~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The
ARKGroup (Adults Relating to Kids) formerly The Children's Center for
Self-Esteem
December Newsletter - - "ARK n Action"
December 2006
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in this issue
-- How Do We Recognize Authentic Leaders?
-- THE BENEFITS OF CREATING A NURTURING CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT
-- Six Things The ARKGroup Recommends for you to do this month
Merry Christmas. The Holiday Season has arrived and as I drove to work this morning, my spirit was flying, my smile broader, my step faster and my life fuller with the sights of the elementary kids walking and riding their bikes, razors and scooters to school through our neighborhood in anticipation of the days lessons and the excitement of the coming joy of this “Giving Season”. Moms, Dads, Teachers, Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Neighbors, all of us, Are we not lucky to have children in our lives with their promise of the future. We with The ARKGroup, Quintina Smith, Jan Nelson, Kaye Cooper, Bill and Glenn, wish you the Happiest of Holidays and a Merry Christmas from our homes to yours. The ARK Training DVD and the booklet "ARK Training Guide" will be available in January. This has been a monumental task, involving both ARK offices (Houston and Dallas), as well as Red Productions and the J3 Group. The Facilitator Training DVD and The ARK Group Process DVD and Training Guide together will empower schools and districts all over the country to train their own ARK facilitators and add ARK for Parents and ARK for Teachers to the services they offer. This is a major step forward in our efforts to make this wonderful program available throughout the nation. Our thanks to ARK for Teachers participants at Irving ISD MacArthur High School for these Insights.
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How Do We Recognize Authentic Leaders? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  According to Bill George, (US News
& World Report October 30, 2006), people who help us to attain
significance and contribution usually exhibit and demonstrate these five
traits. Authentic Leaders - Pursues their purpose with a passion.
Authentic Leaders - Practice solid values. Authentic Leaders
- Lead with their hearts as well as their heads. Authentic Leaders
- Establish connected relationships. Finally, Authentic Leaders
- Demonstrate self- discipline. I recommend this article as a must
read for all. It contains the inspiring story of Wendy Kopp. Wendy
recognized the inequities in public education while still in college.
Years later after capitalizing on the five points listed for leadership
she heads the Teach for America organization which can be an inspiration
to us all. Great leadership is deep in the hearts of all us. It leaps
forth everyday in the schools, civic organizations, churches, charitable
organizations, businesses and yes, in the homes of our neighbors and our
own living rooms and kitchens. Each day, your leadership, modeling and
love for children makes possible a new world , a future for our children
and students. Thank you.
Ways you can help provide leadership for education and family. You can create new paradigms in family and community by taking the following actions. (1). Build a Shared Sense of Purpose in your community. A family life and a school room that provides high levels of love and support and channels actions to and for others which betters their day to day condition, fosters confidence and builds foundations in children to find meaning in helping others. (2) Begin now to Make a Positive Social Impact. When children and their parents and teachers communicate regularly about conditions that could be improved, little steps of change take place more often. Our community and its people benefit. Parents words can convey approaches to model what it means to be better human beings whose lives are filled with purpose, significance and meaning. (3). Engage in Home and Community activities to create values and norms of conduct that build foundations for tomorrow. Each action that results from an adult showing a child the joy of caring for others grows a better world. (4). Be Parents and Teachers who do make a difference and those differences and make those actions sustainable. Dropout rates are reduces by 97%, when a child has just one adult in their lives who they perceive do care about them. Finally, I must reemphasize from last month: (5) Recognize that things do not have to stay the way they are. Answering these few questions may help us to appreciate the difference we can make. Who am I in the community of advancing equal and quality educational changes? I am the emerging leader with the ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) processes. What is my purpose regarding the educational progress of the kids in my neighborhood? I can become the voice of passionate purpose using the ARK roadmap. How will I act today to make a change for the better? Your actions will exceed expectations because you are a member of the ARKGroup. The world of learning and living keeps expanding. The world you show your children and students is the world they will show their peers today and their children tomorrow. My thanks to the many words, e-mails and messages I received last month which confirmed your commitment to our children and student’s futures | |
THE BENEFITS OF CREATING A NURTURING CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  Increased High School
Graduation Rates. An independent study conducted by Dr. Billy Reagan,
former Superintendent of the Houston ISD, reveals that the graduation rate
of students who enter the ninth grade in the Houston ISD is 40%. (Billy
Reagan, “A Study of TEA Reports,” March, 2005). Teachers and parents
caring relationships improve classroom performance. ARK programs
and processes promote advocacy learning environments. Decreased student
drop-out rates. Steve Amstutz, principal of Houston ISD’s Lee High
School says, "Most kids drop out of school because nobody knows them.
Nobody knew they were gone. Nobody's given them the pat on the back, the
kick in the pants, the encouragement, or the support." (Liz Austin,
Associated Press), “Houston downsizes to tackle the dropout rate,” (Boston
Globe, September 7, 2004.) Dr. William Pollock, author of Real Boys
Voices, says, “If a child has one adult at school with whom he or she has
a caring relationship, it reduces that child’s chances of dropping out of
school by 97%.” (William Pollock, at a presentation in Houston, TX,
January 30, 2005.) Reduced school violence. Dr. Robert Brooks,
teaching psychologist with Harvard Medical School, says that the
difference between a resilient (normally-functioning) child and a “school
shooter” is that “a resilient child always has one adult in his or her
life with whom that child has a relationship of unconditional love.”
(Robert Brooks, Interview, September, 2004.) Improved grades, test
scores, and classroom performance.Drs. William Glasser and Ruby Paine
concur that “no learning will ever take place in the classroom unless
there is a nurturing relationship between the teacher and the student.”
(William Glasser, The Quality School Teacher. HarperPerennial, 1993, p.
22, and Ruby K. Payne, Poverty: A Framework for Understanding and Working
with Adults and Students from Poverty. RFT Publishing: Baytown, Texas,
1995, pp. 211-12.) ARK helps adults to discipline the behavior
while still affirming the worth of the child / student. ARK is a
tool for encouraging a process of evaluation, thereby enabling families
and teachers to set in motion new patterns that will enhance the lives of
their children and students for generations to come.
Invest in Your Child, Family, Neighborhood, Students, School. “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world, indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” (-Margaret Mead). Teachers, Parents and Supporters, the meaning of Margaret’s words is close to each of our persons. People like you and I can change the world – one child, one family, one student, one classroom, one school and neighborhood at a time. The ARKGROUP programs and processes can help. Invest now, to help make this world a better place for our children and students. It all begins with you. Call us, order the materials, take the facilitator training, begin an ARK group for Teachers, Parents, and College students. students, kids. You will change the world. Our responsibility as parents is to explain important ideas so that our children learn to appreciate the relevance of these ideas. (– Dr. Robert Brooks 2006) | |
Six Things The ARKGroup Recommends for you to do this month ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ • Spend more
time with cheerful friends, grouches can pull you down. • Keep learning.
Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, your friends and
neighbors, your children’s favorite thoughts. An idle mind is a mess. •
Enjoy the simple things. • Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you
grasp for breath and do it with your students and kids. • If tears fall,
endure, grieve and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life
is ourselves. Be alive while you are alive. • Surround yourself with what
you love and let them know it. Children and Students in your life are your
life. • Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is beyond
what you can improve, get help. • Tell the people that you love them,
especially the children, that you love them every day. ARK programs
create environments which allow individuals to step out of their
environment and to take new directions with their lives.
Sign Up Today for ARK Facilitator Training and start an ARK for Parents Group in your Neighborhood, Community Center, Church, or School. We can ship An ARK Facilitator Starter DVD's to your home, school or business with just a phone call to our offices. Introduce ARK Programs to your church and/or community center or to your College campus? Subscribe a friend to the ARK Newsletter Please pass this along to other Parents and Teachers in your address book and recommend they subscribe to our newsletter. Some Things to Note. Our curriculum includes ARK for Parents (Secular and Faith based), ARK for Teachers (Elementary, Middle and High Schools), ARK for Teens, ARK for Kids, ARK for College Students, ARK for Child Care Providers, ARK for Departments of Education at the University level, ARK for Head Start / Early Learning Centers, and ARK for Divorced Parents . Adults Relating to KIDS (ARK) Programs are based on research conducted with the University Of Texas School Of Public Health and the University of Texas Medical School at Houston. Contact us and discover the power of unconditional care, its impact on performance, and the role that just one intentional caring adult can play in helping a child to feel significant. Help make it possible for children to become all that they are capable of becoming. Consider These Gift Oportunities to provide ARK Programs to School Districts. - ARK for Teachers and Parents in Schools and Community Centers $650 per locations. A Faclitator Training Package to a School - $500 Copies of Manuals to an Organization $30 each. ARK for Children & Teens Manuals $20 each. Your support of The ARKGroup, Inc. creates possibilities in our public schools. If you have an opportunity, idea, challenge, or destiny to fulfill through helping children to grow into their full potential, please contact us. Together we can improve the quality of life in our communities--one child, one family, one classroom, one school at time. Helping other people lifts spirits and gives hope for the future. The ARKGroup, Inc,. ARK (Adults Relating to Kids) Programs. We are located at 2611 FM 1960 West, Suite H 201, Houston, TX. 77068-3728. Our telephone number is 281-537-1301. Our Fax is 281- 537-1304 | |
Contact Information ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: wduffyark@sbcglobal.net
phone: 281-537-1301
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