2015 summer edition of living education emagazine volume 13 (fotrp) by Forest Of The Rain Productions

Living Education eMagazine 12

Class of 2015

A magazine that discusses education in our everyday lives. Summer edition XIII

Best Practices for Improving Engagement in Multicultural, University Classrooms: A Literature Review

Getting FIT for the Summer The Poverty of Excellence

Commencement Address By Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D.

2015

School Leadership for Social Justice: An Examination of Research and Practice What Happens to American Students with Special Needs After High Schoolâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Does Anyone Care?

10 Key Ways to Prepare Your High School Student for College

Class of 2015

Publisher’s Note We do we owe the class of 2015? Another school year has come to an end. A new sea of young people has been primed to go out and show the world what they have to offer. Graduates of all ages; are ready to take on the challenges of our times in hopes of making a difference. They have been emboldened with a spirit to make the paths they have chosen better than before their own journey. It is always with great anticipation that I wait to witness what kind of mark on the world each graduating class will leave for the next to outdo. As a society, we believe the new will usher in a better and brighter view on how we should be as a culture. It has been proven throughout this nation and much of the world the young are often catalyze of change. However, for those of us who have completed our academic requirements long ago, I pose a simple question. What do we owe the class of 2015? I say we owe them the truth! Most of us can agree, 2014- 2015 has been a difficult and painful year of social unrest. Young people have taken to the streets in hope to change long standing and well documented disparities; many which have stood for decades. These disparities and inequalities have existed for far too long, passing on the struggle for access to quality education, housing and meaningful living wage employment from one generation to the next. So why are we waiting for the young to march in the streets, challenge ideas and insist on changing the world...our world...their world. Do we, the generations before, not owe the class of 2015 something more than the same ole’ struggles. Perhaps we owe them the acknowledgment of their protest of actions and words; which for many have shed light on places and practices where darkest has been too long. But conceivably, we owe them more. Isn’t it safe to admit, we owe the class of 2015 a society that is ahead of where each of us started in the world? Can we admit, we owe them a world where they can pursue their dreams without barriers and fear? We should be sincere and declare we owe the class of 2015 to be the first class that will not have to correct mistakes from the past before they have had chance to make their own. I know it would almost impossible to give to the class 2015. However, the effort is not so difficult. Being an example of what we want the world to be for each of us is the least we can give to the class of 2015 and beyond. If as a society we are more than capable of seeing the beauty and simplicity of treating one another with love and respect; then we owe it to the class of 2015 show it! Congratulations class of 2015.

Michel Davis Robinson, MS

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Executive Perspective It Is Not Easy Being An Advocate….But Someone Has To Do It…Thank You For Doing It! By: Dr. Michael A. Robinson CEO/Chief Editor Living Education eMagazine There will come a time in your life as a hard working advocate seeking positive change, equity and justice for all; that your actions no matter how noble will be questioned by some. In a few instances, you will be seen as the enemy; the trouble maker; a person incapable of understanding the complexities of operating an intricate public funded school system or how the local, state and Federal political systems work. As an advocate, you can expect your motives will be the subject of conversations and doubt will be associated with your intentions. There will be reservations about the true mission of your organization and exactly what it is you are trying to accomplish. Some will go as far as to question your ethics. These are the indications you are making a difference. Their actions represent a sign you are ruffling the feathers and shaking the right cages. Their failed attempts to divert you for your work, to throw you off course are signals your advocacy works. However, as a result of the push back you have received throughout your fight for justice, inclusion and equity; you have likely questioned if what you are doing is worth it. You have commenced with the self-interrogation, “I really wonder if I am making a difference” or "Is this a waste my time, who really cares." You have probably found yourself growing weary, tired and frustrated with everything you have hoped to achieve. At some point, you may even become a little sarcastic and at times presented a wry sense of humor. This is normal; this is the process from which real and authentic change takes place. You are not tired, just battled tested. The champions of justice and the fighters of equity are seldom without scares and battle wounds. You it! will never be welcome with open arms into their world of status quo or their land of doing business the old way. You are the gate jumper, the party stopper or worst the idealist. You have designs on changing the world for the better. The world you hope to create is not one of comfort and privilege for those who hoard access and limit opportunity; you are aspiring to create, a place that will make many uneasy and afraid their way of life is coming to an end. That the flag of oppression and neglect is coming down to be replaced with symbols of hope, peace and love.

You have them on the run. Your unvarying calls for transparency, equal opportunity and access have chipped away at their amour of resistance. Your efforts are opening doors of hope and promise to those who need it the most. Keep up the fight; you are providing a voice for the voiceless and strength to weak. It is not easy being an advocate….but someone has to do it…and we thank you for doing it.

Organizations to Know

The Institute for Interactive Instruction, Inc. is dedicated to creating a fundamental change in the community of organizations, programs, professionals and community members that care for children, youth and families. http://www.iiiinc.org/

For Love of Children (FLOC) provides educational services beyond the classroom to help students succeed from first grade through college and career. FLOC brings together students, volunteers, families, and community partners in proven programs that teach, empower, and transform. FLOC provides educational services beyond the classroom to help students succeed from 1st grade through college and career. Teach, Empower, Transform! https://www.floc.org/ Teach21 is a professional development institute that focuses on 21st Century teaching and learning. We are now in our fourth year providing professional development through innovative workshops. Developed and taught by The School at Columbia faculty, the workshops are grounded in cutting edge pedagogy and classroom experience. https://teach21.theschool.columbia.edu/home

Contributors

Allan D. Arbogast, Ed.D.

Melissa Caldwell

Are We Testing Students Too Much? p39

A Few Simple and Easy Recipes for the Family on the Go! p77

Allan (Duane) Arbogast serves The Children’s Guild as vice president of educational services/ chief operating officer for its non-public and Monarch Charter schools. Arbogast served Prince George’s County Public Schools as Chief Academic Officer since 2010 and served as the Acting Deputy Superintendent for Academics in 2012/2013. Prior to that time, he worked for 32 years in the Anne Arundel County Public Schools, serving as Senior Manager for Academic Accountability, a principal, assistant principal and teacher. Arbogast received a Masters of Education and a Doctorate of Education from the University of Maryland, College Park, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He has served as an adjunct Professor at the University of Maryland. He was on the Governor’s Effective Education Council, was a member of the Class of 2007 Leadership Anne Arundel County, and serves as a board member of Grassroots Education Nepal. Arbogast was a Washington Post Distinguished Leader in 2004 for his performance as an elementary school principal and his school was named School of the Year by Exceptional Parenting Magazine in 2000 for successfully implementing a special education cluster site in a mainstreamed environment. Anna Bucy, Ph.D.

The Poverty of Excellence p56 Dr. Anna Bucy is an educational consultant specializing in gender and bullying based in Ohio. Dr. Bucy has local, state, and national speaking credits along experience on with four years’ her local school board, for which she earned the Ohio School Boards Association’s lifetime distinction of Master Board Member. She serves on the Holocaust Remembrance Committee for the college where she has taught communication and humanities as an adjunct for 18 years. She holds degrees from Wright State University and University of Phoenix.

I’m a busy mother who enjoys cooking and looking for simplicity and practicality to make meal planning “Simple & Easy”. When I was a teenager growing up in Europe, where I was born, our family traveled to various countries. I still remember the many restaurants where we would stop along our journey and the wonderful delicious meals we ate. We spent summers visiting with my grandparents in Austria. My sister and I picked fresh peaches and sweet black cherries from my grandfather’s orchard. We looked forward to those visits. I spent many summers with my grandmother watching her day after day as she cooked delicious meals. I wanted to be as creative in the kitchen as my grandmother. She taught me so much about flavoring food and cooking. I enjoy cooking and getting creative in the kitchen, gardening, and growing my own fresh herbs and vegetables. Kenya Conway-Jones

13 Sneaky Ways To Keep Your Child Engaged In Learning Over The Summer p66 Kenya travels the world inspiring, motivating, and teaching people about the greatness of their lives. She helps people find the courage to live their dreams, overcome their fears, and push through to abundance, expectation, and action. Kenya's teachings help people to create a better, more fulfilling, and rewarding life. Her natural ability to teach is evident in her engaging, hands-on lectures, and workshops. Kenya is passionate about helping individuals and businesses dramatically improve their results. Kenya's signature program Grow To Greater is designed to take a business or individual from where they currently are to where they ultimately want to be achieving success beyond their wildest dreams. Kenya is no slouch when it comes to entrepreneurship. She is a published author and also the owner of 2Fyne Entertainment Professional

Contributors DJ Service in Ellicott City, Maryland. Making quite a name for herself, Kenya has performed at numerous weddings, corporate and promotional events, fundraisers, and many other events all across the Maryland/DC/Virginia area. Some of Kenya's corporate clients include; Victoria Secret, Macy's, Bloomingdales, David's Bridal, B.E.T, Jackson & Tull, Raytheon, and Giant, just to name a few. Kenya's expertise as a DJ combined with her experience as a middle school teacher allow her the ability to connect and engage audiences of all ages. Since reclaiming her first love of public speaking and coupled with her natural knack for teaching, Kenya has become a force to be reckoned with. She inspires, motivates, and teaches audiences of all ages how to break the barriers that are keeping them from accomplishing their wildest dreams, and living their best life. Neil Haley

What Happens to American Students with Special Needs After High School—Does Anyone Care? p38 Neil Haley, CEO of Total Tutor, has been working with children for more than 12 years. His experience includes: Classroom Teacher; After School Program Director; Behavior Specialist; Educational Advocate; Developmental Therapist, SAT Prep Coach; and Practicum Supervisor. Total Tutor is an international kindergarten through college tutoring and consulting company, providing educational advocacy, behavior therapy, autism consulting, home school consulting, all subject tutoring, and SAT/ACT/GRE tutoring. Neil is also the affable host of The Total Education Network, which is heard and viewed in over 180 countries, syndicated on 120 stations, with over 2.5 million listeners and viewers per week. Neil was also a former professional wrestler. Neil graduated from LaRoche College with a B.S. in History, and obtained his M. Ed. at Duquesne University. He is married to Jennifer and the proud father of five children.

Nadine Haupt

5 Ways to Build Your Inner Strength p43 Nadine Haupt works with motivated and results -driven women who want to break through career plateaus, accelerate their impact and income, and fall in love with Monday mornings. Through professional speaking, private and group coaching and mentoring using the proprietary F.A.S.T. Formula for Success, Nadine shows them how --- faster and more easily than by going it alone. Since 1994, Nadine blazed a successful trail in male-dominated technical fields – including becoming the first female trackside engine engineer in IndyCar Racing. Now she shares her insider secrets with ambitious career women who are eager to follow her lead and create success on their terms. Nadine’s clients are drawn to her passion, authenticity, professionalism, and down-toearth style. Her no-nonsense approach challenges clients while her compassion and support encourages them to make bold moves. Clients are inspired to do more, be more, and have more…because that’s what being a F.A.S.T. Woman is all about. Belinda “BFIT” Johnson

Getting FIT for the Summer p51 Belinda Johnson, also known as “Coach ‘B’ Fit,” is a fitness coach, consultant, speaker and author located on the East Coast. She has become a sought after consultant/speaker and coach in the world of those who are striving to live a healthy and fit lifestyle. She is married to Eric Johnson, known as E. Cornell, and is the mother of two beautiful children. Coach ‘B’ fit was born and raised in Memphis As a southern girl fitness was far from her world of soul food and southern s, Tennessee. As a southern girl fitness was far from her world of soul food and southern style cooking...good but not good for you. It was not until she was twenty five that she began embracing fitness as a way of life and not just a way to meet a short term goal. In 1998, the effects of their lifestyle manifested in the effects of their lifestyle manifested in

ontributors

Belinda’s father who lost function of both kidneys and was in need of a transplant. Sadly, willing family members were unable to donate a kidney because they were all too unhealthy. It was then that Coach ‘B’ Fit was born. Starting with her own household, Coach ‘B’ drastically changed her family’s eating habits and incorporated exercise into their daily routines. Of course, these alterations were met with opposition, but with love and dedication the family’s lives began to change for the better. So much better that one of Coach ‘B’ Fit’s sisters, who weighed 415 pounds when they started, lost half of her weight. The community began to take notice of Coach ‘B’ Fit’s success with her family and their interest was sparked creating a way for Coach ‘B’ Fit to start a community boot camp. She became known in the community, local churches and corporate offices as the fitness trainer who “didn't play” when it came to taking care of your body. Stephen Jones, Ph.D.

10 Key Ways to Prepare Your High School Student for College p21 Dr. Stephen Jones is an outstanding educator who has spent his career helping students to succeed in K-12 schools and college. He has been instrumental in helping thousands of students realize their dream to earn a degree. He has authored the Seven Secrets of How to Study series, including "Mapping Your Strategy for Better Grades", the "Parent’s Ultimate Education Guide" and the "Ultimate Scholarship Guide." The books provide an understanding of the seven pillars that are essential to learning effective study techniques. Dr. Jones is the President of SAJ Publishing, and a Distinguished Toast Master, he is an in-demand speaker who has regular appearances on Blog Talk Radio. He also serves as Associate Dean of Student & Strategic Programs in the College of Engineering at Villanova University. Previously, Dr. Jones served as the Director of the SUCCESS/ACT101 Program at Drexel University. He has received recognition for his dedication to students including the National Society of Black Engineers Award and Drexel

University’s named Dr. Stephen Jones Award for Academic Excellence, presented annually to an undergraduate student exhibiting outstanding achievement. Dr. Jones is a Philadelphia public school graduate. He holds Ph.D. and B.S. degrees from Widener University, a Master of Education from Howard University, and a Master of Business Administration from Philadelphia University. Jacqueline Myers, Ph.D.

Best Practices for Improving Engagement in Multicultural, University Classrooms: A Literature Review p46 Jacqueline Myers lives in Los Angeles, California where she owns an office supply company. She has a Ph.D. in Public Policy & Administration with a specialization in Nonprofit Management & Leadership from Walden University. Her dissertation focused on transformational leadership’s effect on employee engagement. Her passion is leadership and best practices that benefit the company and employees equally. Her other passion is education, specifically online education. As an online student, Jacqueline deeply understands the pressures and demands of online students and concentrates on student engagement and learning outcomes. Jacqueline’s background began in law firms as a paralegal where she worked in Labor & Employment law (as well as other areas such as corporate law, litigation, and intellectual property, among others). From that experience, she became an entrepreneur and online educator. She also teaches at a local college. Her other degrees are concentrated in the areas of paralegal studies and business administration. Jacqueline is also very involved in community service, volunteering for several educational programs, animal rights organizations, and artistic organizations. She cares very deeply about improving the world in any way that she can. Reginald N. Nichols, M.Ed.

5 Reasons to Start Your Higher Education Career at a Community College p63 Reginald (Reggie) N. Nichols has been a higher education professional for 18 years as an admissions officer and

ontributors

officer and academic counselor. His previous careers have been in human services and banking. Reggie has dedicated his career to helping at risk, first generation and multicultural students map out their educational, career and financial paths. He is a proud graduate of West Roxbury High School and was a member of the first Boston Public High School to win a state championship in football. Reggie has an Associate’s degree in Criminal Justice from Bunker Hill Community College, Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from the University of Massachusetts at Boston and Master of Education in Integrated Studies (Education & Counseling Psychology) from Cambridge College. He continues his lifelong learning by taking courses and earning credentials in computer applications, social media, college teaching, leadership and the future of higher education. Reggie is an academic counselor at Middlesex Community College in Lowell, Massachusetts. He was elected as union president of one of the largest faculty/Professional staff Associations in the Massachusetts’ Community College System and first professional staff member to ever serve as president at Middlesex. Reggie resides in the Boston area with his wife and daughter Dede Faltot Rittman

Teacher Burnout? Calling All Teachers and Administrators – You Have the Tools to Put Out the Fire! p71

Summer Learning Mode p35 Dede Faltot Rittman graduated from Edinboro University in 1974 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Secondary English and attended the University of Pittsburgh for post-

graduate credits. After two years of teaching in the Penn Hills School District, she began teaching English in the North Allegheny School District, a position she held for thirty-five years. In 1993, she created the Introduction to Theater class, and taught both English and Theater. For thirty-two of those years, Dede worked with not only academic students, but also underachieving students and those with special needs. She retired in 2011. Dede served on the Executive Council of the North Allegheny Federation of Teachers for many years, and for six years, was a trustee on the board of the North Allegheny Foundation for Excellence, a nonprofit group which funds innovative teaching projects. At North Allegheny, Dede also served on the Project 84 Competency Based Education in partnership with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit; the Krista McAuliffe Scholarship Steering Committee; the Principal’s Advisory Committee; and various committees for North Allegheny Intermediate High School Middle States Evaluations. She also sponsored the Dance Club, Calligraphy Club, and worked with Student Council for years. Shawn Anthony Robinson

Black Male with Dyslexia: Know Yourself p24 Shawn Anthony Robinson, M.Ed, is a doctoral candidate at Cardinal Stritch University (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) in the Literacy and Language program. His concentration is on giftedness and dyslexia. Robinson brings a wealth of academic experience, training and knowledge about the psychological development of dyslexia, especially among Black males who have not tapped into their gifts because of their misdiagnosis and inability to read or spell. He is an emerging national speaker, and one of few scholars in the United States with a research focus on the scholarship, theory and literature addressing theoretical or psychological frameworks investigating twiceexceptional Black males who have dyslexia. Practitioners working with gifted Black males with dyslexia must understand how these students navigate educational systems,

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understand their unique learning styles, and how they construct knowledge through different sociocultural experiences, which are associated with their self-perception, self-esteem and sense of identity. Robinson provides high-quality instruction using the phonemic sound structure of the American-English language, and organizational strategies to enable students with dyslexia to become academically independent in reading and spelling. Christopher Wooleyhand, Ph.D

School Leadership for Social Justice: An Examination of Research and Practice p30 Christopher Wooleyhand, Ph.D., is an elementary principal in Glen Burnie, Maryland. He is also an adjunct lecturer at McDaniel College focusing on the connection between teacher leadership and school performance. Dr. Wooleyhandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s blog, Common Sense School Leadership highlights the need for practical solutions to the challenges of modern school reform. A former Peace Corps volunteer in the West Indies, Wooleyhand has written extensively about the achievement gap and the need for equitable practices in education. He has been published in Educational Leadership and Principal magazine. Dr. Wooleyhand has served as a prospectus reviewer for Corwin Press and is currently an editorial advisor for Principal magazine. He is co-founder and co-moderator of Maryland Elementary School Chat (#mdeschat) which meets every Thursday evening at 8:00 p.m. on Twitter.

A look at a graduation past.

Living Education eMagazine 2015

Commencement Address By Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D. President East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania

Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D. was appointed by the Board of Governors for the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) as the 13th president of ESU and assumed her role as the first female president in July 2012. Dr. Welsh earned both her undergraduate degree in physical sciences and master’s degree in anatomy from Colorado State University, and her doctoral degree in anatomy from the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio. She has published numerous articles in academic journals, has presented at a number of national and international conferences, and has been involved with a variety of community organizations. She serves the local and regional communities in multiple capacities including: the Northampton Community College Monroe Campus Advisory Board, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Association of Colleges and Universities (NEPACU), Women’s Resources of Monroe County board, and the Buck Hill-Skytop Musical Festival board. As president of East Stroudsburg University, Dr. Welsh is also a member of the Marine Science Consortium (MSC) board of directors, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU), and the Greater Pocono Chamber of Commerce. Since her appointment, President Welsh has implemented new committees and initiatives such as ESU’s Administrative Council, a Summer School Task Force, an Enrollment Management Task Force, and an Academic Affairs Task Force. Under her leadership, ESU has: opened its new Lehigh Valley Center in Bethlehem; helped to unveil the Philadelphia Multi-University Center (PMUC); established collaborative degree programs with The Commonwealth Medical College and Marywood University, both in Scranton, Pa., and the College of Sport and Health Science at Ritsumeikan University in Shiga, Japan; announced the launch of LYME-AID, the first commercial licensing agreement of faculty/student research at ESU and within the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE); opened a new Student Veterans Center at ESU; hosted ESU’s first-ever Economic Outlook Summit to raise awareness of the economic development initiatives underway in Monroe County; launched a new website, Made in the Poconos, in cooperation with the Pocono Mountains Visitors Bureau, Pennsylvania CareerLink and the Pocono Mountains Economic Development Corporation to promote and encourage residents and visitors to shop locally; and assisted Pocono Medical Center in the facilitation of focus groups and the creation of an online platform to match residents with health professionals, social service agencies, workshops and other events geared toward health concerns. Dr. Welsh also supported a partnership with Pocono Medical center to train ESU student volunteers to act as health coaches for patients in the Pocono community, ESU’s hosting of the International European Union Simulation (EUROSIM) which brought students from nearly 20 universities in Europe and the U.S. to ESU for political role-playing at its highest level, and the university’s participation in the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program to assist veterans with tuition costs. In 2014, Dr. Welsh was selected as one of the Top 25 Women in Business by the Northeast Pennsylvania Business Journal. Dr. Welsh pursued both administrative and academic career paths prior to her presidency at ESU. She began her academic career in 1978 as an assistant professor in the Department of Anatomy at the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. She remained at USC for 23 years, rising through the ranks to professor and also serving as chair of the Faculty Senate and acting chair of her department before being named associate provost and dean of the Graduate School. Later in her career, she was she was named senior vice president for academic affairs and provost of Adelphi University in 2001, a position she held for seven years. Dr. Welsh then became provost of Towson University in 2009, and also served as interim president of the university during 2011. She is married to Louis Terracio, Ph.D., vice dean of academic affairs and research and professor at NYU’s College of Dentistry. They have three children: Nate, Matthew, and Mallory, and one grandchild, Giovanni.

Class of 2015

After The Rain Commencement Spring 2015

Commencement Contributor President Marcia G. Welsh, Ph.D. @PresidentWelsh East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania @ESUniversity To the graduates of 2015, congratulations! Whether you’re leaving your high school to chase your dreams, learning a trade, receiving a degree in an area of study that interests you or earning a graduate degree in order to take your education and your career to the next level, the diploma you’ve received should operate as a reliable marker of productive potential. But that is only potential…you have work to do to make your aspirations come true. At this moment, as you stand on the threshold of great accomplishment, you have arrived. You are graduating with more than a piece of paper. Your future, your career, your hopes and dreams are now in the palm of your hand. I hope you have been challenged. I hope you have asked questions and learned to think critically, and I hope you have been changed by the experiences you’ve had and the people you’ve met along the way. Be proud in this moment, but for a second, stop to think about those who may not have that same opportunity. A recent anonymous quote asks, “What if the cure for cancer was trapped inside the mind of someone who can’t afford an education?” It’s a good question and one that keeps me awake at night. Like presidents of other higher education institutions, I struggle to find a balance between the financial challenges that come with our daily operations and the university’s commitment to keeping our tuition affordable so students from diverse backgrounds and circumstances can earn a great public education if they so desire. The answer eludes me. I was basically a first generation college graduate. My mother did get her baccalaureate on my 16th birthday, but I was not born to a college graduate. My siblings and I worked in our mother’s place at our small family grocery store so she could go to college. I watched my mother, a commuter student who had a dream to become a teacher, going first to a junior college 30 miles away and then to a public four-year institution 150 miles away. So I can sincerely appreciate how difficult it is to be an adult student, with a family, and with all of the sacrifices someone in that situation makes to attain a college education. They key to her story – and mine – is that we wanted something more and were willing to pay our dues to reach our goals, get our degrees. Almost daily, I hear stories from our students and their parents, individuals who work, not unlike my mother and me, to have more opportunities and, in some cases, to set an example for their own sons and daughters. Yet not everyone has the inclination to attend a four-year college or university. Some opt for a community college or a vocational school. The point being, it’s about getting an education that is a good fit in terms of affordability and employment potential that will somehow pay off in the fast-paced, technologically advanced society in which we live. Know that I applaud all that you’ve done, the sacrifices you and your family have made, to find a way to complete your educational journey. You’ve invested more than money – you’ve made a commitment to seeing your training through to the end. You’ve crossed the threshold and made an investment in YOU. Here are some interesting facts I’ve uncovered in an article written by New York Times Editor David Leonhardt about research conducted over the past two decades, some focused on students

who have completed a bachelor’s degree:  The unemployment rate for those ages 25 to 34 is just two percent;  College graduates are healthier, happier and more likely to remain married, more likely to be engaged parents and more likely to vote;  And, while the average student debt, for those students who graduate with debt, now stands at about $20,000, the pay gap between college graduates and everyone else is large enough to cover the debt many times over. Education matters. Skills and knowledge matter. There’s no doubt in my mind - those students that stretch to do better, will. It’s not just about what you learn in a classroom or a textbook, it’s also about your willingness to step out and overcome obstacles, seek well-paying jobs in new career paths and having confidence in yourself to know you can do anything. Those are the gems you, the Class of 2015, have learned along your path to where you stand today. As you now move forward on your journey, let me leave you with some advice: Accept challenges, not limitations. Now that you face your future, know you will continue to have trials; your work is far from done. It’s up to each and every one of you to set your own path and overcome the obstacles that may stand in the way of your success. Two students graduating with the same major are certain to find different pathways to use their talents and their abilities. Most of you have plans for your future. Right now, most of you think you know what you are going to do…where you are going with your career or your place in the world. But in 10 years, most of you will not be doing what you have planned today. You will be given choices, and you will make decisions…make the best of those choices, those decisions. Don’t dwell on what could have been…but control what is and make it the best! Be thankful. As I’ve said before, not everyone has the same opportunities you’ve experienced to earn a solid education that will help you achieve professional success in this ever-changing global economy. Use your voice and your experiences to inspire others to take that leap of faith! And never forget where you’ve come from. Always take time out to love and to live. You’re going to be busy for the next few years, but never forget family and friends who have supported you along the way. When you see opportunities, pay it forward with money or time or both, to be sure that those coming after you also have choices about where they want to go in life and how they’ll get there. Keep learning. Continue to learn from others. You will need to trust others, to sometimes lean on others and take to heart the knowledge that the world is filled with smart people. As you navigate through the rest of your life, be open to collaboration. Other people and other people’s ideas may, at times, be better than your own. Find a group of people who challenge and inspire you, spend a lot of time with them, and it will change your life. Take the high road. Author Rachel St. John-Gilbert once wrote: “Taking the high road is hard work -- walking uphill requires strength and effort. Anyone can take the low road--walking downhill is easy.” Always take the high road. Never sacrifice your reputation or your integrity to accomplish your goals. Every university wants to make a difference to its students. For most university presidents, Continue on page 73

Class of 2015

Congratulations

Patricia Kelly Founder and CEO of

Ebony Horsewomen, Inc. Equestrian and Agricultural Center 2015 inductee of the

National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame

10 Key Ways to Prepare Your High School Student for College By Dr. Stephen Jones @DrStephenJones In order to change our destiny as a country we must do a better job of preparing students for college. Too many students go to college with great enthusiasm and leave after the first year. It is sad to realize that only 3 out of every 10 African American males graduate and 4 out of every 10 African American young women graduate from college. Why you may ask? African American students are frequently the first person in their family to go to college. They are also attending high schools that are insufficiently preparing them for the rigors of college. Too many African American students came home each day from high school with little or no home work. No one has taught them how to learn or research knowledge on their own. One of the critical factors in the challenge to prepare young people for college is that they are the first person in their family to attend college. They do not know what to expect or how difficult it will be. There are many who have no counselor to turn to when it is time to apply to college. The counselor to student ratio is five hundred to one in some high schools. Some first generation college bound students do not know that you need to apply to more than one college to have options to consider.

Poor timing in applying to college can affect college selection and the amount of financial aid that is available to a potential college student. Each student must apply for federal financial aid before May 1st. The preparation for college should not begin with 10th grade. A foundation for college success should start in elementary school when an important foundation for college success starts. During the 9th grade each student should start to visit colleges. This must be a coordinated effort among parents, teachers and the students to work toward helping the student to excel during the first year. In order to succeed a college student must develop good study habits while in high school. They must decide to devote all of their energy toward earning the best grades in each class by meeting the expectation of each teacher. Students who are successful know that they need to find ways to learn when they are not assigned homework. Here are ten additional ways that a student can prepare for college: 1. Read at least 2 hours every day 2. Get rid of the habit of procrastination assignments 3. Ask the teacher for other resources that will help

you to learn your subject 4. Listen to educational videos on Khan Academy or TedX 5. Enroll your students in honors and advanced placement (AP) classes 6. Encourage your student to take a leadership role in a in-school and an out of school activity 7. Get tutoring when it is necessary. The best students get tutoring too. 8. Encourage your student to tutor other students. It will reinforce their knowledge. 9. Enroll your student in a course at a community college. 10. Form study groups it is a good habit that will help when your student is in college. One of the best skills that a high school student can learn is how to focus on their goal. There are always plenty of distractions in high school. These distractions can be social activities, day dreaming, peers and sports. Students who are willing to eliminate distractions while they are in high school have a chance to succeed in college. One of the biggest distractions in college is the freedom to do anything at any time when a student is not in class. I encourage all students to write down their goals and to identify how they will eliminate distractions throughout their high school experience. Instead of following friends to be a distraction learn to start study groups while you are in high school. Participating in study groups is one way to earn good grades. A good size study group can be two to five students from a particular class. The study group should have a purpose. The group can review notes, create test questions to review and to share important terms that must be understood. Each college bound students must understand that it will be challenging but rewarding. One way to prepare is by enrolling in honors and advanced placement (AP) classes while in high school. These are some of the best college preparation courses that are offered by a school. Some high schools also give the student an option to take college courses while in high school. A students and parent should talk to the high school counselor about these courses. If your child has never been in an honors class don’t be afraid to consider it. These courses require more work but they have great benefits.

Visiting colleges and talking to college students can inspire a high school student to do well with regard to their grades. Most colleges have open house weekends for students who want a more in-depth experience with college students, staff and faculty. Some colleges allow the high school students to spend a weekend on campus. This is another opportunity to help the students to realize their dream of attending college is possible. Your student can ask questions about college life and what it takes to succeed. The college visit is a good opportunity for the parent and student to have a conversation about what they liked and did not like about a particular college. A college ready high school student is willing to set no limits on the amount of time that they are willing to invest in studying and learning. Some of the best college students are always inquisitive. They ask their professors questions. Start asking your high school teachers questions when you do not understand a topic. A college ready student will be open to trying new learning experiences and to learning how to tackle difficult problems. The decision to go to college is a serious choice. It can be life changing and have a positive effect on the rest of a student’s life. Acceptance into a college is just the beginning of a student’s career journey. All of the things that a student is doing in high school lays the foundation for how successful his/her college experience will turn out. Now is the time to organize a college preparation plan to ensure that the transition from high school to college goes smoothly. Dr. Stephen Jones is a college preparation expert and author. Purchase a copy of Dr. Jones’ book “Seven Secrets of How to Study” at http://www.DrStephenJones.net or email your school workshop/consulting questions too Learn@DrStephenJones.net Dr. Stephen Jones is a nationally recognized keynote speaker, consultant and education coach. Dr. Jones is a dynamic leader who has transformed the lives of thousands of students all over the nation. Learn how to maximize your full potential. Call Dr. Jones at 610-8423843.

Class of 2015

“Congratulations to the Class of 2015 on your welldeserved success.” With love and pride today and always,”The HBCU Nation Inc. !!! @TheHustleNation

ᶛᵓᴷ ᵂᵓᴵᵊ ᵐiᶣᵗ ᵇlsyxiᵓᶛ Black Male with Dyslexia: Know Yourself By Shawn Robinson

To date, there are no conceptual or theoretical frameworks regarding Black males with dyslexia, and I hope that my story can start a needed conversation of a topic that has received such little attention (Robinson, 2013). Writing about my journey as a Black male with dyslexia and the experiences encountered in the academy triggered many different emotions, and brought back many memories that I would prefer to forget (Ellis, & Bochner, 2000; Giorgio, 2013). Yet, writing them was not only therapeutic, but may also inspire other Black males with dyslexia who are navigating the academic systems to stay resilient in their quest for academic attainment (Murray, & Naranjo, 2008). My life experiences have been shaped by academic bigotry, oppression and the stigmatization of labeling (i.e., behavior disorder, and learning disability) and tracking into special education by teachers who were unapologetic about their deficit thinking (Albrecht, et. al. 2011; Alpert, 2014; Anastasiou, Gardner, & Michail, 2011). Those labels and being tracked in lower functioning classes had psychologically affected not only my identity and how I saw myself, but also reinforced the stereotype of Black males in special education (Blanchett, 2010). Consequentially, the special education system is not designed to transforms Black boys into men or liberate them from the cycle of illiteracy, but rather prepares them for a life of grief, pain, or incarnation (Blanchett, Mumford, & Beachum, 2005). Undeniably, many, but not all, White teachers who work in special education are unremorseful for their actions or rarely held accountable f Black males or the low academic standards they set towards

(Ferri, & Connor, 2005; Ferguson, 2003; Ford, 2014). Therefore, the purpose of this text is to increase the dialogues on Black males with dyslexia, and the following account is described through an acronym that includes the words: Black, Male and Dyslexia (see appendix 1). An acronym is a truncation produced from the initial letters of words. However, I decided to focus on the entire word to describe what I have learned from navigating the academic systems as a Black male with dyslexia. To begin, for the word Black, brilliant is exhibiting the traits of exceptional, clever or talented (Ford, Trenton, Blakeley, & Amos, 2014). Regrettably, Black males in general, but those who have dyslexia are stripped from discovering their hidden talents because teachers are unfamiliar with dyslexia or the proper academic support needed for success (Ford, Grantham, & Henfield, 2011). In fact, Black males who are brilliant do not fit the media’s stereotypes and can achieve greatness, but as a society, we rarely hear about them. To be clever is to understand the rules of the academic game that will strategically place you in a position to gain the necessary content knowledge needed to succeed and challenge the oppressor. This knowledge and consciousness may intimate the mass majority of society who are the gatekeepers (Freire, 1970). Lionhearted is seen as being very brave in the face of adversity, institutional racism and oppression, Black males need to stay intellectual brave, and not consider lionhearted as engaging in physical altercations. Next, Black males

need to recognize how awesome they are as scholars and realize they are extremely extraordinary in the academy. Black males are courageous on the field or court and not deterred by danger on the streets, which are transferable skills teachers must boost in the classroom. Black males cannot continue to believe that athletics is their only option and allow coaches and teachers to keep their bodies, but take their minds. However, they need to be knowledgeable about their current situation(s) and understand terms not limited to: critical literacy, critical consciousness and critical race theory (Gay, 2002; Gutiérrez, Morales, & Martinez, 2009). First for critical literacy, Black males are already stigmatized by the media and need to enthusiastically examine texts and uncover underlying messages that paint negative imagines and be impenitent about their responses. Second for critical consciousness, students need to take action against oppressors who control the system and hold the power by challenging the status quo. Third for critical race theory, students explore and discuss provocative issues relating to academic inequality, which may be at the intersection of race, gender, and disability (Janks, 2000; Karnes, Shaunessy, & Bisland, 2004; Kim, & Taylor, 2008; LadsonBillings, 2012).

Second, for the word Male, motivation is viewed as the desire or willingness to continue pressing forward faced with academic hardship. Being illiterate at the age of 18 with an elementary education level as a freshman in college was a difficult task, but I lived by the poem of Clinton Howell, “Don't Quit”. After six years of grit and desire to educate myself, I graduated. Afterwards, I had the willingness to press forward and received a graduate degree, and then enroll into a doctorate program, which was not an easy journey. Throughout my academy journey I faced a vast majority of faculty who failed or discouraged me from getting an education as well as insulted my intellectual ability, but I prevailed as I took to heart the words of Edgar Albert Guest poem "See It Through".

Through all my adversity, I learned to remain aspired towards becoming the opposite of what society painted of Black males in special education who become discounted and marginalized. Ultimately, there is an internal fear of freethinking Black males who are not controllable by their power, privilege or prestige. Consequently, my experiences resulted in me becoming a leader who demonstrated what is possible through being an unremorseful and candid educator in the field of language and literacy. Last, for the word dyslexia, determination is viewed as being persistent and not giving up when the academy discounts you or if the classroom content is exceedingly arduous. Black males with dyslexia in the academy need to understand the cost of a task – how much time are they willing to invest to achieve. Ryzin (2011) asserted that task difficulty influences students’ academic determination, and if Black males with dyslexia have not even reached a basic level of reading, they may become disengaged, show signs of frustration, and have a deficit attitude about their own abilities. Furthermore, Black males with dyslexia who guess correctly at pronouncing content words may feel like they won the lottery, but on the other side of the spectrum, feel incompetent, which influences their identity (Alvermann, 2002). Barber and Mueller (2011) asserted that this psychological feeling could lead to a variety of academic and social difficulties. Next, the achievement gap in reading starts early as a large percent of young Black males with dyslexia are reading multiple years behind their age and grade, which results in them not identifying themselves as scholars (Whiting, 2009). Therefore, if Black males with dyslexia do not identify as scholars their level of learning new content knowledge through personal experience(s) or classroom instruction are in jeopardy. Furthermore, their leaning can be impeded by the cultural mismatch between them and their teacher(s) (Tatum, 2011; Yosso, 2005). In any case, classroom instruction needs to focus on affiXes, so Black males can understand morphemes and reach a level of word consciousness. Black males’ need to appreciate

the personal magnitude of learning to read and reading to learn In the academy (Gaskins, 2011; Goodman & Goodman, 2009; Perfetti & Stafura, 2014). Black males with dyslexia must learn to crack the language code and become good decoders who can read fluently by mastering the entire phonemic sound structure of the American-English language (Robinson, 2014). Finally, academia should be regarded as students investing in their education and seeking postsecondary opportunities at high levels of vigor.

ahead. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 44, 676690.

In conclusion, using an acronym that included the words: Black, Male and Dyslexia allowed me to justify my experiences in the academy, as the academy is not designed for the success of students learning at the intersection of race, gender and disability (O’Connor, & Fernandez, 2006). I cannot generalize that my experiences will be relatable to other Black males with dyslexia, but hope my story can not only inspire other students, but also start a conversation on a needed and timely matter. From reading this and having a true dialogue about the appendix, Black males may become aware of how the acronym relates to their own lived experiences and start voicing their opinions, reactions and responding unapologetically towards the oppressor who are stripping and neglecting them from a fair and equal education.

Blanchett, W. J., Mumford, V. & Beachum, F. (2005). Urban School Failure & Disproportionality

Barber, C., & Mueller, C. T. (2011). Social and selfperceptions of adolescents identified as gifted, learning disabled, and twice-exceptional. Roeper Review, 33, 109-120. Blanchett, J. W. (2010). Telling like it is: The role of race, class, & culture in the perpetuation of learning disability as a privileged category for the white middle class. Disability Studies Quarterly, 30(2).

References Albrecht, S. F., Skiba, R. J., Losen, D. J. Chung, C. G., & Middelberg, L. (2011). Federal policy on disproportionality in special education: Is it moving us forward? Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 23(1), 14-25. Alpert, B. (2014). New federal report: Racial disparities still exist in education. Times-Picayune. Retrieved from http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/03/new_ federal_report_racial_disp.html Anastasiou, D., Gardner, R. III., & Michail, D. (2011). Ethnicity and exceptionality. In J. M. Kauffman & D. P. Hallahan (Eds.), Handbook of special education (pp. 745-758). New York, NY: Taylor & Francis. Alvermann, D. E. (2002). Reading adolescents’ reading identities: Looking back to see

in a Post-Brown Era: Benign Neglect of Students of Color's Constitutional Rights. Remedial and Special Education, 26(2), 70-81. Ellis, C., & Bochner, A. P. (2000). Autoethnography, personal narrative, reflexivity. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of Qualitative Research 2nd ed. (pp. 733-768). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Ferri, B. A., & Connor, D. (2005). In the Shadow of Brown: Special education and overrepresentation of students of color. Remedial and Special Education, 26(2), 93-100. Ferguson, R. F. (2003). Teachers’ perceptions and expectations and the Black-White test score gap. Urban Education, 38, 460-507.

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Class of 2015

The 2014-2015 academic school year witnessed social unrest across the country, as the issue of race became the focal point. Hear conversations from educators, psychiatrics and activist discuss how the social unrest impact the K12 and postsecondary classroom.

Maureen Costello Southern Poverty Law Center Race in the Classroom K12

Marybeth Gasman Director Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions University of Pennsylvania Race in the Classroom K12 and postsecondary

Rachel Gilmer Associate Director for the African American Policy Forum The Black Girls Matter: Pushed Out, Overpoliced and Underprotected Report

Dr. Marva Robinson The Impact of the McKinney, Texas Incident on Children

Velma Bailey Former St. Louis City Alderwoman Founder and President St. Louis Torchbearers 2 The State of St. Louis/Ferguson, Missouri

Will Jordan, JD Executive Director Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing Opportunity Council Understanding Equal and Fair Housing Challenges in Ferguson/St. Louis

Terry Artis Founder Show-Me Sound Organization The State of St. Louis Missouri and How Education Can Change The Narrative

Forest Of The Rain Productions salutes Tanishka Chellani, an inspiring 17 year old student, as she travels to India to begin her research project. Ms. Chellani will teach public speaking classes at several underprivileged government schools. Her research will consist of employing different methods of teaching and recording the results. Tanishka will also speak with teachers, students and other individuals in these government schools in an effort to capture a better understanding of potential educational reform policies that may need to be implemented. Ultimately she hopes to compare those reforms with what may be needed in the United States. Tanishka has agreed to stay in contact with Forest Of The Rain Productions and provide periodic updates on her progress. Way to go Tanishka Chellani!

School Leadership for Social Justice: An Examination of Research and Practice By Christopher Wooleyhand, Ph.D @principal64 â&#x20AC;&#x153;They (revolutionary leaders) forget that their fundamental objective is to fight alongside the people for recovery of the people's stolen humanity, not to "win the people over" to their side.â&#x20AC;? -Paolo Freire

Social justice leadership is becoming a more common focus within the education profession, although it has had a place in educational scholarly discourse for over thirty years (Skrla, McKenzie & Scheurich, 2007). Liberals and conservatives embrace the term social justice despite often being at opposite ends of the educational agenda (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005). Social justice school leaders seek to maintain a dialogue addressing the concerns and questions associated with the pervasive achievement gap. From the time of the Brown decision in 1954 until 1990, there was a reduction in the gap between Blacks and Whites in educational achievement (Raudenbush, 2009). A social justice perspective seeks to uncover why the gap has stagnated, or even widened since then. In the spirit of the Paolo Freire quote above, social justice leadership calls for school leaders to fight alongside their teachers and communities to serve their students most effectively. Social justice school leaders strive to redefine the mental model society has for education and encourage educational institutions to recognize and reconfigure their traditional roles (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005; McMahon, 2007). School leaders must fight a pervasive societal climate that allows a class-bound system to keep a large segment of our population from seeking and reaching postsecondary degrees (Sacks, 2009). Our own students recognize that racism is systematically entrenched in society and, as a result, is difficult to raise as an issue (Carr, 2008). Marginalized youngsters experience an array of inequities in public

leaders affect student achievement, then we must examine what impetus there is for school leaders to use that influence on improving achievement for minority students.

improve school structures, re-center and enhance staff capacity, and strengthen school culture and community. When applied, social justice leadership gets results.

The critical expectation for social justice leaders, according to McKenzie et al., (2008) is to structure their schools to prepare students to live as critical citizens by providing heterogeneous, inclusive classrooms. Lopez, Magdaleno and Reis (2006) examined the traditional use of “onesize-fits-all” approaches for training school leaders and noted that social justice leadership calls for bold and courageous actions and behaviors by school leaders. Their study focused on why, in spite of our efforts, the achievement gap persists. They found that, in general, school leaders are not addressing the problem of student achievement from positions of equity and social justice. Social justice leadership requires purposeful action. It is an ethical perspective that urges us to move away from a passive posture of acceptance to an active commitment to redress injustice and inequity (Grogan, 2004). Social justice is a calling ingrained into the very being of the leader and influences every decision they make (Theoharis, 2008).

Many believe that school leaders can and want to change the current conditions of our schools and our students (Landorf & Nevin, 2007; Lopez, Magdaleno & Reis, 2006; Nevarez, & Wood, 2007; Normore, Rodriguez & Wynne, 2007; Stevenson, 2007). There remains a concern for how that change will be delivered. Marginalized families and their advocates continue to question whether their constitutional rights are being guaranteed when it comes to an equitable opportunity to learn. Normore, Rodriguez & Wynne (2007) examined the historical evolution of “grassroots movement leadership” and its current incarnation. Their key findings focus on the need to bring children and their families to the center of school change. They note that meaningful and sustainable school reform will be difficult to achieve without their inclusion. Equity of resources is a continuing concern for those seeking to raise minority achievement and eliminate the achievement gap. High minority schools have less qualified teachers with lower levels of certification and their classrooms are poorly equipped to address their high numbers of students with below-level reading skills (Fram, Miller-Cribbs & VanHorn, 2007; Lunenburg, 2003).

In discussing effective principals, Theoharis (2007) found that social justice leadership supports a process built on respect, care, recognition and empathy. Theoharis examined the ways in which school leaders enact social justice in public schools. Using auto-ethnographic methods and a positioned subject approach, Theoharis studied seven principals who were working to transform their schools to benefit the most marginalized students and families. Through a social justice lens, the principals in the study were able to raise student achievement,

The discourse on social justice calls for school leaders to question the assumptions behind school policies and practices as they relate to equitable access to learning (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005). While school leaders need to be accountable, school districts and state and local governments share that accountability as well (McMahon,

2007; Kose, 2007; Brighouse, 2007). Policymakers need to be guided by a concern for justice and their policies should ameliorate injustice particularly in areas where socioeconomic segregation constitutes social injustice (Brighouse, 2007). The literature on social justice urges the field of educational administration to shift its mental model from school administrator to school leader (Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005). Some are also questioning whether educators are taking seriously the increasing diversity of their schools (McCray, Wright & Beachum, 2004). They are calling for school leaders to create environments that promote cultural pluralism and provide all students the opportunity to meet success. McCray, Wright and Beachum (2004) analyzed the perceptions of secondary principals relative to multicultural education. They surveyed over three hundred secondary principals regarding their views on multicultural education. Their findings suggest that smaller schools struggle with diversity issues more than larger schools. The principals in the smaller schools studied tended to have lower levels of personal educational attainment and were located in rural settings and/or in lower socioeconomic communities. There is an increasing concern that an absence of critical pedagogies, multicultural education, and teaching for social justice exists within the U.S. educational system (Castagno, 2008). With the goal of eliminating racism, sexism, and homophobia in schools, social justice leadership places an emphasis on what leadership can do and how all stakeholders can be included. Social justice leadership addresses gender, children living in poverty, race, sexual orientation and high-stakes testing (Alsbury & Whitaker, 2007). Effective administrators and teachers must be culturally aware and able to analyze the role of culture in how they perceive students (Bondy, Ross, Gallingane & Hambacher, 2007). This requires competence related to understanding students from different ethnic backgrounds and its implications for curricula and instruction (Brooks, 2006; Leithwood & Riehl, 2003). It also includes the need to honor the diverse linguistic, physical, mental and cognitive complexities of our students

(Landorf & Nevin, 2007). The lack of guidance in addressing diversity perplexes many wellintentioned administrators and teachers. It is generally agreed that in order to achieve social justice, the playing field must be leveled and equitable practices provided to ensure an equal chance at success (Jacobs, 2006). The tenets of democratic accountability hold all stakeholders accountable for their parts (Mullen, 2008). The common theme among the social justice literature is the need for inclusive leadership practices. The connection between school leadership and academic achievement has been researched and is well established. The importance and impact of leadership for social justice has equally been addressed in theory and in practice. The concern now turns toward how future leaders who value a social justice perspective can be developed. The development of these school leaders and an ongoing discourse on social justice should be a key aim for federal, state, and local education officials. The future of this country, and the world, depends on it. References Alsbury, T. L., & Whitaker, K. S. (2007). Superintendent perspectives and practice of accountability, democratic voice and social justice. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(2), 154-174. Bondy, E., Ross, D. D., Gallingane, C., & Hambacher, E. (2007). Creating environments of success and resilience: Culturally responsive classroom management and more. Urban Education, 42(4), 326348. Brighouse, H. (2007). Educational justice and socioeconomic segregation in schools. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 41(4), 575-590. Brooks, W. (2006). Reading representations of themselves: Urban youth use culture and African American textual features to develop literary understandings. Reading Research Quarterly, 41(3), 372-392. Cambron-McCabe, N., & McCarthy, M. M. (2005). Educating school leaders for social justice. Educational Policy, 19(1), 201-222. Carr, P. (2008). Educating for democracy: With or

without social justice. Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall, 117-136. Castagno, A. E. (2008). Improving academic achievement, but at what cost? Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership, 11(1), 1-9. Fram, M. S., Miller-Cribbs, J. E., & VanHorn, L. (2007). Poverty, race, and the contexts of achievement: Examining educational experiences of children in the U.S. South. Social Work, 52(4), 309319. Grogan, M. (2004). Keeping a critical, postmodern eye on educational leadership in the United States: In appreciation of Bill Foster. Educational Administration Quarterly, 40(2), 222-239. Jacobs, J. (2006). Supervision for social justice: Supporting critical reflection. Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall 2006, 23-39. Kose, B. W. (2007). One principal’s influence on sustained, systemic, and differentiated professional development for social justice. Middle School Journal, 39(2), 34-42.

conceptions of whiteness, anti-racism and social justice. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 684-696. Mullen, C. A. (2008). Democratically accountable leadership: A social justice perspective of educational quality and practice. Teacher Education Quarterly, Fall, 137-153. Nevarez, C., & Wood, J. L. (2007). Developing urban school leaders: Building on solutions 15 years after the Los Angeles riots. Educational Studies, 42(3), 266-280. Normore, A. H., Rodriguez, L., & Wynne, J. (2007). Making all children winners: Confronting social justice issues to redeem America’s soul. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 653-671. Raudenbush, S. W. (2009). The Brown legacy and the O’Connor challenge: Transforming schools in the images of children’s potential. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 169-180.

Landorf, H., & Nevin, A. (2007). Inclusive global education: Implications for social justice. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 711-723.

Rogers, M. R., & O’Bryon, E. C. (2008). Advocating for social justice: The context for change in school psychology. School Psychology Review, 37(4), 493498.

Leithwood, K. A., & Riehl, C. (2003, January). What we know about successful school leadership (Task Force on Developing Research in Educational Leadership). New Brunswick, NJ: Laboratory for Student Success.

Sacks, P. (2009). Tearing down the gates: Confronting the class divide in American education. Liberal Education, 95(3), 14-19.

Lopez, J. A., Magdaleno, K. R., & Reis, N. M. (2006). Developing leadership for equity. Educational Leadership and Administration, 18(Fall 2006), 11-19. Lunenburg, F. C. (2003, August 5-8). Leadership for learning: State and national accountability policy can leverage social justice (National Council of Professors of Educational Administration). Sedona, AZ: NCPEA. McCray, C. R., Wright, J. V., & Beachum, F. D. (2004). An analysis of secondary school principals’ perceptions of multicultural education. Education, 125(1), 111-120. McKenzie, K. B., Christman, D. E., Hernandez, F., Fiero, E., Capper, C. A., & Dantley, M. et al. (2008). From the field: A proposal for educating leaders for social justice. Educational Administration Quarterly, 44(1), 111-138. McMahon, B. (2007). Educational administrators’

Skrla, L., McKenzie, K. B., & Scheurich, J. J. (2007). Concluding reflections on leadership for learning in the context of social justice: An international perspective. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 782-787. Stevenson, H. P. (2007). A case study in leading schools for social justice: When morals and markets collide. Journal of Educational Administration, 45(6), 769-781. Theoharis, G. (2007). Social justice educational leaders and resistance: Toward a theory of social justice and leadership. Educational Administration Quarterly, 43(2), 221-258. Theoharis, G. (2008). Woven in deeply: Identity and leadership of urban social justice principals. Education and Urban Society, 41(1), 3-25.

Class of 2015

Suggestions for students.     

Do not procrastinate in turning in any documents to your intended school(s), remember you are competing against other students just like you across the country. Each day you delay puts you behind and is a bad reflection on you. Read, re-read and proof read all documents, check for spelling, grammar and even cultural references and written dialogue with emailing, sending in letters and completing documentation. Use standard English, no slang or hip hop references. When taking the SAT and ACT make sure to take the writing portion, this is required by the majority of the schools. When seeking letters of recommendations be sure to thank the writer before and after they send the letters in and acquire a copy for your records. William Jackson @wmjackson Parent, Educator, Blogger, Speaker Instructor with Edward Waters College and Educator with Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida

The Summer Learning Mode Dede Faltot Rittman @dederittman Summer vacation is here, and although everyone enjoys a break, as a teacher, I have a real concern about the loss of learning over a three month period of time with no school. I know that many schools across the country have gone to year round schools at least partially for this reason, which I think is wellfounded.

agreed that they forgot less with the shorter break time. Because they had more frequent vacation periods, fewer students missed class time for travel time and family vacations, which is a real problem in the north. In my 37 years of teaching, I signed a plethora of forms for winter vacations! For those students, all of that learning time was lost forever.

My three nephews moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina when they were in middle school, at about the same time North Carolina changed to a school year that is year round. The boys said that they actually liked year round school better, for more than one reason. They felt that the 3-4 week breaks came just when they were needed most, and that the shorter vacation period led to less boredom. They were refreshed and ready to return after the break. All bright students, readers, and lifelong learners, the three

I would support year round schools in Pennsylvania, but until it happens, here are a few tips for parents to guide their children in the summer learning mode. 1. Have your child sign up for a daily vocabulary word delivered by email. I like two sites. http://www.vocabahead.com/ provides vocabulary words from elementary to high school. Click on the link, choose the grade of the student, and sign up. Their presentations and word explanations are both informative and Continue on page 40

Do something healthy for your child next academic school year.

Get to know his teacher. A positive relationship between school and home increases academic success.

Higher Education

New Leader

Dr. Ray L. Belton President Southern University @SouthernU_BR

What happens to American students with special needs after high school--

Does Anyone

Care?

By Neil Haley @totaltutor Statistics say that 1 child in 68 is born with autism or on the autism/Aspergerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s spectrum. In doing some research for this article, I discovered that in New Jersey, that number is a shocking 1 in 45. Schools try to provide for the special needs of students on the spectrum, but once they turn 21, these students are released from the school system, never to return. More often than not, programs to assist both the student and the parents are not available beyond high school. Another sad fact is that many of the children with autism leave high school with few or no marketable skills, no college to attend, no social skills, and no place to go but home. So, what happens to a child with special needs when the magic age of 21 occurs? The child is thrown into the torrent of life without ever having been taught to swim. I do not think schools are doing enough for these fragile individuals, many of whom are locked in their private worlds. I believe that we, as a society, can do more. For the majority of â&#x20AC;&#x153;average, below average, and above averageâ&#x20AC;? students in American schools, 12 years of education is essentially enough to teach reading, writing, mathematics, and critical thinking skills, with junior college, community college, four year college, or the military as options after high school graduation. (Core Curriculum proponents would agree.) Sadly, for many of the students with severe autism, none of those options is available. As a parent of five small children, I simply cannot imagine the pain of being the parent of a student with autism on graduation night. When other

students and parents are sharing the news about exciting futures and entering college or the military, the parents of the student with autism know that their child is finished with school (although a better way of stating that fact would be to say that school is finished with their child.) Although I know it would be expensive, I see one-on-one coaching and tutoring as a viable resource for students with autism. I believe that as a teacher and a coach, through learning about the student, his likes and dislikes, mode(s) of communication, and behavior patterns, perhaps a way for the emerging adult to fit more readily into a contributing member of society could happen. I have a vision of working with individuals and small groups of young adults with autism as well; including the coaching of appropriate behavior and social interactions. Although this may seem like a pipedream to some, I know from my experience as a teacher, a tutor, and a coach, that one person, and very often, one teacher, CAN make a difference.

The Internet is filled with groups raising funds to help the students with autism once they have been cut loose from the schools at the age of 21. I think the process of helping the child should start much sooner, with classroom teachers and guidance counselors, parents and school psychologists all working toward the goal of making the transition to adulthood a better experience than what is currently being offered. I also think that the planning process should start before the eighth grade. It is commonly known that every person feels better about himself when actively involved as a contributing member of society. I believe that with better planning, teaching, and coaching, students with autism can be taught to be contributors. I think that with all school personnel working together, with individual coaching and tutoring, carefully selected short and long term goals, and hard

work, teachers can make a huge difference in the life of the 21+ year old young adult with autism. Wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it be wonderful if after being discarded from the educational system because of turning 21; the emerging young adult could have a focus, learn a job or a skill, practice social interactions, and become part of a life that is no longer imaginary, but real. I strongly believe that everyone can learn - when being guided, coached, and inspired, and that in a one-on-one setting, nothing is impossible. I enjoy both the challenges and the rewards of working with children and young adults with specials needs, and it has always been, and will always be, my practice to look for their abilities, rather than their disabilities.

Are We Testing Students Too Much? Duane Arbogast, Ed.D. @arbogast_d The implementation of the Common Core State Standards has regenerated the concern about the amount of testing that students in the United States endure. This concern exposes the deep conundrum around testing. Well intentioned people on both sides of the spectrum struggle to determine what is the right amount of testing. On one side is the accountability argument. Accountability for results gained momentum in the late 1980s but hit full stride with the passage of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) in 2001. This act heightened the level of accountability for schools across the nation. Schools were now accountable for the performance of every child in the school. The intent was clearly to address the achievement gap for groups who have historically struggled. An analysis of the impact of the implementation of No child Left Behind saw increased standardized test scores, particularly in urban districts, and a tight alignment between curriculum and instruction. However, criticism of the implementation of NCLB saw a narrowing of the focus in schools, at the expense of areas not tested like the arts.

In addition, we saw a focus on discrete learning, as schools sought to mimic the format of the tests by teaching skills in isolation to match the format of the state tests. The accountability moment made a notable shift with the advent of Race to the Top (RTTT). Accountability for schools added accountability of teachers. There was a strong attempt to link student performance to teacher performance. The federal government incentivized this shift by making the RTT awards dependent on revisions to teacher evaluation processes to include student performance. There have been strong arguments about the efficacy of using test scores to evaluate teachers. These concerns revolve around the reliability of the tests (are the results trustworthy and replicable), and the validity (are the tests measuring what we think they are measuring). In addition, what is the value-add of the teacher, given that learning is impacted by forces outside of the classroom? So, how do you determine the teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s impact on learning? All are difficult questions. Despite the gains in standardized testing, college readiness continued to be flat as indicated by the number of students requiring remedial help upon entry into college and the number of students who did not complete a four year degree. Hence, the Governorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Association recommended the implementation of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). This was an attempt to increase the impact of the curriculum and testing in the schools to achieve better results. The implementation of the CCSS has actually increased the amount of testing students do, which has regenerated the conversation about testing. There is no doubt that the new testing is very sophisticated and uses technology in a way that we have not seen before. Students appear to like the engagement with technology, particularly around the use of video clips. However, the amount of time devoted to testing has increased. In addition, the technology demands are pushing district budgets to the limit, as schools try to obtain technology that has a relatively short shelf life. It is difficult for districts to invest in computers that become obsolete in five years.

While almost everyone agrees that accountability is a good thing, how the accountability is measured is a subject for debate. School and teacher accountability are complex topics that demand complex responses. In addition, teachers lament the amount of time devoted to testing that takes away from instructional time. The future holds promise that many of these issues can be resolved, or at least mitigated. The use of technology in daily instruction allows for the opportunity to collect student performance data on a daily basis. In this case, instruction and assessment should be seamless and inform each other in a balanced way. Researchers are looking at complex algorithms that generate value-added performance data. This suggests that we may be able to determine the impact of a school or a teacher on student learning within a context of outside influences. Finally, new measures allow for the assessment of skills and proficiencies beyond standardized tests. We can now assess hopefulness, or resiliency, which most people would argue are just as important as literacy or numeracy. The future does, indeed, hold promise. However, does the current investment in testing and accountability inhibit innovation? Perhaps this should be the next Race to the Top investment. Summer Learning Mode continued from page 35

entertaining. 2. Another site I like for high school is Wordsmith https://www.wordsmith.org/awad/. Great words, explanations, etymology, and usage examples. 3. Encourage your child to read. Take elementary students to the library each week, and read aloud to them. Your children will remember the moments you spent together reading. 4. College bound students should choose some books to read from the awesome list provided by Continue on page 67

What Should Parents Do to Prevent Summer Learning Loss? Dr. Edsel Clark @edselclark Read with their kids, talk to kids about their jobs and life, take them to parks, and have them help prepare meals - real world learning! Dwayne D Williams @DwayneDWilliams Good question, anything that allows them to read, write, and compute, but also allows them to receive corrective feedback. Read 20 minutes a day. Play fun math (computation) games from various apps. "Write" what they want to do for the day. Learn one new vocabulary word a day. Dr. Avis Williams @DrAvisW Read to and with their kids!! Visit the library often and participate in summer programs with a focus on literacy, use the time to read for pure enjoyment but also talk and reflect on what was read. Parents of pre-teens can read the same book as their child.

Dr. Nicol R. Howard @NicolRHoward If the teacher has blended opportunities, request they personalize curriculum to meet student needs re: gaps and next grade level. If not, parents can use free resources to set up summer curriculum - such as Khan Academy and TenMarks. Non-tech options: join book clubs and check out local library programs. Judith Wilson @JudyWilsonSINY We use MyOn Reader. Kids read all summer on their iPads and tablets. It asks questions and moves them up levels. Teachers can check data :) Dr. Mike Robinson @DrMikeRobinson

Create a routine that does not take the entire day, but offers structure. I recommend visiting your local library once a week during the summer and take virtual trips to foreign countries via Youtube using the libraryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s computer. This is a wonderful way to expose children to the different cultures and customs around the world.

Living Education Everyday

5 Ways to Build Your Inner Strength By Nadine Haupt @FASTWomeninBiz

We all experience fear at some point in our lives – it’s part of being human. No matter how paralyzing or overwhelming your fear makes you feel, there is a way past it. While you will never completely eliminate fear from your world, you can definitely get to the point where your fear does not stop you from daring to dream, think new thoughts, and create your future. Pushing past your fears, especially your inner obstacles, is one of the focal points I work on with clients. There is a reason that “F” in F.A.S.T. Women in Business stands for “Fearless.” (F.A.S.T. is Fearless, Ambitious, Strong, Trailblazing) It is only when you can push past the self-created boundaries in your mind that you can stand in your strength and possess the courage to move forward. What does it mean to be Fearless? Webster’s Dictionary defines “Fearless” as brave; free from fear. Related words include bold, courageous, gutsy, daring and valiant. In my world, it means you get back up when someone knocks you down. You take calculated risks, fail some times, and then try again and again. The more comfortable you are falling down, the less worried and judgmental you are of yourself. To be fearless is to remove all doubt by building your inner strength. The only constant in life is change. Change is everywhere. We experience change in needs, expectations, careers, economics, business, time demands, and so much more. Today, the security we seek from the various aspects of our lives is no longer guaranteed on any level. To create an effective personal system for thriving in our ever-changing world, you need to become your authentic self. Armed with inner strength. Inner strength helps you to get back up when you’ve been knocked down. Empowering yourself to dust off your pants and step back into the ring. It is about resilience and confidence. A person with inner strength has the mental and emotional skills to confront the challenges life brings. We all have the Continue on page 62

Higher Education

New Leader Dr. Glenn Cummings President University of Maine at Augusta @UMAugusta

Class of 2015

Please send my sincere congratulations to the students who are graduating! I hope many of them will become teachers or are graduating as teachers! Teaching is truly the most noble profession. Dede Rittman, award-winning author of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Student Teaching: The Inside Scoop from a Master Teacherâ&#x20AC;? Dede Rittman

Best Practices for Improving Engagement in Multicultural, University Classrooms: A Literature Review By Jacqueline Myers, Ph.D. Although popular cultural beliefs that diversity is good and should be increased for the good of all, understanding and appreciating the different cultural needs, practices, and customs are almost never addressed or considered in such discussions (Pasquesi, 2013). This is no less true in classrooms, where engaging multicultural students without proper understanding and guidance may present obstacles to student learning and frustration for educators. An important first step, but by no means the only step, is to critically assess the differences and similarities between oneself, some others, and the entire group (Pasquesi, 2013). Members of some cultures may be bold and actively participate in classroom discussions, while members of other cultures may find such interaction intimidating and against their customs, and any attempt to single out a member of such culture could cause offense. Best practices in balancing diverse students and learning success will be discussed below. Universities in the United States often focus on texts written by heterosexual, white men, leaving little room for minority viewpoints (Clem, 2005). This myopic perspective often leaves non-male and non-white students feeling disconnected and unengaged with the course content, leading to decreased student success and unrealized outcomes. It also instills and enforces the cultural biases that exist in the United States (Clem, 2005). The Literature Review Some research suggests that encouraging critical thinking and criticism of individual political systems and students’ perceptions of themselves within them may facilitate positive discussions and inclusivity (Clem, 2005). This is at odds with conventional views where colleges should reflect the community in which they exist and serve (white) rather than focusing on the underrepresented minorities (Clem, 2005; Spiro, 2014). Those views still exist despite changing

demographics. In fact, minority students experience exclusion from their learning experience and are regarded by the majority as threats (Spiro, 2014). Some research suggests that classroom time devoted to students and their activities improves inclusivity (Nelson, 2011). More specifically, when students engage in activities where each individual is accepted as equal with shared objectives and responsibilities, they create bridges between cultures and enjoy similar levels of learning (Spiro, 2014). Moreover, students must objectively consider other students from their political and socioeconomic circumstances to appreciate differences (Yacek, 2014). This helps to create empathy and understanding among the students (Yacek, 2014). In other words, according to Fiedrich Nietzsche, “[t]here is only a perspective seeing, only a perspective ‘knowing’; and the more affects we allow to speak, the more eyes, different eyes, we can use to observe one thing, the more complete will our ‘concept’ of this thing, our ‘objectivity,’ be” (Nietzsche & Kaufmann, 1989). Other research, based on the Australian model of the Circle of Courage and Stronger Smarter, provides an interesting approach to multicultural inclusivity and student engagement. The Circle of Power is a model based on native traditions and respected studies to focus on four developmental needs

across cultures (Nelson, 2011; Rauland & Adams, 2015). These needs are “Belonging, Mastery, Independence and Generosity” (Rauland & Adams, 2015, p. 31). The Stronger Smarter approach focuses on “changing the tide of low expectations of Indigenous Education across Australia” (Rauland & Adams, 2015, p. 31). Both Circle of Courage and Stronger Smarter focus on the strengths of the individual and the student’s culture to improve student participation and success (Rauland & Adams, 2015). Both are achieved by creating high quality and supportive relationships between teacher and student where ideas are accepted and examined (Rauland & Adams, 2015). Misunderstandings are seen as opportunities for learning and acceptance based on “CLEAR”: Challenge, Logic, Emotions, Action, Results (Rauland & Adams, 2015, p. 34). CLEAR improves students’ own identity and identity within their culture as well as acceptance across all cultures (Rauland & Adams, 2015). Other research conducted using nontraditional testing procedures (rather than standardized test scores)

to more accurately predict minorities’ success in class includes small group interviews, group portfolios, group performance projects, and observation instruments (Ramos, 2010). Small group interviews allow the instructor to learn more about his/her students’ individual story and needs (Ramos, 2010). Group portfolios examine the group performance rather than focusing on individual outcomes (Ramos, 2010). Group performance projects use creativity to build trust among students (Ramos, 2010). Observation instruments allow an instructor to measure a student’s performance based on objective results (Ramos, 2010). This method is not unlike Circle of Courage and Stronger Smarter model in its approach to recognizing and appreciating students’ individuality and contribution to the group in order to increase engagement. Similarly, the University of Maryland developed a program to increase peer-led discussions to present different ideas, opinions, and experiences to encourage participation in critical thinking and acceptance of different cultures, increasing student engagement (Voorhees, Petkas, 2011). The program utilized a variety of the tools discussed above, including critical thinking and empathy, suggesting that these methods do, in fact, improve engagement in multicultural classrooms. Yet another study focused on the inclusion of religion as an important factor in understanding cultures in university settings. Cultures are made up of shared-meanings, language, religion, and rituals and is, in fact, a way of life for those members of the culture (Stevenson, 2014). Religious differences cannot be ignored in the discussion of culture, even within the secular communities. This study looked at international students first year at a university post-1992 and their experiences both on campus and at home (Stevenson, 2014). The 15 participants self-identified as between the ages of 18 and 45, 7 women, 8 men, 9 Christians, 3 Muslims, 1 Sikh, and 2 Jewish (Stevenson, 2014). The findings of this study revealed that international students felt excluded due to the lack of

religious understanding and tolerance (Stevenson, 2014). The students overwhelmingly believed that the university’s disregard for the intolerance towards them created the environment (Stevenson, 2014). The study ultimately found that religious exclusion set a course for discrimination and isolation (Stevenson, 2014). Still another study focused on cultural inclusion in universities that combine learning with community service learning as a means to integrate students. Community service learning, in this case, is defined as “self-awareness,” “peer learning,” “international exposure,” and “communitycentered perspectives” (Burnett, Hamel, & Long, 2004, p. 181). This process differs from the typical missionary forms of international exposure wherein members of a culture move into another culture and attempt to impose their values on the foreign culture (Burnett, Hamel, & Long, 2004; de Ramirez, 2015). This difference was striking, and the study found that, assuming the program was set up correctly, the community service learning model was a positive tool leading to integrated classrooms (Burnett, Hamel, & Long, 2004; de Ramirez, 2015; Smith, Prohn, Driscoll, Hesterberg, Bradley, & Grossman, 2014). Conclusion Overwhelmingly, even as online classrooms and global migration have created classrooms of multicultural students, programs, models, and research fail to adequately address student engagement and success in a meaningful way. No consistency in the development of university courses and platforms exists in the literature (Nelson, 2011). In fact, research shows time after time that programs are developed without input from the stakeholders (Beilke, 2005). This is clearly an oversight on the academic community and needs to be addressed so that those marginalized students do not slip through the cracks, creating more socioeconomic instability. The Australian model of the Circle of Courage and Stronger Smarter and the community service learning appear to be the most researched and widely acclaimed methods of multicultural inclusion and should be the platforms from which future research on these pressing issues begins.

References Beilke, J. R. (2005). Whose world is this? towards critical multicultural consciousness through community engagement. Multicultural Education, 12(3), 2-7. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/216511598?acco untid=134574 Burnett, J. A., Hamel, D., & Long, L. L. (2004). Service Learning in Graduate Counselor Eduction: Developing Multicultural Counseling Competency. Journal Of Multicultural Counseling & Development, 32(3), 180191. Clem, B. (2005). Pedagogy of a Radical Multiculturalism. Melus, 30(2), 123-138. de Ramírez, C. K. (2015). Strategy and action: Assessing student-led culture workshops within the professions. Foreign Language Annals, 48(1), 56-67. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1681254352?acc ountid=134574 Nietzsche, F., & Kaufmann, W. (1989). On the Genealogy of Morals and Ecce Homo (12 ed., Vol. III). New York: Random House. Korobova, N., & Starobin, S. S. (2015). A comparative study of student engagement, satisfaction, and academic success among international and american students. Journal of International Students, 5(1), 7285. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1644294270?acc ountid=134574 Nelson Laird, T. (2011). Measuring the Diversity Inclusivity of College Courses. Research In Higher Education, 52(6), 572-588. doi:10.1007/s11162-0109210-3 Pasquesi, K. (2013). Navigating Difference through Multicultural Service Learning. New Directions For Student Services, 2013(144), 37-45. doi:10.1002/ss.20067 Ramos, E. (2010). Let us in: latino underrepresentation in gifted and talented programs. Journal Of Cultural Diversity, 17(4), 151-153. Rauland, C., & Adams, T. (2015). A Stronger Smarter Future: Multicultural Education in Australia. Reclaiming Children & Youth, 23(4), 30-35. Smith, S., Prohn, S., Driscoll, L., Hesterberg, D., Bradley, L., & Grossman, J. (2014). Preparing students for a diverse future: Using Continue on page 51

Higher Education

Dr. Greg Fenves

President University of Texas @gregfenves

Higher Education

New Leader

Dr. Rex Fuller President Western Oregon University

Practices for Improving Engagement continued from page 48

service-learning for career training in soil science community outreach. NACTA Journal, 58(4), 293-301. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1635078608?acc ountid=134574 Spiro, J. (2014). Learning Interconnectedness: Internationalisation through Engagement with One Another. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(1), 65-84. doi:10.1111/hequ.12031

Stevenson, J. (2014). Internationalisation and Religious Inclusion in United Kingdom Higher Education. Higher Education Quarterly, 68(1), 46-64. doi:10.1111/hequ.12033 Yacek, D. W. (2014). Learning to See with Different Eyes: A Nietzschean Challenge to Multicultural Dialogue. Educational Theory, 64(2), 99-121. doi:10.1111/edth.12052 Voorhees, R., & Petkas, S. N. (2011). Peer educators in critical campus discourse. New Directions For Student Services, (133), 77-86. doi:10.1002/ss.386

Getting FIT for the Summer Belinda â&#x20AC;&#x153;BFITâ&#x20AC;? Johnson @coachBFit1 www.iamcoachbfit.com WOW, I can't believe the summer is here! This is the season were most of us hit the gym to get our bodies ready for tanks, shorts, bikinis and the beach. It's possible that you may spend your summer vacationing on the beach, attending different cookouts and having one too many more servings of food than you should have on several occasions. OH and YES, don't let me forget about those high sugary drinks that can quench a THIRST on any hot summer day. After all, it's one of the few times of the year we can take a vacation from the daily grind of life and let ourselves go a little bit. However, if these bad habits are allowed to fester, this leads to the onset of BELLY FAT and weight gain in other areas of the body. YUCK! BELLY FAT is one of the most visible body parts This area of the body can sometimes be very challenging to get rid of, as well as some other parts such as thighs and buttocks. Check out these 3 simple but yet effective steps to help with getting rid of belly fat:

1. Eliminate the HABITS that got you to this place. One must first acknowledge that it is

your RESPONSIBILITY to make a CHANGE in order to get RESULTS. You must eradicate the poor diet and exercise habits that led you to put on weight in the first place. Maybe you consume too many sweets and starchy foods throughout the course of your day. Perhaps you are not getting enough regular exercise. Before you can begin to see true results, you must modify your lifestyle accordingly. Taking an honest look at yourself and knowing where to make changes can be the hardest part but it is achievable with proper planning. 2. Make a feasible PLAN OF ACTION. Without proper cardiovascular exercise and nutrition, even the best laid plans will fail to come to fruition. Let's kill the myth that doing a 1000 crunches and eating fruit all day will get rid of belly fat, there is NO truth in that myth. It doesn't matter how many crunches you do a day, if the abdominal muscle is surrounded by unhealthy body fat, it will not produce a six pack. One must do some type of cardio to burn the body fat that surrounds the abdominal muscle. In addition to cardio, you must also include good eating habits and nutrition to assure healthy abs. It is important that you give

your body the nourishment it requires before and after exercising, without filling up on empty junk food. Switching to a diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables and lean protein will allow you to eat less and remain full for longer periods of time. Another common correction that helps to reduce belly fat is to eat slowly. Since there is a slight time difference between becoming full and your body sending the signal to your brain, reducing how fast you eat can help you to consume less food and give your body a chance to catch up. For your plan to work, setting a daily exercise routine, eating healthy and sticking to it is PIVOTAL. Whether you decide to run or walk on the treadmill, run outdoors, play a sport, or any other activity, remaining VIGILANT AND CONSISTENT is important and the KEY to a SUCCESSFUL health & fitness journey.

Ford, D. Y., Trenton, L., M., Blakeley, J., & Amos, S. O. (2014). Missing in action. In. Bonner, F. A. (Eds.), Building on Resilience (pp. 6274). Virginia: Stylus.

3. Take ACTION and IMPLEMENT these STEPS QUICKLY. Without taking the proper action, any talk of dieting and exercising is just that: TALK. Don't be like all the others, who say they'll diet tomorrow and they'll start the first of the year. Instead of talking the talk, walk the walk. Working out and eating right do not have to be time consuming or cause you to neglect any facet of your life. With a few slight adjustments to your lifestyle and a small amount of time each day, you can finally have that stomach that you've always wanted. It's as easy as setting the goal and doing whatever it takes to reach it.

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for culturally responsive teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106116.

Get BUSY doing something on a consistent basis toward your health and fitness journey! Don’t allow the fun in the sun cause you to lose control when it comes to your health and fitness goals. Plan your meals, schedule in your workout time and stay hydrated during these upcoming summer days. Remember food temptations always seems a little harder to resist when you are having fun on the beach or enjoying cookouts with family and friends. It is your job to take care of the body that is to be use as the vehicle to get things done on earth. STAY FOCUS, STAY FAITHFUL AND STAY ON FIRE ABOUT TAKING CARE OF YOU! Black Male with Dyslexia continued from page 26

Ford, D. Y. (2014). Segregation and the underrepresentation of Blacks and Hispanics in gifted education: Social Inequality and deficit paradigms. Roeper Review, 36, 143-154.

Ford, D. Y., Grantham, T., & Henfield, M. (2011). Recruitment and retention of Black students in gifted education. In, Grantham, T. C, Ford, D. Y., Henfield, M. S., Trotman-Scott, M., Harmon, D. A., Porcher, S., & Price, C. (2011). Gifted & Advanced Black Students In School. (pp. 271 – 272). Waco, TX. Prufrock Press Inc. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Seabury Press. Gaskins, I. W. (2011). Interventions to develop decoding proficiencies. In A. McGillFranzen, & R. L. Allington (Eds.), Handbook of reading disability research (pp. 232-241). New York, NY: Routledge.

Giorgio, G. A. (2013). Reflections on Writing through memory in Autoethnography. In S. Holman, T. Adams, & C. Ellis (Eds.) (pp. 406-424). Handbook of Autoethnography. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press. Goodman, K. S., & Goodman, Y. M. (2009). Helping readers make sense of print: Research that supports a whole language pedagogy. In S. Israel & G. Duffy (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Reading Comprehension. (pp. 91-115). New York: Routledge. Gutiérrez, K., Morales, P. L., & Martinez, D. (2009). Remediating Literacy: Culture, difference, and learning for students from non-dominant communities. Review of Research in Educational Research, 33, 212-245. Janks. H. (2000). Domination, access, diversity and design: A synthesis of critical literacy education. Educational Review, 52(2) 185-186. Karnes, A. F., Shaunessy, E., & Bisland, A. (2004) Gifted students with disabilities: Are we finding them. Gifted Child Today, 27(4), 16-21. Kim, J., & Taylor, K. A. (2008). Rethinking alternative education to break the cycle of educational inequality and inequity. The Journal of Educational Research, 101(4), 207-219. Ladson-Billings, G. (2012). Through a glass darkly: The Continue on page 61

Higher Education

New Leaders

Dr. Willie Larkin President Grambling State University @Grambling1901

Class of 2015

Living Education Everyday

The Poverty of Excellence Noam Chomsky described the current McDonaldization (Ballentine, 1994) business model designed to reduce labor costs and increase labor subjugation this way: The idea is to divide society into two groups. One group is sometimes called the â&#x20AC;&#x153;plutonomy" (a term used by Citibank when they were advising their investors on where to invest their funds), the top sector of wealth, globally but concentrated mostly in places like the United States. The other group, the rest of the population, is a â&#x20AC;&#x153;precariat,â&#x20AC;? living a precarious existence. (Chomsky, 2014) We, the contingent faculty, adjunct faculty, part-time instructors, and temporary contractors who teach the vast majority of college classes from state community colleges to universities of all stripes are precariat indeed. This unpredictable, insecure, psychologically torture some, and economically unstable state of education has dramatically negative consequences to faculty, students, and the very institution itself (Rosenberg, 2015). I will focus on U.S. public colleges because they comprise my personal experience and my professional expertise. Colleges' non-academic administrators and the public wrongly believe that adjuncts teach on the side, and faculty make exceptionally high salaries (AAUP, 2015). Those who are able, teach at more than one college to try to make ends meet, which, when considering unavailable medical benefits, travel costs, and time at home working, does not come close

By Anna Bucy, Ed.D. @PreventBullying close to covering real expenses. Of the 22 million Americans with a master's degree or higher, 360,000 were receiving some form of public assistance in 2010 (Patton, 2012). According to a study by Berkley's Center for Labor Research and education, 25% of parttime college faculty are on some form of public assistance (Weissmann, 2015). The percentage would be higher if the part-time faculty were not in families with other income and benefit sources.

is not like hiring in any business. No one gets promoted in higher education just through time served. Being a professor is not a job description; it is an earned title, which requires competition, and significant work publishing and presenting. Therefore, the current problem of underpaid and overused contingent faculty forces us often to teach basic courses or outside our expertise, rely on public assistance to survive, and abandon any thoughts of teaching that graduate seminar in our expertise we envisioned all through graduate school. We are also not contributing to the growth of knowledge in our expertise because of inaccessible funding or paid leave to conduct research or write. Few people outside academics realize that classes from art history to physics are being taught by an army of advanced-degreed contingent faculty (73% of 1.6 million instructors in 2010) that has no benefits, no consistent income, no predictable schedule, no retirement outside state teachers' retirement, and no job security (Brown, 2010). Students have no idea that the huge tuition they pay and the ridiculous cost of textbooks and other fees does not get passed to their faculty.

I am on Medicaid now, after my husband lost his job, and we would qualify for food assistance if I chose to apply for it. I have taught for more than 20 years, and my highest earning year was 2013 at $23,000, gross. With $150 thousand worth of education, give or take, I feel sick knowing that I could earn more at McDonald's working full time, with benefits. Poverty among the most educated U.S. citizens is growing (Rosenberg, 2015; Patton, 2012). The notion that exploited adjuncts can just get another job ignores employment reality and that being an expert in one's field is supposed to enable a person to contribute to the research in that field and pass knowledge on to others. Teaching in college is my chosen profession, my training, and my skill. When we experts cannot make a passable living, we cannot afford to do research, travel to conferences, or spend time writing instead of working for pay. Higher education hiring

When I began teaching in college in 1995, my community college had one president, one vice president, and a handful of deans, while the chairs taught full class loads. Now, as Ginsberg (2011a, 2011b) noted, chairs and deans are full-time administrators in most places, with several other layers of administrators above them, which, at my college includes one president, nine provosts and vice presidents, and dozens of administrative assistants (Navera, 2010). As tenured faculty retire, many are not being replaced. Adjunct pay, when controlled for inflation is stagnant if not down, while administrative salaries are rising (AAUP, 2015; Brown, 2010; McNutt, 2014). The reduction in full-time faculty should translate into lower cost education. It has not. Higher tuition must compensate for huge losses in state and federal funding, dwindling research budgets, and declining endowments (AAUP, 2015). Students in the United States are shouldering more than $1 trillion (up from $100 million in 2006) in outstanding student loan debt (Durden, 2014). Between 2008 and 2013, tuition increased by 28%, on average, with some states' tuition nearly doubling (Durden, 2014). That increase is more than ten times the rate of inflation. This increase has not gone to expanded hiring of full-time,

tenure-track faculty. The largest expenditure has been the explosion of the administrative/business layer of the college (Hechinger, 2012; Marcus, 2014). The number of administrators increased at 10 times the rate of tenured faculty between 1993 and 2009 (NCES, 2010). I teach a three-semester hour course at a community college that costs the average student $300 plus fees to take. In a class of 25 students, the college takes in at least $7500 in tuition. I am at the top of the pay scale for contingent faculty at $840 per semester hour, which means I gross about $2500 per class. I am limited to 11 semester hours per term, which ends up only being nine. I average $1500 per month, if I get nine hours in summer. In 2014, I had none. From 2000 to 2003, I taught 15 credit hours as a special adjunct, which allowed access to some medical benefits. That option no longer exists. My college has 40 full-time administrators (Marcus, searchable table, 2014), more than 1,050 adjuncts, 150 professors, and 15,000 students at any given time (Navera, 2014). I have never had an office or somewhere to hang my coat. Limited space exists for meeting with students privately, and all of us share one copy machine, two administrative assistants, and 15 parking spaces limited to 90 minutes. In 2013, the top 26 administrators across my college made a total of $3.64 million, with the president earning 2.3 times as much as the next highest paid administrator (Navera, 2014). Now, the business/administrative side of my college controls what courses are offered, where, and when. Ten years ago, it was the departments that made those decisions based on who was available to teach, give the adjunct teaching majority. We have lost specialized classes in major areas, allegedly because of low enrollment in them. When we teach only the basics, we will graduate students less well educated than their parents who paid a quarter of what students pay now, or less. Ginsberg (2011a, 2011b) described the decline in our colleges with a carefully detailed timeline of the shift from colleges run by educators for the benefit of students and society, and valuing creative and critical thinking over uniformity, to the all-administrative university that spends more

money on the business side of the college than on instruction (31% of colleges' salary expenditures go to faculty) (AAUP, 2015). A college education is not better today than it was in 1989, when I started. In many ways, it is worse. Additionally, tuition costs at least four times as much (Campos, 2015). While tuition rises, numbers of full-time and tenure-track faculty decline, replaced by contingent faculty with no contracts, no benefits, no unions, and no stability. Students feel the consequences of this shift, despite largely not being aware of it. Students have lost access to faculty, course variety, continuity, and depth. It is difficult to see how a course can be equally rigorous and effective when 40 different adjuncts teach it who have never met each other. Additionally, students have lost faculty secure in their livelihoods that can spend time focused on advising students, keeping current on research in their field, and contributing to the body of knowledge that grows with each moment. When we have to worry if we can afford to get to work or eat that week, having the energy to grade papers and attend unpaid training is difficult. Students are losing in this era of standardization and reduction of professor as a job description. The current model of P-16 education views students as a product to be cranked through an assembly line of dwindling courses as uniformly and cheaply as possible to appease the fiscal officers (i.e. legislators, boards of directors, etc.). Viewing education as a commodity allows people with business acumen to believe they can create a perfect product output (student) if they properly analyze the testing data and survey feedback of what students want to learn. Good education is more than accrual of facts. This flip of control from the educators to the students and money people can allow students to expect success regardless of effort, while giving them ultimate power over the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of advance-degreed subject experts. Grade inflation may be another consequence. Academic rigor is the hallmark of a good education. With administrators viewing enrollment rates as the purchase of a product

Continue on page 60

Higher Education

New Leaders

Dr. Andrew Hamilton President New York University (January 2016) @nyuniversity

Poverty of Excellence continued from page 58

and students expecting high grades as their return on their capital investment, the value of rigor is lost to a cheap and fast industrial model. Education is not a commodity, nor should we be foisting an outdated industrial model of standardization on schools. The shift from viewing education as a human right and knowledge as a limitless ocean to explore to a customer-is-alwaysright perspective of a bottle of information to be filled allows the keepers of the books to deny learning access to anyone who cannot generate political capital and profit for the administration. This limited view of learning creates profit centers in students who must return again and again for updated training, thereby incurring ever-mounting debt. Tax money is loaned to students, which means all taxpayers ought to be outraged at the administrative bloat (Hechinger, 2012). The huge tuition increases through the last decade have gone largely to administrative salaries and benefits, and not to experts in the degree fields the colleges offer. When K-12 public schools have such administrative bloat, they are forced to pare down to essential staff, even as education costs rise and state and federal funding is cut. Colleges, instead, rely on an adjunct army so they may keep their administrators in place. The United States is not a democracy or a republic (Gilens & Page, 2014) anymore, and our current oligarchs are plutocrats whose massive wealth allows them to push their own (normally conservative) agenda. We are devolving into a third world state (Engelhardt, 2015). This is a history-blind trend away from the progressiveness of New Deal America that put much of America back to work and supported the creation of the social safety net on which a growing number of college faculty rely to survive. America is no longer a democracy and our public education system is not serving our students or educators well. Public education is failing to light the fire of lifelong learning. From its inception, the G.I. bill ended the elitism of education being only for the rich. It boosted the overall educational attainment in the United States post WWII, as well as helping to create the middle class. This expressed value on education as an

entitlement that anyone could work toward has ceased with the exorbitant costs of attending college today. State and federal budget cuts have forced colleges to seek higher tuition and other revenue to keep their doors open while paying a growing crowd of administratorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; high salaries and large benefit packages. The U.S. dominated scientific innovation and education post WWII because of our access to higher education for anyone. That era has ended. The New Deal era gains are not possible today with gridlocked government, multi-billion dollar elections poisoned with dark money, lost jobs replaced with lower-wage ones, and commonly viewing those living in poverty as lazy versus their being victims of a corrupt system (Englehart, 2015; ). Being poor is not a choice. Being poorly educated is not a choice. Being among the 8% of the United States with master's degrees (NCES, 2013) is a choice that many cannot make because of the cost of college, and will not make because of the absence of full-time job opportunities to share their expertise with others seeking it. This plutonomy versus precariat oligarchy in the United States is denying our citizens the ability to earn a decent living at any job and causing those seeking higher education to choose between a lifetime of unmanageable debt and foregoing college. A growing non-academic administrative crust earns exceptional salaries while those teaching are struggling to survive. Academic excellence cannot be attained or sustained when those instructing the next generation of learners cannot afford to write, research, or advance their own knowledge because of their preoccupation with survival. Students lose access to excellence when the best educated members of society cannot make a living teaching. Colleges become diploma mills when enrollment numbers and high grades drive hiring decisions. The failure to protect education from commercialization has destabilized the system and diluted the learning. Seeing college degrees as commodities to be leveraged for profit has robbed the United States of its social and academic excellence. References Ballantine, J. H. (1994, December 3). The McDonaldization of America. Graduation address.

Dayton, OH: Wright State University.

to/131795

Brown, P.D.G. (2010). Confessions of a tenured professor. Inside Higher Ed. retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2010/05/11/bro wn

Rosenberg, P. (2015). They turned college into McDonald's: Adjunct professors, fast-food wages and how colleges screw more than just students. Salon. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/ngbhruz

Campos, P. F. (2015, April 4). The real reason college tuition costs so much. New York Times. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/ld2fjeq

Weissmann, J. (2015, April 17). Adjuncts on welfare. Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/la2k77b

Chomsky, N. (2014). Noam Chomsky: Corporate business models are hurting American universities. R. J. Sowards (Ed.). Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/nojl3gg Durden, T. (2014). The shocking increase of college tuition by state. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mvgeps6 Engelhardt, T. (2015). 5 signs America is devolving into a plutocracy. Salon.Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/mn7z47t Gilens, M., & Page, B. I. (2014). Testing theories of American politics: Elites, interest groups, and average citizens. Perspectives on Politics, 12(3), 564581. doi:10.1017/S1537592714001595 Ginsberg, B. (2011a). Administrators ate my tuition. Washington Monthly. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/4ynpjah Ginsberg, B. (2011b). The fall of the faculty: The rise of the all- administrative university and why it matters. New York: Oxford University Press. Marcus, J. (2014). New analysis shows problematic boom in higher education administrators. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/pdgzk5b McNutt, M. I. (2014). Why does college cost so much? U.S. News and World Report. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/la6j9yo National Center for Education Statistics. (2014). The Condition of Education 2014 (NCES 2014â&#x20AC;&#x201C;083), Educational Attainment. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=27 Navera, T. (2014). Sinclair Community College employee salaries database.Dayton Business Journal. Retrieved from http://tinyurl.com/muvjwnh Patton, S. (2012). The Ph.D. now comes with food stamps. Chronicle of higher education. Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/FromGraduate-School-

Black Male with Dyslexia continued from page 52

scholarship. Educational Researcher, 41(4), 115-120. Murray, C., & Naranjo, J. (2008). Poor, Black, learning disabled, and graduating: An investigation of factors and processes associated with school completion among high-risk urban youth. Remedial and Special Education, 29(3), 145-160. Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Connor, C., & Fernandez, S. D. (2006). Race, Class, and Disproportionality: Reevaluating the relationship Between Poverty and Special Education Placement. Educational Researcher, 35(6), 6-11. Perfetti, C., & Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 18, 22-37. Robinson, S. A. (2014). Black males with dyslexia in Wisconsin getting left behind: Recommendations for academic attainment. Wisconsin English Journal, 56(2), 55-67. Robinson, S. A. (2013). Educating Black Males with Dyslexia. Interdisciplinary Journal of Teaching & Learning, 3(3), 159-174. Ryzin, M. (2011). Motivation and reading disabilities. In McGill-Franzen, A. F., & Allington, R. L. (2011). Handbook of Reading Disability Research (pp. 242- 253). New York, NY: Routledge. Tatum, A.W. (2011). The legitimacy of culturally relevant pedagogy: Resolved or unresolved. In L. Scherff & K. Spector (Eds.), Culturally relevant pedagogy: Clashes and confrontations. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. Whiting, G. (2009). Gifted Black males: Understanding and decreasing barriers to achievement and identity. Roeper Review, 31, 224-233.

Yosso, T. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race theory discussion of community cultural wealth. Race, Ethnicity and Education, 81, 69–91.

Appendix 1

1. Develop a keen sense of awareness. The secret to a strong mind and inner strength is self-awareness. Get to know yourself well enough not only to expect, but also control, your response to the unexpected challenges that life brings. Recognize when you are reacting to circumstances instead of responding. Inner strength is built upon mental and emotional intelligence. 2. Trust your instincts. Find your authentic power from within. Tap into your intuitive or “gut” sense to help direct your decisions. We all have the ability to access our higher self when we take the opportunity to slow down and listen. Don’t ignore that voice inside your head. 3. Surround yourself with positive people. The right people will help you feel energized, motivated and inspired to persevere. Limit your time around negative people or energy. If you are starting to feel bad about yourself in the company of certain people, simply leave. Stay longer if you are feeling inspired and uplifted. Reach out to supportive people to help you when the going gets tough. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you need it.

5 Ways to Build Your Inner Strength Continued from page 62

muscles to do this. We simply need to develop these muscles to respond rather than react to life’s challenges. It is inspiring to know that you really can do something to increase your inner strength. Since part of survival is the acceptance that you cannot change circumstances or other people, it is critical to accept and feel empowered to transform yourself from the inside out. Here’s a few ways to help you exercise this muscle:

4. Inner strength is directly related to outer strength. The key to feeling strong is creating a solid foundation. This includes feeling strong on the outside as well as the inside. Even when your inner energy levels may be low, make sure you are taking care of your physical self. Take a walk, hit the weights at the gym, feed your body nutritious foods, get a massage. These simple steps to care for your physical self will do wonders for your emotional self. 5. Keep a “Feel Good” folder of emails, compliments, letters, etc. that remind you how amazing you are. Continue on page 67

5 Reasons to Start Your Higher Education Career at a Community College By Reginald N. Nichols, M.Ed. @RegNichols

I will embark on my 18th year in higher education this summer. Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve had the opportunities to travel around the country, present to hundreds of audiences, evaluate thousands of academic credentials and advise over 3,000 students and counting. I will begin my 10th year at my current institution, a community college in the northeastern United States. I have found the last 9 years to be the most rewarding of my higher education career. Here are 5 reasons why you should start your career at a community college: 1. You have the opportunity to work with one of the most diverse populations in American Higher Education. (Colleges, 2015)

3. Community Colleges are at the cutting edge of Americaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Higher Education reform movement. (Obama, 2015) 4. The opportunities to grow as a professional at a community college are endless. (Jenkins, 2012) 5. You can have a profound impact on the lives of your students. (Feinstein, 2015) I hope you do decide to become a member of a community college. It is truly a fulfilling professional experience and one that I continue to be grateful to serve my students in their educational journey. Bibliography

2. As a faculty member at a community college, your focus is on teaching and learning. (Bellafante, 2014)

Bellafante, G. (2014, December 19). N.Y./Region. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from New York Times: Continue on page 67

Higher Education

New Leaders Dr. Andrea Lewis Miller

President LeMoyne-Owen College @LOC_Magicians

Do something healthy for your child next academic school year.

Get to know her teacher. A positive relationship between school and home increases academic success.

13 Sneaky Ways To Keep Your Child Engaged In Learning Over The

Summer By Kenya Conway-Jones @Kenyaspeaks2u Keeping your child engaged in learning over the summer may seem like a difficult task and the thought of it may even horrify your child. However, as a parent you have the power to sneak learning opportunities in by being creative and making it fun and enjoyable for both you and your student. When done correctly, your child won’t even know that they are sharpening their skills and even learning new concepts to keep them ahead of the game. These activities can be modified to be more or less challenging depending on where your child is academically. Here are 13 Sneaky Ways To Keep Your Child EngagedIn Learning Over The Summer. 1. Turn off the video games and play learning games that require you to enhance vocabulary, use critical thinking skills, learn history and even math skills. Examples are: scrabble, monopoly, heads up, taboo, card games, etc). Sneaky 2. When students come home with summer work from their teachers, make completing it fun. Divide the work into sections to be completed over a period of time. At each work session set a timer to make it a race against the clock. Get excited and cheer on your child as they are diligently working.

Sneaky. 3. Encourage your child to read magazine articles or goggle articles that are related to topics of interest to them. Sneaky 4. The computer is a great resource for additional learning. Youtube has a ton of videos from a variety of teaching styles. Some are entertaining. This is a good way to get instruction in different formats. One teacher may explain a concept totally different than another, hence causing an aha moment for your child. Additionally there are computer games that your child can play online that can be another fun way to keep sharpening their skills. Sneaky 5. Make cooking a family affair. Allow your student to

choose a recipe, shop for the ingredients, and then follow the directions to create meal. He/she won’t even know that they are implementing reading, math, reasoning, and following directions skills.

Sneaky 6. Encourage your child to write a letter to a friend or a family member. Sneaky 7. It’s always fun to write a time capsule letter! Have your child write a letter to themselves about goals that they’d like to accomplish over the summer or things that they’d like to do over the summer. Place the letter in a safe place and then re-visit it at the end of the summer to see how many of the items actually occurred.

Sneaky 8. Instead of using your GPS, have your child print and/or read the directions from your phone to you aloud, and then also allow them to lead by directing your route. They will be reading directions, following directions, reading street signs, and learning to navigate their surroundings. Also math is involved by the measuring of the distances needed for each turn. Sneaky 9. If your child is a sports fan allow them to use math to calculate averages of (shots made, touchdowns scored, batting averages, etc). There are many ways to use sports to sneak in math and reading skills. Sneaky 10. If your child is a music lover, have them make up a song or a rap about a particular topic of their choosing. Sneaky 11. Turn your family vacation into a math lesson, by having your child calculate mileage to your destination, and at various stops calculate how much further is left to travel. Sneaky

12. Let them play teacher on you. Instead of you being the teacher and providing the instruction, let your child teach you a skill. This can be fun for your child because they are now in charge of you and the authoritarian. This allows your child the opportunity to reinforce skills that they already know and then be able to verbally articulate them to someone else. To make it more challenging have them research and learn a new skill then teach you. Sneaky 13. Watch movies that have an underlying educational theme. Typically there are a lot of good history lessons and self-development lessons in a lot of the movies we already love. The bottom line is that learning can take place anywhere at anytime. Be creative and make it fun and interactive so that your child will want more! 5 Reasons to Start Your Higher Education continued from page 63

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/21/nyregion/raisingambitions-the-challenge-in-teaching-at-communitycolleges.html Colleges, A. A. (2015, January 1). Fast Facts from Our Fact Sheet. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from American Association of Community Colleges: http://www.aacc.nche.edu/AboutCC/Pages/fastfactsfactsh eet.aspx Feinstein, C. (2015, May 21). Lowell Sun Story. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from Lowell Sun Website: http://www.lowellsun.com/breakingnews/ci_28162956/mc c-grads-told-embrace-failure-it-makes-you Jenkins, R. (2012, November 12). Advise Page. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from The Chronicle of Higher Education: http://chronicle.com/article/Its-a-Viable-CareerPath/135628/ Obama, B. (2015, January 1). The White House. Retrieved May 26, 2015, from The White House Web Site: https://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/education/highereducation

Building the foundation of strong inner strength is a lifelong journey. If built correctly, not only will it pay off in difficult situations, it will become habit and part of your identity. Start by becoming more aware of yourself and your attitude so that you can identify the action you need to take. Motivate and remind yourself of your greatness. With a strong belief in yourself, you can achieve anything! Summer Learning Mode continued from page 40

http://www.uhlibrary.net/pdf/college_board_rec ommended_books.pdf 5. Elementary Students can also read from a list of recommended books! The best list I know is http://www.ala.org/alsc/booklists 6. Download some apps at the App store! Vocabahead, Wordsmith, Quizup, SAT prep and ACT prep are a few good ones. 7. Encourage your child to share new things they learn each day by setting an example of being a lifelong learner yourself. Point out interesting articles in the newspaper, and discuss some of the favorite topics you enjoy learning about. As always, I welcome your comments and suggestions. Rittman Publishing, LLC Dede's book, STUDENT TEACHING: THE INSIDE SCOOP FROM A MASTER TEACHER, has now won 7 awards. See the five star reviews on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ noss/177-9028908-1315615?url=searchalias%3Daps&fieldkeywords=student+teaching+the+inside+scoop

5 Ways to Build Your Inner Strength Continued from page 62

CONNECT WITH DEDE!

Anytime you receive a compliment or recognition that makes you feel strong, save it. You will likely forget these moments when your energy is low. This simple file – electronic or paper – will give you the evidence you need to see the impact you are making on other people’s lives. Let their words validate your efforts and lift you up. Refer to this folder frequently.

www.dederittman.com TWITTER @dederittman FACEBOOK Dede Faltot Rittman or Rittman Rules LinkedIn Dede Faltot Rittman Tumblr The Bunny Teacher Pinterest Rittman Publishing, LLC Google+ Dede Rittman

Living Education Everyday

Class of 2015

Higher Education

New Leaders

Dr. Cathleen C. McColgin President Herkimer County Community College @HerkimerCollege

TEACHER BURNOUT? CALLING ALL TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATORS – YOU HAVE THE TOOLS TO PUT OUT THE

FIRE! By Dede Rittman @dederittman

I taught English and Theater in two different public high schools; the first for 2 years and the second for 35 years. I loved going to school every day, and I was not even close to being ready to retire after 37 years, but when my husband was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer, the decision to retire was really the only one I could make. I always thought I would teach for 40 years, and although stressed, angry, and upset on many occasions through those years, I never felt that I was so burned out that I wanted to end my career as an educator. In today’s news, teacher burnout is a very hot topic (please forgive the pun!) It seems that young teachers and even relatively new teachers are fading fast and re-evaluating their career choices. Teachers do not seem to be in Education for “the long haul”; for some it is just a temporary stop, and not a true calling, as it was for so many teachers of my generation. With the stressors of the

Common Core, along with a steady diet of testing for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, teaching is not the way it once was, although accountability, which is in the forefront, is certainly not a new issue. Teachers are each other’s best resource, but most of them really either do not know it, or they do not know how to utilize each other’s talents for the greater good. By that, I mean for the good of the students, the school, their own personal well-being, their workload, and their overall morale. My first suggestion is for teachers to share your workload with other members in your department who are teaching the same courses. I suggest you divide up the units to be taught, and each person should be responsible for the same amount of work and number of units. As a first year teacher, three of us in the English department were new, and we were all assigned to teach 9th grade English. With

advice from a second year teacher who was also involved in this work-sharing process, we sat down and examined the curriculum. If I recall correctly, the year was comprised of eight units. Each of us took two units and created the day to day lessons, plans, and material for those two units. We shared experiences, and monitored and adjusted the lessons as needed, since no teacher was teaching any unit concurrently. We made notes about which lessons took a longer or shorter amount of the prescribed time allotment, and we all felt the weight upon our shoulders diminish with this sharing of responsibilities. Everyone had a successful year, largely in part to collaboration for lesson planning. Second, when teachers work together for the good of the student, I think those teachers become better equipped to handle students with special needs or students with problems. Please do not think that I am saying that a group of your teacher friends should gather together to gossip about or criticize or complain about a student or his family. I am talking about teachers helping teachers to be better teachers. For example, I had a student on the autism spectrum in class many years ago, when the Internet was not yet invented, and the educational community just didn’t know very much about the student with Asperger’s/autism. I was at a loss for how to help this student fit in the class, and I was not prepared to deal with the emotional outbursts and behavior issues, which were new to me, and which I did not want to escalate. I sought out the counselor and the special education teachers, who gathered articles to read about the spectrum, and the entire faculty became involved in this learning process. From the articles, the counselors and special education teachers worked with me to create some strategies to try so that I

could reach this student. Some of the strategies worked, and some didn’t, but the student was the recipient of a huge joint effort and show of caring, which eventually led to the student’s success, not only in my class, but all of the classes grades 9-12. Teachers can perform miracles when they work together to support each other! And burnout is less likely when collaboration is involved. Third, I think that teachers need to be friends with each other, rather than just being colleagues, and by happenstance or a little work, this can happen. It only takes a few people on the staff to become catalysts for making fun things happen in the school and with the faculty. Our faculty had a corn roast in the fall, a Christmas party every year, an end of the year picnic that was not to be missed (we wrote Zings, and made jokes about all of the funny things that happened throughout the year. In case you are wondering, the answer is YES, my friends and I planned the picnic and wrote and presented the Zings.) We also planned other casual events, with spouses always included. I had the great pleasure to teach with caring and dedicated professionals who liked and supported each other not only in school, but also outside the classrooms and school hallways. We helped each other through marriages and divorces; births and deaths; flu seasons and pneumonia; birthdays and retirements. Baby clothes were exchanged as often as recipes, and several times, we even compiled and published a faculty cookbook. We planned in-school lunchtime soirees (even if they only lasted 30 minutes) with white tablecloths and crockpots, and no event in a faculty member’s life was too small, but that it had to be celebrated with cake and punch in the library after school. We met each other for lunch in the faculty room, covered classes for each other when needed, and our friendships have continued to last into retirement for over 40 years. Personal connections and friendships at school are wonderful for venting and

Commencement Address continued from page 18

trusting, advising and listening, and for avoiding teacher burnout. Of course, there is always the issue of time, which is always in short supply. Time is an important commodity, and it leads me to number four on my suggestion list. Heads up, Administrators, because this one is just for you. I believe that administrators need to find better methods when it comes to planning of teacher classrooms, proximity of teacher classrooms to each other, and common planning time for teachers. Administrators must work more diligently to adjust teacher schedules so that teachers have some common time in school to work together on lessons and to collaborate every day. Teachers need the collegial connections to act as a team and communicate with each other on a daily basis, working together to discuss and share insights and points of view, which will lead to teachers solving problems and issues. During my 37 year tenure as a teacher, colleagues shared advice concerning the management of difficult students and/or parents, gave ideas about how to handle unexpected classroom situations, and pooled together to come up with strategies when one of us faced a never-beforeseen problem. Although we did not “team teach” in the truest sense of that term, we all felt that we were part of a team, and the colleagues who shared lunch and planning time really worked together for the good of the students and the school. My suggestions for alleviating teacher burnout are not simple solutions; the faculty and administration must work together and support each other for this total collaboration to work. No teacher can sit back and take a “wait and see” approach, because either everyone is a part of supporting each other as individuals and as a group, or my suggestions just won’t work. Help each other to plan; share your good lessons with colleagues; discuss a strategy that worked for a problem student; communicate with others that you are feeling overwhelmed and need some support. With all of the burdens placed upon the classroom teachers, teacher burnout could be a real problem in all schools. Try to work together to put out that fire.

including me, helping students succeed is the touchstone that helps us measure all that we do. Professors want the academic experience to make a difference to those students they touch. Administrators and staff want to do all that they can to instill in each of you values and good citizenry through your vast experiences outside of the classroom. While these are all great aspirations, it is also important to realize that you also have changed us, either as individuals, or as institutions. We are better because you were here. The cliché goes that you are the future. I contend the future is now. So with imagination, ingenuity and audacity, explore, discover, and change the world. Have fun while you’re at it! The future is in the hearts and minds of you, the really bright graduates with a variety of choices about what pathways you’re going to take now that you’ve earned your diploma. Amaze us! Best wishes, Class of 2015!

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The Author's Corner The Author's Corner provide readers of the books we have highlighted in our Living Education eMagazine or during our eFocus News an opportunity to hear from the writers of these amazing works directly. Below you will find the name of authors, title of their books and a link to their conversations. We hope you enjoy our efforts to bring pages to life. If you are an author and you want be a part of Authorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Corner email us at editor.forestoftherain@gmail.com Annie Fox, M.Ed., Illustrated by Erica De Chavez The Girls Q&A Book on Friendship: 50 Ways to Fix a Friendship Without the DRAMA Catherine Trotter Community Engagement from Concept to Implementation Dede Faltot Rittman Student Teaching: The Inside Scoop from a Master Teacher Denise Fawcett Facey Congratulations, Graduate . . . Now What? Dr. LaSean Rinique Shelton "Congratulations! You Just Lost Your J.O.B" Dr. Sean B. Yisrael The Cleopatra Teacher Rules: Effective Strategies for Engaging Students and Increasing Achievement Dr. Shonta M. Smith The Essence of Education: Daily Meditations for the Soul Dr. Stephen Jones Seven Secrets of How to Study Resource for all Students Kenya Conway-Jones Better Than Ever Kimberly K. Parker I Dream of China: A Glimpse at My Year in Asia Rafranz Davis The Missing Voices in EdTech: Bringing Diversity in EdTech

Higher Education

New Leaders

Dr. Robert S. Nelsen President California State University (Sacramento) @sacstate

Higher Education

New Leaders

Dr. Valerie Smith President Swarthmore College @swarthmore

A Few Simple and Easy Recipes for the Family on the Go! By Melissa Caldwell @mcaldwellauthor

Melissa Caldwell, author of Simple & Easy Smart Meals offers a few quick and easy recipes for the busy family looking to eat

healthy but not spend hours in the kitchen.

Simple & Easy Delicious Soup Recipe Here is a homemade soup recipe I’d like to share that is quick, simple and easy. I have made this soup time and time again, and it is also low in calories. I make plenty so that all you have to do is freeze, thaw and reheat and enjoy this scrumptious soup on those busy days. It includes yummy vegetables, low sodium broth, and some tomato paste, and some gluten free -penne pasta that’s it. Viola! You now have a quick meal that is delicious and cost very little to make. You will want to make this one time and time again as it is really tasty. Ingredients: 32-oz chicken broth or vegetable broth 1 cup water 1-8oz package penne pasta (gluten free) 2-16oz packages frozen mixed vegetables 1 cup pasta sauce (garlic & herb) or plain 1-15oz can diced tomatoes 1- 10oz package butter beans or lima beans 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning Dash Worcestershire sauce Using large stock pot, place all ingredients in pot except pasta. Stir while cooking on medium high for about 20 minutes then add in the penna pasta and cook an additional 10 minutes bringing to a slow full boil. Viola! That’s it and you now have a simple & easy delicious soup recipe. Serves 5-6

Simple & Easy Quick Green Bean Dish This is a Green Bean dish is very simple and easy to make. This dish is light, tasty and low in sodium and sugar. Who doesn’t like that? Ingredients: 14.5oz French Style Green beans (drain juice) Roasted Garlic Alfredo Sauce (2-3 tablespoons) ¼ cup chopped walnuts (or pecans) Place green beans in serving dish, add and mix in roasted garlic Alfredo sauce, heat in the microwave 8 to 10 minutes or on stove top. Top and sprinkle with chopped walnuts or pecans.

Simple & Easy Quick Salad Meal Here is a meal that is simple & easy to make, quick, and very light. Lettuce wraps are delicious and they are also low in calories. You can make these any way you like. It only takes a tablespoon to fill one of these salad wraps. Cook up some ground turkey and add some taco seasoning mix. Then simply lightly top off with some shredded cheese. You can even add a little bit of chopped tomatoes if you’d like. Sometimes I will add a small amount of whole grain rice to the turkey meat to change up this meal to give it a different twist. Ingredients: 1 lbs. of ground turkey 1 whole head of lettuce (washed and leaves separated and dried) 1 package of Taco Seasoning 1 8oz package of shredded cheese Cook up ground turkey in skillet breaking up the turkey meat with spatula. Add in seasoning mix and cook until done. Place washed and dried lettuce on a plate and fill with a tablespoon of turkey meat. Top off with some shredded cheese and wrap. Enjoy this simple and easy delicious light meal.

Simple & Easy light Tostada meal

These are simply scrumptious and so easy to make. Tostada’s can also be made any way you like, they are light and delicious and also very filling. They are so versatile and kids and teens can make them in seconds. They sure don’t last long around here. Just add refried beans or black beans, and some shredded cheese and tomatoes to garnish. Simply get creative, add any ingredients you like. You will enjoy eating this quick light and deliciously delicious meal time and time again. Ingredients: 1 package of Tostado’s 1 – large tomato (chopped and diced) 1 – 15oz can refried beans or (black Beans) 1 – 8oz bag of Mexican shredded cheese (Or any cheese of choice) Shredded lettuce (optional) Heat refried bean mixture in microwave or in a skillet. Place a spoonful of cooked refried bean mixture or black beans on top of tostada. Add some shredded cheese, chopped tomatoes, and you have a light tasty easy meal made in minutes. Enjoy! To learn more about Melissa Caldwell and her cooking expertise visit her website by clicking here.

Living Education Everyday

Artist Spotlight

Evolv3 @EVOLV3_ â&#x20AC;&#x153;Music is not just what I do but music is like that first key I heard on a piano, and I never let a day go by without expressing my heart through words or music. Music is my therapy!â&#x20AC;? Born in a small town in Mississippi USA, Evolv3 is known in his town as a true believer in music who stays true to his roots. Early in his life, Evolv3 became engrossed in the world of poetry and the art of singing. Growing up listening to classic R&B music, he looked up to artists such as R. Kelly, H-Town, Silk, Sam Cook, David Ruffin, Charlie Wilson and many others. In his youth, he explored singing and became a member of his school choir. He dramatically advanced past his peers, learning chorus music and becoming an excellent vocalist. As a teenager, Evolv3 joined up with great producers, and music became more than his passion, it became his mission to reach others through writing and singing his own songs. "Music is not just what I do but music is like that first key I heard on a piano, and I never let a day go by without expressing my heart through words or music. Music is my therapy!" He has entered and won numerous showcases to test his talent! Some say it was like magic in the making! When people knew he was performing they would reserve sets just for his performance. With all of these great accomplishments happening for Evolv3, he has remained humble. "In order to be something in this lifetime you must first know what it feels like to have nothing." Evolv3 is currently working on his first EP "Love You For Life" which will be released in January 2015! He feels music; true music has no genre that it should be expressed freely. His mission is to bring love back into music.... to make people fall in love for the first time, and make others fall all over again!! Love never fails!

Higher Education New Leader

Dr. Maria Thompson President Coppin State University @CoppinStateUniv

Spotlight Summer experience

Ebony Horsewomen, Inc.

Patricia E. Kelly is the founder of Ebony Horsewomen. Ms. Kelly shares the mission and vision of Ebony Horsewomen and how it is keeping a very important aspect of the African American history alive for the next generation.

Art Appreciation Stanley Plumly Developing An Appreciation of Poetry Dr. Stanley Plumly, a Professor and Director of Creative Writing University at Maryland College Park on developing an appreciation for poetry.

Ayanna N. Hudson The Importance of Keeping Children Interested in the Arts Ayanna N. Hudson is the director of Arts Education for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Living Education Everyday

In memory of

Marva Collins August 31, 1936 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; June 24, 2015 Educator pioneer and philosopher

CEOs of Forest Of The Rain Productions are available for speaker events To scheduling Michel Davis Robinson or Dr. Michael Robinson for your education events email: forestoftherain@gmail.com Follow us on: Twitter @anaturalbridge Facebook: Forest Of The Rain Productions Mail us: Forest Of The Rain Productions P.O. Box 12 Savage, Maryland 20763 Forest Of The Rain Productions is an educational affairs organization