~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
ARKGROUP (Adults Relating to Kids)
formerly The Children's
Center for Self-Esteem ARK 'N ACTION August
2009
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In this
issue:
-- The Greatest Gift We Can Give Our Children
-- Teacher's First Day--And a Flashback
-- ARK UPDATES AND CONTACTS
-- MUSINGS FROM BILL: "Math and Chocolate - A Teaser to Grab Your
Kids' Emotions Early this Year "
Say
hello to a wonderful time of the year. August has again nearly passed us
by and our kids are returning to school. Can't you just feel the
excitement and energy and a little bit of anxiety and unsettling in those
young stomachs. Good news: I know lots of us have had those feelings not
so long ago in our own lives and we will be there to hold a few hands and
hearts in our loving arms to bridge those we love into a good first days
of school start. As I reflected on this day in the hot sun and winds of early August, about this fantastic right in America to a free education for every child, I tagged on to the heat and humidity as a metaphor for continuing research findings; "Warm school climates encourage student growth through the happiness drivers of the brain". In a study conducted at the University of Illinois, 222 undergraduates were screened for happiness using several filters (several psychological scales of the Minnesota Multiphase Personality Inventory). The most important element, according to these researchers, was kids being in an environment where a network of caring social networks of relationships exists -- aka "warm school climates" of teachers and natural and logical student groups mentored by intentional adults who anchor kids in safe, supportive and meaningful networks of care. Did you know, that 51% of school drop-outs indicated they did not like school? Many stated they could not get along with their teachers. One out of five said they could not get along with fellow students. We at the ARKGroup want you to know that you are the best messenger to
your children and students to counter the false messages of our culture
and to change a child's perception that "they do belong and are getting
along" with peers and teachers. Your unconditional care has a greater
impact on their self- concept than all the performance measures ever to be
thrown at them by our community. WE TRUST THAT YOU ENJOY READING ABOUT THE MANY WAYS ARK IS CHANGING LIVES FOR THE BETTER AND HOPE YOU CONTINUE YOUR VERY VITAL SUPPORT! Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. Henry David Thoreau, Walden | |
The Greatest Gift We Can Give Our Children ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  More than anything else, parents say they want their
children to have the ability to make responsible decisions. Teachers also
wish their students had more inner strength. During an outbreak of gang
activity in Denver recently, Eric Poole, a criminal justice professor,
studied kids from the toughest neighborhoods. He learned that whether a
child joined a gang had almost nothing to do with the size of his family,
the number of parents at home, their education or income. Rather, it had
to do with whether the child had anyone in his life who would be
disappointed if he joined the gang. Children who knew someone cared about
them had learned to value and to take care of themselves. Poole also found
that it took much greater character to resist a gang's influence than to
succumb to them. Those who do resist seem to have a much stronger sense of
who they are. They have developed inner strength.
This strength comes from a healthy sense of self- worth according to Steven Vannoy in his book The 10 Greatest Gifts I Give My Children. He says that when you are someone with a high level of self-esteem, you believe that you are a good and capable person no matter what happens. You know that you can rise to a challenge, do whatever needs to be done--and perhaps do it even better the next time. You approach every moment, every event, every interaction with an attitude of openness instead of fear, giving instead of taking, strength rather than weakness. You see abundance and opportunity instead of shortage and trouble. According to Vannoy if he could give his child no other gift in the world, his top choice would be self- esteem. Without it, we wither. With it, we thrive. Every moment of our lives auguments or dimishes our self-esteem: the responses we get from others, our interactions with others, how we learned to treat ourselves from watching our parents. When you have high self-esteem you are nearly invincible. High self-esteem allows you to continue to validate and nourish yourself on a regular basis. Self-esteem affects everything you do, from how you listen to new ideas to whether you'll try something new to how you handle a conversation. Your self-esteem colors how you see others and it's at the heart of the very essence that people perceive as you. Just think about when your children are exposed to other kids who may steal or drink or use drugs. When you know your children have a strong sense of self- esteem you don't have to worry about how to control their contact with others. You can't really control it anyway. But you can remind your children of how wonderful they are and how lucky those other kids will be when your child's values rub off on them. It's so easy to pick out the children who lack the gift of self-esteem. They are the bullies on the playground, the underachievers in school, the kids who get taken advantage of. They are our high-school dropouts, the kids who can't say no to deadly drugs or inappropriate sex or a ride with a drunken driver. When you give love messages, you're boosting your child's self-worth. When you focus on children's strengths rather than on their weaknesses, their self-esteem can only rise. When you teach through questions rather than telling, they find the world of their own creativity and talent and abilities, they might otherwise have never discovered or acknowledged. They believe in themselves. What a magnificent gift! | |
Teacher's First Day--And a Flashback ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  The following article appeared in the Los Angeles
Times. It was written by Marisol Leon who graduated from Yale in 2007 and
then spent a year working for a non-governmental organization in Chiapas,
Mexico.
"Think Ivy League" pleaded Mrs. Anderson, my English teacher. "Ivy League? What is that?" I remember thinking. I was in the seventh grade that day, a student at Mount Vernon Middle School in mid-city Los Angeles. I stood there in awkward disbelief as Joan Anderson explained the notion of elite colleges to me. I hardly knew anything about colleges. Neither of my parents finished high school. But my teacher understood that, and by the time I graduated from Mount Vernon, she had made certain that I was committed to going to college. Wednesday was my first day back at Mount Vernon and I am a seventh-grade English teacher, placed here by Teach for America. As I walked to my classroom on my first morning, I couldn't help but think about how nervous and awkward I felt as a seventh-grader on the first day of school, and how even more nervous and awkward I felt now. Students entering my classroom grabbed slips of paper that directed them to their assigned seats. All of my students sit in groups of four, each group named after a role model. Hanging from the ceiling, above each set of desks, is a picture of the role model and, on the back a quote. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Rigoberta Mmenchu: "This world is not going to change unless we are willing to change ourselves". Writer Langston Hughes: "Let all others keep silent a moment. I have this word to bring." I chose these figures because, an one point or another, I had looked to each to stay focused and empowered on my own educational journey. We didn't discuss them very much on day one, but we will as we read excerpts from their writings. All my students know so far is that these "legends" excelled by doing three things that we're going to be working on every day all semester: writing, reading and critical thinking. Every teacher I've talked to emphasizes the importance of classroom management, so I made my expectations on behavior and academic performance-- and the consequences of not meeting them--very clear that first day too. But before we got into that, I asked my new students two questions: What is something you have in common with everyone else in this classroom? and, What is one thing that makes you unique? We discussed the importance of our finding strength in our differences and similarities as a class. We talked about classroom values: Respect. Honesty. Pride. Community. Responsibility. Values that have brought me back to my middle school. I had taken many teaching classes and seminars in preparation for teaching but prior to my first day I knew I had to visit Mrs. Anderson, who had retired several years ago. A couple of weeks ago we spent an entire afternoon together. She was happy about my decision to Teach for America and we talked about her classroom management techniques, literary strategies, and pedagogical principles. We also talked about the unconditional love and concern that she shared throughout the years for her students. As I sat there listening to the woman who looked at me at age 12 and saw more in me than anyone ever had--the woman who taught me to cast off self-doubt, to define for myself what I am capable and not capable of doing, to think critically and fight for what I believe in--I could only hope that, one day, I could be a Mrs. Anderson for my students. Share with us your suggestions of hope and encouragement, and we will pass them on to others. | |
 I recently read an article about the mountain
climber Eric Weihenmayer. On May 25,2001, Eric reached the peak of Mount
Everest. Eric was blind at age 13 but that did not stop him. On the
mountain where 90% never made it to the top--and 164+ have died since
1953, Eric succeeded. How? Eric listened well: To the bell of the climber
just ahead of him. It was his direction. To the voice of his teammates
saying, death is two feet to your right. Stay straight. To picks jabbing
the ice. This told Eric that the ice was safe to cross. Listening makes
the difference in mountain climbing and also in living. LET US AT ARK HEAR
YOUR VOICE! Please contact us with your stories, comments and suggestions.
WE WILL LISTEN!
The ARKGroup challenges you to pioneer the start of an ARK for Parents group at your neighborhood church or community center and/or to ask your local school to implement ARK for Teachers. To find out about facilitating an ARK Program in your area, give us a
CALL! Check out one of our HeadStart Early HeadStart Collaboratives - Avance. You will be glad you did. | |
ARK UPDATES AND CONTACTS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Our Faith-based Programs For our friends and followers, we have had outstanding, record-breaking participation through July, 2009, with hundreds of churches in the Dallas and Houston areas participating in our ARK for Parents faith-based church programs. The Facilitator training (which prepares churches to provide this outstanding program either to the entire congregation or to smaller groups, such as Sunday School classes) can be scheduled to fit the schedule of those who commit to serve as facilitators. Thanks to wonderful gifts by kind benefactors, we are able to provide ARK for Parents programs to many churches who require scholarship assistance. The program includes facilitator training, lessons on DVDs, books, and a host of supporting materials and services. We invite you to make sure that your church takes advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Contact us today by e-mail, letter or by telephone in Dallas at 817-268-2100 or Houston at 281-537-1301 to reserve these programs for your church. We know these programs will enable your church family to enrich the lives of the children under their care. Our School Programs: The ARKGroup is now providing training and materials nationwide for schools from preschool level through college in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. These booklets, materials and videos provide the tools and activities that enable administrators, counselors and teachers to relate to students with the love and care that is integral to building and reinforcing children's self-esteem. ARK is aware of many organizations who want to incorporate the ARK experience in their programs but who need financial assistance to do so. Even public schools frequently don't have the resources that will allow them to offer their students the life-changing benefits of ARK. DID YOU KNOW THAT ...your gift of $100. will introduce ARK to a school, a United Way-supported agency, a neighborhood center or a church?... that your donation of $1,000. will provide ARK programming for an entire school?...that your contribution of $10,000. will allow the ARKGroup to equip 10 schools within a school district to begin the ARK for Teachers and ARK for Parents programs? GoodSearch - a way to support ARK while using the Internet. You can contribute to the ARKGroup so that we in turn might invest in your favorite community- service organization, church, juvenile justice program, or school--just by searching the Internet or shopping online with GoodSearch - www.goodsearch.com - powered by Yahoo! | |
MUSINGS FROM BILL: "Math and Chocolate - A Teaser to Grab Your Kids' Emotions Early this Year " ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Your Age By Chocolate Math.This is pretty neat. 1). First of all, pick the number of times a week you would like to have chocolate (more than once but less than 10). 2). Multiply this number by 2. 3). Add 5. 4). Multiply it by 50. Do you need a calculator? 5). If you have already had your birthday this year, add 1759. If you haven't, add 1758. 6). Now subtract the four-digit year that you were born. You should have a three-digit number. The first digit was your original number (how many times you want to have chocolate each week). The next two numbers are your age! ( Oh yes , it is!!!!!!!) This is the only year (2009) it will ever work. Amazing, don't you agree? As I reflect on the fun of math, I have a question. How do we determine
what is real? In the case of this math equation, did it really work?
| |
Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: wduffyark@sbcglobal.net
phone: 281-537-1301
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