livehumanely.com

Background

In August of 2004, I decided to change careers.  I had been working in the software industry as a technical trainer for five years, and I had this urge to take my “teaching” skills to public education.  I knew, deep down, that my purpose was to reach young adults.  I struggled with selecting a “content area” because when I view our world, I am like most people, and I don’t see compartments or dividing lines between content.  I have a holistic view of the world, and likewise, a holistic view of education.

I decided to pursue two teaching areas:  special education, and language arts.  This allowed me to teach a gifted reading course and four special education courses each day.  Little did I know at the time, that this would be the ideal setup for the development of my Empowering Urban Youth program.   The reading course gave me the opportunity to introduce concepts such as child labor, poverty, world hunger, companion animals, spay/neuter, guide dogs, wildlife, climate change, and pollution to sixth and seventh grade students via magazine articles, novels, and videos.  I chose these topics, among others, because I believed these “real world” issues would be more interesting and engaging for my urban students.  I was right.  They immediately tuned-in and devoured all material that I presented each day.

The opportunity to teach special education was a stepping-stone into the development of the interdisciplinary units that comprise the Empowering Urban Youth program, as well as the Youth Outreach and Service Learning element.  See, by being a special education teacher, I was able to teach all four of the core content areas that our educational system focuses on, especially in the elementary and middle school years: science, math, social studies, and language arts.  By teaching all four “subjects” I was able to design interdisciplinary units to teach from a holistic approach, leading to the holistic and interdisciplinary design of Empowering Urban Youth.

This program continued to grow and as the students gained more and more awareness about these real-world issues, their desire for action grew.  They felt strong and empowered with their new knowledge-base and were eager to reach out and do something about some of the issues that they had learned about.  Their very first project was a reading outreach program in which my students with special needs worked with the students in my reading class to design reading lessons for first graders in our school district.  Then, they engaged the entire school in the creation of a care-package for soldiers in Iraq. 

Since 2004, students that have been exposed to the lessons and concepts in the Empowering Urban Youth program, have:

1. Improved their academic achievement.  Many of the students with special needs went from earning D’s and F’s in the fifth grade, to achieving A/B Honor Roll status as sixth and seventh graders.
2. Created cards and gifts for residents at multiple nursing homes.
3. Launched a humane teen club called the Walking Catfish.  This club has earned national recognition: http://www.humaneteen.org/?q=node/885
4. Coordinated a fundraising event called Go Humane Cincinnati, raising $2,000 for the local animal shelter.  This event also provided an opportunity for 8 of the shelter’s adoptable dogs to find loving homes.
5. Engaged in the legislative process by urging voters to support a tax levy to raise money for the animal shelter.  In November 2006, Issue 12 was on the ballot in Butler County, Ohio.  This levy would use property tax funds to build a new shelter for the Animal Friends Humane Society.  Ten students that were part of the Empowering Urban Youth program spent a cold, rainy day standing outside from 9AM to 9PM holding signs and handing out flyers.  The levy passed 55% to 45%, and when students returned to school on Wednesday, after the election, they were elated, announcing that they had “won”.  For urban students to feel “victory” through the legislative process is extremely empowering.
6. Setup information booths at local events to share information regarding how to LiveHumanely.

To date, over 500 students have been engaged in the Empowering Urban Youth program, and every six weeks, 100 more students are included in this number.  My students continuously express their gratitude in having the opportunity to learn real lessons and are excited about the strength and empowerment that they have gained.