A Lesson in Equity for Advisory
How can I grow my advisory into a more equitable space?
Advisory. While I value its integral role in our organization, I believe that it is something that I’ve personally struggled with. The major reason is that more often than not, I have paid more of my attention to project design, grading, parent meetings, and collaboration. Advisory has unfortunately always come last on my list. While thinking about equity, I believe that this is such a great opportunity to centralize my lens on for this class because it is so diverse in so many different aspects.
My advisory meets every morning from 8:50-9:10AM and every other Wednesday for 45 minutes. During the morning advisories I have different activities depending on the day of the week:
· Mondays: we do campus clean up
· Tuesdays: are grade checks.
· Wednesdays: we do work are working time (homework or organizational structures)
· On Thursdays: we watch CNN student news.
· Fridays: vary between “Fun Fridays” and “Fitness Fridays”.
While I have found success with structuring the days, there seem to be inequities with three areas. First student voices; second student buy in, and participation. There are 2 students who have the very strong opinions and display little impulse control. Whenever I ask questions, they are the first to react and shout out the answer. Whenever I make a suggestion for an activity, their opinions are first to be heard. Because of this factor, I have a difficult time getting student buy-in if these two students do not want to participate. Time and time again, these students have almost hijacked my advisory into their own personal space. I want to regain the space for all to enjoy.
The seed has been planted:
My plan is to make sure that all students are in charge of leading advisory each day. With discussing this issues with Shani Leader, one of my colleagues, she explained to me that have her students run their advisory. She has a facilitator for each day. It is on a volunteer basis as of right now, but she is going to start assigning students to a day. I plan on rolling out this plan starting next week. I will first model how each day should be run. Also, I plan on together generate norms for participation. I will also come up with a list of my expectations on how each advisory should be run, and then some ideas on how to facilitate. For example, on Fun Fridays, we could play Pictionary with teams. I will first ask students to volunteer for leading a specific day. After about a month, I would then sign up students on a calendar. Shani told me it is best to communicate with the students the day before and remind them about what activity. I believe that this will empower the quieter students and, my overall goal, is to ensure that we bond together as an advisory and, of course, give each student their own voice thus shifting the balance of power.
Watching it grow:
So I have rolled out what I’m calling “DeLuca Advisory 2.0” (a slightly upgraded version of advisory, but you don’t have to re-install all of your previous data). I was met with the usual moans and groans- the type associated with middle school changes or adaptations. However, I let them sit with the information for a day and them had them journal the following day: “Which day are you interested in leading?” “What would this look like to you?”
After I let them sit with the information for a bit, I created a calendar and signed them up on days of their choice. As we were signing up, I projected it on the screen. I then linked it to the advisory page on my Digital portfolio.
The last idea was to make sure that students were creating norms to ensure that each student respected each other’s role as the leader of advisory. They came up with some great ideas. Here are a few examples.:
1. 1.Don’t interrupt if others are leading an activity
2. Be kind to the facilitator
3. Participate in all activities
4. Positive attitude every day!
We also came up with ideas if norms were broken:
1. Trash pick up on a non-trash pick up day.
2. Three strikes= email home
3. Miss a fun Friday
4. Lap around the school (if doesn’t not participate in a fitness Friday activity)
Keeping it watered:
We rolled this out on Monday starting with trash pick up. I was overjoyed when the first student came in to advisory with a prize for the most trash that was picked up. Many of the students competed for the prize and it was exciting for me to start this project off on a high note. On Tuesday, a sixth grader led the advisory into a show and tell. About 5-7 students brought something in and shared with the class. Wednesday was Halloween and the students “carved” pumpkins. Overall, I think that it was a great start. More students are participating and buying into advisory. I believe, over time, it will be come more evident that students are
Cultivating and tending:
My next steps were created out of three questions: How do we avoid advisory becoming stagnant? How do I connect our school family with our home families? How do I ensure that a more assertive student is sharing the air with the rest of advisory? After speaking with colleagues, it is apparent that I need to empower the strong-willed student into a role. We brainstormed a beautiful idea for her to become our Advisory blogger. She would send an email home to parents that wish to become more involved in the advisory class. She would also be responsible for maintaining and updating our advisory page on my digital portfolio. To ensure that my advisory remains fresh, , I believe that we shake up the days and the activities that occur on each day, I could have the students brainstorm with their own ideas for advisory and activities they would like to do. I believe that over time with consistency, Advisory could truly become a more familial space where every voice is heard.
Advisory. While I value its integral role in our organization, I believe that it is something that I’ve personally struggled with. The major reason is that more often than not, I have paid more of my attention to project design, grading, parent meetings, and collaboration. Advisory has unfortunately always come last on my list. While thinking about equity, I believe that this is such a great opportunity to centralize my lens on for this class because it is so diverse in so many different aspects.
My advisory meets every morning from 8:50-9:10AM and every other Wednesday for 45 minutes. During the morning advisories I have different activities depending on the day of the week:
· Mondays: we do campus clean up
· Tuesdays: are grade checks.
· Wednesdays: we do work are working time (homework or organizational structures)
· On Thursdays: we watch CNN student news.
· Fridays: vary between “Fun Fridays” and “Fitness Fridays”.
While I have found success with structuring the days, there seem to be inequities with three areas. First student voices; second student buy in, and participation. There are 2 students who have the very strong opinions and display little impulse control. Whenever I ask questions, they are the first to react and shout out the answer. Whenever I make a suggestion for an activity, their opinions are first to be heard. Because of this factor, I have a difficult time getting student buy-in if these two students do not want to participate. Time and time again, these students have almost hijacked my advisory into their own personal space. I want to regain the space for all to enjoy.
The seed has been planted:
My plan is to make sure that all students are in charge of leading advisory each day. With discussing this issues with Shani Leader, one of my colleagues, she explained to me that have her students run their advisory. She has a facilitator for each day. It is on a volunteer basis as of right now, but she is going to start assigning students to a day. I plan on rolling out this plan starting next week. I will first model how each day should be run. Also, I plan on together generate norms for participation. I will also come up with a list of my expectations on how each advisory should be run, and then some ideas on how to facilitate. For example, on Fun Fridays, we could play Pictionary with teams. I will first ask students to volunteer for leading a specific day. After about a month, I would then sign up students on a calendar. Shani told me it is best to communicate with the students the day before and remind them about what activity. I believe that this will empower the quieter students and, my overall goal, is to ensure that we bond together as an advisory and, of course, give each student their own voice thus shifting the balance of power.
Watching it grow:
So I have rolled out what I’m calling “DeLuca Advisory 2.0” (a slightly upgraded version of advisory, but you don’t have to re-install all of your previous data). I was met with the usual moans and groans- the type associated with middle school changes or adaptations. However, I let them sit with the information for a day and them had them journal the following day: “Which day are you interested in leading?” “What would this look like to you?”
After I let them sit with the information for a bit, I created a calendar and signed them up on days of their choice. As we were signing up, I projected it on the screen. I then linked it to the advisory page on my Digital portfolio.
The last idea was to make sure that students were creating norms to ensure that each student respected each other’s role as the leader of advisory. They came up with some great ideas. Here are a few examples.:
1. 1.Don’t interrupt if others are leading an activity
2. Be kind to the facilitator
3. Participate in all activities
4. Positive attitude every day!
We also came up with ideas if norms were broken:
1. Trash pick up on a non-trash pick up day.
2. Three strikes= email home
3. Miss a fun Friday
4. Lap around the school (if doesn’t not participate in a fitness Friday activity)
Keeping it watered:
We rolled this out on Monday starting with trash pick up. I was overjoyed when the first student came in to advisory with a prize for the most trash that was picked up. Many of the students competed for the prize and it was exciting for me to start this project off on a high note. On Tuesday, a sixth grader led the advisory into a show and tell. About 5-7 students brought something in and shared with the class. Wednesday was Halloween and the students “carved” pumpkins. Overall, I think that it was a great start. More students are participating and buying into advisory. I believe, over time, it will be come more evident that students are
Cultivating and tending:
My next steps were created out of three questions: How do we avoid advisory becoming stagnant? How do I connect our school family with our home families? How do I ensure that a more assertive student is sharing the air with the rest of advisory? After speaking with colleagues, it is apparent that I need to empower the strong-willed student into a role. We brainstormed a beautiful idea for her to become our Advisory blogger. She would send an email home to parents that wish to become more involved in the advisory class. She would also be responsible for maintaining and updating our advisory page on my digital portfolio. To ensure that my advisory remains fresh, , I believe that we shake up the days and the activities that occur on each day, I could have the students brainstorm with their own ideas for advisory and activities they would like to do. I believe that over time with consistency, Advisory could truly become a more familial space where every voice is heard.
