Social Justice Event

RIC/RIASPA Focus Group

I attended a focus group for Rhode Island College and Rhode Island After School Plus Alliance (RIASPA). During this time we talked about adding an after school program endorsement, similar to a middle school endorsement as an option. This is directly from an email I received as a follow up from the meeting:

"1.  The audience for the certificate could be one or a combination of populations including teacher candidates, afterschool and summer learning professionals, certified teachers, high school graduates who are not yet moving on to an Associate's or Bachelor's degree.

2.  The goal of this certificate is to improve the teaching practices of ALL professionals working in (or with) the afterschool and summer learning field."

It was very interesting to sit in on this and contribute my ideas. I found this option very eye opening and I see this and could be a positive addition to a resume.

When I was in Elementary School there was an optional after school program that we could sign up for and there were so many different options that we had and everyone always loved when it was "that time of year" for after school programs to start because you always had so much fun staying after with your friends!

CONNECTIONS:

"In the Service of What?"

This connects because when you're working in an after school program, you're dedicating your time to these students and it means a lot to them, having someone to help with their homework or do crafts with them or just to talk to and in the end it will just as rewarding to be the one assisting as it was for the one being assisted.

"Unlearning the Myths That Bind Us"

While trying to think of another article to link this to, I thought of what these children will be doing during the after school programs and they will be given the opportunity to do their homework and to interact with classmates instead of going home and watching TV or playing with their video games or ipods or cellphones. This gives them the opportunity to put the electronics away, get away from the media and enjoy being around their friends and get ahead with their work.

They asked us at the end of the meeting who would think about taking a course for an after school endorsement and I said I would. It gives another option for a resume and it wouldn't be TOO much extra work.