Project AWARE was an awesome presentation presented at CSUSM which focused on "Students at Risk" and how we can properly care for and assist those students throughout their school journey. It is important as teachers to be aware of our students and understand their backgrounds to be able to teach them effectively. The students that project AWARE serves are those students who are in the juvenile justice system or students who are participating in actions that will lead them down that road, hence "Students at Risk". Project AWARE was created to help students develop an emotional literacy so that they can express themselves in a productive and positive manner. As Reggie stated; " Project AWARE is an in depth emotional literacy intervention program for kids". Through this program students learn how to open up and work through their problems through talking or writing. Reggie himself was one of these students growing up, as he eventually ended up in prison. While he was in prison he developed Project AWARE and that was where he truly learned how to become emotionally literate and turn his life around. There were several notes that I took during his presentation:
The main piece to take out of this presentation is that all students need a champion to support them. Reggie Washington relayed a quote from Rita Pierson; " Every child deserves a champion; an adult who will never give up on them..." This quote was the main piece that I took out of this presentation because something as easy as supporting a student can be the difference in making or breaking their life. One challenge Reggie mentioned in this presentation was to truly ask for feelings of our students. When asking a student how they are doing, "good" is not an acceptable answer. It is important to probe students and get them to talk about their feelings. Why are they feeling good? What happened to cause this behavior?
I used to work with students in the juvenile justice system at a probation school in San Marcos. I worked there for 3 years and I know firsthand what positive reinforcement can do for a student. It was an absolute joy to watch this presentation as it made me reflect on the time that I spent working with these students and making sure that I constantly am a champion for all of my students each and every day!
- When students are exhibiting poor behavior, it is most often a symptom of an underlying issue
- 2.5 million people are incarcerated, 70 % of those people are high school dropouts
- When students are kicked out of schools, they most often end up in the Juvenile Justice system. Students who then turn 18 most often end up in prison due to habitual behaviors
- Behavior is most often a tool in which students express themselves. No living being engages in meaningless behavior, and the main two functions of behavior are to escape something or to gain something.
- When working with troubled students do not take things personally and don't mirror their behavior. Make sure to be calm and investigate the source of their behavior.
- All students are unique and should not be treated equally
The main piece to take out of this presentation is that all students need a champion to support them. Reggie Washington relayed a quote from Rita Pierson; " Every child deserves a champion; an adult who will never give up on them..." This quote was the main piece that I took out of this presentation because something as easy as supporting a student can be the difference in making or breaking their life. One challenge Reggie mentioned in this presentation was to truly ask for feelings of our students. When asking a student how they are doing, "good" is not an acceptable answer. It is important to probe students and get them to talk about their feelings. Why are they feeling good? What happened to cause this behavior?
I used to work with students in the juvenile justice system at a probation school in San Marcos. I worked there for 3 years and I know firsthand what positive reinforcement can do for a student. It was an absolute joy to watch this presentation as it made me reflect on the time that I spent working with these students and making sure that I constantly am a champion for all of my students each and every day!