ED595 Concordia University Action Advocacy Plan Parts 4 and 5
You will write this piece of your advocacy action plan as a recommendation to your administration or school grade level team to support family/community collaboration to meet student learning needs. If you work in an educational setting outside of a school, please adjust the audience of your piece accordingly (you might write this for a manager or supervisor instead of principal).
Reflecting on the resources and community supports that you identified during the course readings and activities, identify three effective ways to involve or include families in your students’ learning experiences. Address how these will provide opportunities for family engagement that may not be typically present in your school/educational setting (do not just report on what currently exists in the school site). Be sure that these are approaches that foster collaboration with families and can or would be supported by your school/educational site.
Part 5: Identifying Your Role as an Educational Advocate for Students
Throughout this course, you have developed a set of skills that deepens your understanding about your students and their lives and the impact that your teaching has on their experiences. What are you going to do with this knowledge? Educators are advocates for their students by default—you can choose to be proactive with this knowledge and work in areas/issues that are particularly meaningful for you. What role do you choose to take? How do you intend to advocate for your students? Identify at least two ways that you believe you can be a voice for your students and discuss how you envision yourself taking on this role.
This course includes this assignment as a critical assessment documenting your learning on the national standards described below. For information on the critical assessment policy, please review the course syllabus. Be sure to review the rubric for the assignment.
InTASC Standards
Standard #3: Learning Environments
The teacher works with others to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, and that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
- 3(a) The teacher collaborates with learners, families, and colleagues to build a safe, positive learning climate of openness, mutual respect, support, and inquiry.
- 3(l) The teacher understands how learner diversity can affect communication and knows how to communicate effectively in differing environments.
- 3(o) The teacher values the role of learners in promoting each other’s learning and recognizes the importance of peer relationship in establishing a climate of learning.
Standard #9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his/her practice, particularly the effects of his/her choices and action on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner.
- 9(e) The teacher reflects on his/her personal biases and accesses resources to deepen his/her own understanding of cultural, ethnic, gender, and learning differences to build stronger relationships and create more relevant learning experiences.
- 9(i) The teacher understands how personal identity, worldview, and prior experience affect perceptions and expectations, and recognizes how they may bias behaviors and interactions with others.
Putting It All Together
For the past four weeks, you have been immersed in the different aspects of a community of learners. You have explored what it means to treat others equally and what it means to create equitable classrooms where equality is not necessarily the goal. You have explored issues of poverty, race, culture and ethnicity, learning needs, and the roles of families as participants in students’ learning as well as the school community.
You have read many examples of how school districts, administrators, and teachers have worked together to ensure excellence through equity in their contexts. You have read about the exciting parts of that work and the many, many challenges that arose in their pursuit of such excellence. Throughout this work, you heard the voices of the individuals who had to make the personal and professional commitments to value equity work, to believe in their students’ capacities to meet the goals they set for them, and to commit their time and energy to the relentless pursuit of a worthwhile but complex goal.
This week, it is your turn to put together your own plan to be an advocate for students. You will reflect on what you value and what you are willing to put your voice, actions, and efforts behind to ensure you are advocating for your students and all they need to learn. As you engage in this work, you will consider the interwoven nature of equity work and reflect on the entire body of learning you have done in the last four weeks. This plan is a concrete way for you to put beliefs into words and actions that can push your practice forward. Let’s get going!
Weekly Objectives
Through participation in the following activities, the candidate will:
- Describe the way issues of equality can impact the learning environment. (3l, 9i)
- Equity Images
- Advocacy Action Plan
- Equity Images
- Advocacy Action Plan
Required Studies
The following materials are required studies for this week. Complete these studies at the beginning of the week, and save these materials for future use. Full references for these materials are listed in the Required Course Materials section of the syllabus.
Excellence Through Equity (Blankstein, Noguera, & Kelly, 2016)
- Chapter 13: A Journey Toward Equity and Excellence for All Students in Chesterfield (Newsome, 2015, pp. 239-258)
- Chapter 14: Equity Through Expanded Learning Time (Friedman & Traill, 2015, pp. 259-270)
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Explanation & Answer
Running Head: ADVOCACY ACTION PLAN
Advocacy Action Plan
Student
University
ADVOCACY ACTION PLAN
2
Advocacy Action Plan
Introduction
The teacher has the responsibility of improving the learning experience of their students.
Indeed, improvements in the learning process should be a regular aspect of teaching (Leithwood
et al., 2004). Ultimately, the goal of teaching is to impart knowledge to all the students regardless
of their capabilities. As part of this endeavor, it is crucial to design an advocacy action plan that
guides the implementation of these improvements. In my teaching, I encounter a diversity of
students based on social and economic characteristics. The geographic location of the school is
in the US, where there is a mix of students from different racial backgrounds. That
notwithstanding, most of the students are Caucasian with a significant percentage of African
American and Latin American students. Asian American students have the lowest percentage in
the school. The students also come from different cultures based on racial, ethnic, and religious
backgrounds.
The students in the school present a near homogenous characteristic in terms of the
socioeconomic status. Indeed, a more significant percentage of the students hail from rich
backgrounds with high rates of disposable incomes. Only a small portion of the students are from
poor backgrounds, with most of these students benefiting from scholarships. English is the
language of teaching, and all the students have a perfect mastery of it. Indeed, most of the
students have English as a native language. Although most of the students are what would be
termed as average and normal, there are few cases of developmental and behavioral special
needs in students. Accordingly, there are several autistic and bipolar students in the school. The
geographic location of the school has a reputation for the mass shooting. In the recent past, a
ADVOCACY ACTION PLAN
nearby school suffered from a mass shooting incident in which a student engaged other students
in a shooting spree that culminated in the injury of thirteen students.
Part 1. Personal reflection
My personal life has a significant influence on the nature of instruction and the
effectiveness of the methods used. According to Rockoff (2004), the socio-economic and
political background of the teacher can determine the successful implementation of methods of
instruction (Rice, 2003). I grew up in a family set up, which treasured the concept of education
and guidance. In fact, my mother was a teacher herself, and she held a firm belief in attaining
quality education for her children. According to her, success would only be attained through
education and knowledge gathering. My father was also a civil servant whose appreciation for
education was beyond reproach. Having grown up in a low-income family themselves, my
parents believed that educational attainment would guarantee us employment and a source of
living. I have also grown to understand the value of education in my life and the importance of
advancing in knowledge.
In my neighborhood, most of the people were disadvantaged in their access to quality
education. In fact, the poor neighborhood bred a lot of rebellious children that believed that
education was not necessary. The neighborhood had a majority of African American and Latin
American families, with Caucasians representing the fewest number of households. The failure
of these people helps to inform my desire for education and the need to enhance equity in the
process of learning. Having seen inequality firsthand in my neighborhood, I will ensure that
every child gets an opportunity to learn regardless of their socioeconomic backgrounds. The
disparity within the society I grew up in will motivate me to advance the value of equity in the
ADVOCACY ACTION PLAN
distribution of educational resources. While encouraging us to always sit near.
