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News
from The ARKGroup
(Adults
Relating to Kids)
December's
ARK N' ACTION
Coming
to you from:
Lonestar
College, University Park
Houston, Texas
77070
We're Glad you've
chosen to read and share your ideas with
us. | |
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Fall Semester News from ARK |
November Thanksgiving 2011,
Highlites | |
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Thanksgiving's Thankfulness and Blessings
to You
We are
so fortunate to live in this great land
and to be alive at
this point and time in history....
Happy
Thanksgiving to you and your family. May this be a period of
reflection and joy in your lives as it is for us.
Glenn,
Jan, Omega, Peggy and Quintina are thankful for this promise
of educational excitement we have seen in you. Our hopes and
dreams are with you as you take all those you love into your
care, as parents, teachers, volunteers, administrators,
pastors, neighbors and "intentional adults" in the lives of
kids.
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in
What we see in our
minds and talk about in our self-talk happens. We are
picturing this May even now.
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ARK and YOU - Teachers at Aldine
ISD |
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A Focus
on our Aldine-Spring
Middle
School Dropout Project:
Twenty-nine seventh
grade teachers at Bailey Middle School in Spring ISD have
started to experience an innovative, progressive and
collaborative process called ARK for Teachers. Small groups
meet twice a month to discuss the impact of practicing the
principles of unconditional love in their relationships with
students. Kathleen Norwood, pictured above, is the school's
lead facilitator for the project. She demonstrates her
motivation by preparing a meeting schedule and copy of the ARK
Covenants for group members. Teachers at Bailey report that
ARK is providing them with a venue to encourage and support
one another in one of the most challenging and important
professions of today. Students will reap the benefits of their
hard work and commitment to excellence. Thanks to these
educators, our children will feel more confident and secure;
qualities that support the capacity to take risks for
the greater good.
Our
society will be richer, as a result. We salute you
Bailey!
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| SafeKids.com Online Safety & Civility
ANTI-BULLYING RESOURCES FOR
PARENTS
Check out these resources
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Check out
these videos on The
ARKGroup
"Father! You Want
Me To Do What?"
Prison Ministry--Dawson State Jail in
Dallas
I remember sitting in church on a
Sunday morning in 2006. I had been looking for a way to get
involved in our new church home. I saw a request for
volunteers in the bulletin and on the way home announced to my
husband that I knew how I was going to serve ... I'M GOING TO
JAIL!
On the first night when I met the
other volunteers and the women serving time at Dawson State
Jail (in downtown Dallas), I knew that I was answering His
call, that I was fulfilling a plan He had for me. It was an
exciting, exhilarating and humbling moment. (Perhaps that is
because it was at a time in my life when I still believed I
had some control over my life.)
So many nights when I leave jail I
believe that I was the one who was blessed. Last week was one
of those moments. I was teaching the ARK class and we were
finishing the lesson series related to the "misbehaving
child". One of the women said: I had no idea there was so much
to parenting. My kids did not come with an instruction manual.
In fact, I thought it was a matter of luck. I just assumed I
got what I deserved ... kids that acted like me. Now I know I
got kids that were parented like me. I can change that. Now I
have the tools to parent my kids on purpose and with purpose.
This is going to be fun! I can't wait to get home to my
kids!
It doesn't get better than that! So if
you're looking for a way to serve, I encourage you to
volunteer to facilitate the ARK class for parents who are
incarcerated ... for parents who need CPS credit to even see,
let alone have custody of their children.
Jan Lightfoot
Evans
Renewed Spirit
Leader
Lovers Lane United
Methodist Church
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 Just
Musing
Virtual Classrooms
Did you know that 250,000 Public
School students are now enrolled in full-time web-connected
and managed classes, a 25% increase from last school year and
nearly 40% over three years?
My own grandchildren
continued their studies last summer with an hour each day
invested in their education. They see this as the way to spend
their day along with the other things our kids do naturally. I
know they are not unusual, as their friends and peers in the
1st and 4th grades are doing the same kinds of things and this
wonderful thirst for learning is certainly present in their
environments nourished by great teachers who have invested
their talents in providing on-going opportunities for learning
through home computing connections.
Is this not a great
world we live in?
In a radical rethinking of
what it means to go to school, states, and schools districts
and more importantly classroom teachers are launching kids
(who are already well engaged in the opportunities of on-line
computing connections) into a brick and mortar computer
connected and self-directed universe of knowledge and critical
thinking.
Concepts now possible
thanks to Google and Apple APPs, and Moddle platforms
developed and delivered from Australia and other wonders being
thought up and developed as we speak are changing the
opportunities dreamed and wished by our future
generations.
Reading, writing, math,
science, history, world events and individual quest for
figuring things out in the care of intentional adults are
changing the world for the better, one child, one classroom,
one school, one community and one world at a
time.
I am amazed and more
hopeful than one person ought to be.
Just
Musing,
Bill
Check Dr.
Robert Brooks for excellent articles on the Resilient
Child
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Message 
Did you know that we have
launched five major
Projects and Initiatives
in Dallas and Houston?
Our
WEST DALLAS INITIATIVE includes partnerships with
Dallas ISD j(13 schools),three Community Centers,
the Dallas Housing Authoriyt (four complexes), and four social
service organizations. This Initiative is being funded by the
Morning Star Foundation, the Hahn
Foundation, the Rees-Jones Foundation,
and individual gifts.
Our GREATER
DALLAS INITIATIVE includes collaborations with AVANCE (five
sites) and Head Start of Dallas and is funded by the
Reliant Corporation and First Rate.
The SPRING ISD ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PROJECT (ARK for
Parents in 23 elementary schools) is being funded by Houston
Endowment.
The ALDINE-SPRING MIDDLE SCHOOL DROPOUT PROJECT (ARK for
Teachers in 18 middle schools) is funded by the Rockwell
Fund.
The GREATER HOUSTON PROJECT involves partnerships with
AVANCE and ACAM (ARK for Parents at three Allied
Community Assistance Miniistries campuses) and is funded by
the Robert and Janice McNair Foundation and Houston
Endowment..
THANK YOU TO THE FOUNDATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS WHOSE
WONDERFUL GENEROSITY HAS MADE THESE FIVE MAJOR
PROJECTS POSSIBLE!!!
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| Upcoming Events |
Fall Parenting Classes
Join us by calling
281-537-1301
20515 SH 249
Lonestar College, at
University Place
Houston, Texas 77070 |
| Closing Headline |
Thank
you
for joining our
conversation again this month. We would love to hear from
you.
Tell us
about" What is Happening in Your Neighborhood", "In your
Churches" and "In your Schools" so we can share your
experiences with others who about this exciting journey -
preparing our kids for a promising future.
Call us today or drop us an e-mail at
wduffy@thearkgroup.org. |
| Contact Information |
William Duffy
National Executive
Director
The ARKGROUP
20515 SH 249
Lonestar College
at University Park
281-537-1301 | |
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Christmas is Coming _ Need Ideas
for a Gift that will Keep on Giving to Your Children's
Children?
Call us today to order ARK
Programs, Manuals, DVDs and Processes.
We have a new ARK for Parents
(and Caregivers) Manual and an ARK for Christian Parents
manual. Both Manuals include four courses with six
lessons each. We know that these parenting resources
will bring parents and their children many
years of growth and happiness. Contact the ARKGroup
office (281-537-1301) to order.
ALSO...
During this Holiday Season,
your gifts to ARK will enable our nationally-acclaimed
programs to be provided to schools, early learning
centers, schools, churces, women's and family shelters,
juvenile justice programs, community social service
agencies, and prisons.
IF YOU WISH TO MAKE A
CONTRIBUTION TO THE ARKGROUP (perhaps in the name of a
loved one), PLEASE SEND YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE GIFT TO THE
ARKGROUP AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESSES:
Dallas: The ARKGroup, 2215
Canada Drive, Dallas, TX 75212
Houston: The ARKGroup, Lone Star
College--University Park, 20515 SH 249, CB 127, Houston,
TX 77070
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