as a class in 2013, The Independent Project offered Leominster High School students the opportunity to choose a subject they wanted to focus on for the entire school year.

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North Central Massachusetts: What challenges do educators face?     -     December 6, 2017

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North Central Massachusetts: What challenges do educators face?     -     December 6, 2017

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[TIME] for planning, for embedding Changemaking in classroom, afterschool and out of the classroom.

[DIRECTION] Narrowing focus, staying true to vision, and keeping on the same page

[SPARK] Inspiring others, Keeping initial enthusiasm alive, pushing vs. letting unfold organically, shifting mindsets from teacher-driven to student-driven

[SELF] Internal voice of questioning self, giving up control, seeing change as threat to professional identity, stepping out of comfort zone

[OTHERS] Getting others involved, gaining traction and support from admin and other teachers, communicating goals

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LHS student shares her experience participating in Changemaking

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LHS student shares her experience participating in Changemaking

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Alix Cossi, LHS Junior – “I attended a Changemakers gathering/workshop. It was the first I’ve been to so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I really enjoyed the experience. The discussions were helpful and I really feel like I can make a difference. I want to use my voice and start a change or at least help make this grow. The Changemakers are working to improve education that I, as both a student and average person, believe to be crucial in moving forward. I truly feel that students need this. It was so comforting to see so many teachers so open-minded about these ideas and to hear them ask for advice on how to help their kids. They really listened to the suggestions and input from the students that were there to offer insight and I was honestly impressed. I want to support the Changemakers because it’s really something that the younger and future generations need to really thrive. I’m so thankful for everyone involved in this who wants to make a change.”

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Students at Longsjo participated in their own "make someone smile" initiative.  A few weeks ago they started making cards that said Happy Friday, or You are a Rock Star, or You are Fabulous, and we decorated the cards with lots of colors.  Then they went out and put them on the windshields of all of the cars that were at Longsjo! They did this anonymously, which it made it so fun and added another level to the project.  We did this without any thought of recognition, the students loved it! The teachers and staff did as well!!!

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LHS Student Council completes "Profile of a Graduate" Exercise

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LHS Student Council completes "Profile of a Graduate" Exercise

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The Profile of a Graduate campaign provides a toolkit for which education stakeholders can “define the north star” for their school and/or district to include knowledge, skills and attitudes that support 21st century success in college, career, life and citizenship.

Through the exercise, the students created a vision for the skillset they want to have when they graduate.

The profile created by the students narrows in on Critical Thinking and Problem Solving, Financial Literacy, Leadership, Productivity and Accountability, Global Awareness, and Teamwork as the skillset students believe will be valuable in the world they will be graduating into.

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What keeps you coming back to Changemakers sessions?

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What keeps you coming back to Changemakers sessions?

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Sessions are inspiring and fun

Leave sessions feeling energized, committed, connected, and empowered.

Desire to change the status quo and believe in potential and power in kids to create change.

Hope, Continuing hope

Self, own children

Kickstart change at school and in community

Ability to impact school culture

Students and their positive response to what they are doing. It's been a positive change for them.

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Leonardo Silva Brito and Gabriel Saruhashi: Teens Creating Change in Brazil #LeadYoung

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Two Brazilian teens--one from a small city in the Amazon and another from the megalopolis Sao Paulo find a common passion for changemaking. Discover how they support each other to #LeadYounghttps://goo.gl/wMwuQm

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changemaker africa (continent) youth (film genre) school (building function) pinelands

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Everyone a Changemaker: The Story of Pinelands North

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Pinelands North Primary School (PNPS) in Cape Town, South Africa transformed from an all white, homogeneous school to one of South Africa's leading institutions in fostering inclusiveness across society. From there, the school continued their journey of changemaking beyond inclusivity, to unlock the potential of every student, teacher and community changemaker.