"Community Faculty" Assist Student Teachers
Professor William McGinley of the CU-Boulder School of Education is studying how local community members can help teach reading and writing to young children in Denver's Five Points neighborhood. He also is examining how these "community faculty" can help CU-Boulder teacher education students be more effective teachers in urban settings. Twenty-two students in first through fourth grade participate in the program called "Literacy and Learning for Life" at Neighborhood Ministries, an urban community center at 30th and Franklin streets. The idea behind the effort is that adult community members bring a rich knowledge of cultural and community life to their interactions with children, and that knowledge of culture and community life is essential to the success of schoolchildren. For more information contact McGinley at (303) 492-6123.
Technology and Science for Girls
Girls in seventh through 12th grade are getting sophisticated afterschool instruction in technology and science in Simply the Best!, a program created by Professor Margaret Eisenhart of the CU-Boulder School of Education. Classes meet twice a week at Brother Jeff's Youth and Technology Center at 26th and Welton streets. The curriculum is designed especially for girls in minority communities and gives them experience with some of the science and computer skills that lead to high-paying jobs. Class activities include desktop publishing, designing Web pages, making multimedia presentations and designing their own clothes for a "virtual fashion show." For more information contact Eisenhart at (303) 492-8583 or doctoral student Leslie Edwards at (303) 466-8827.
Reaching Inner-City Â鶹ÒùÔº Through Poetry
Seventh and eighth grade students from Denver's Morey and Kepner middle schools are learning literacy and leadership through the use of poetry in a program called CU in the House. The students worked all year to create their own poetry and performance pieces and performed them at monthly "Young Poet Nights" at Brother Jeff's Cultural Center and Cafe in Five Points and on the CU-Boulder campus. On May 26, a 7 p.m. performance is planned at Morey Middle School. CU in the House was created by Professor Shuaib Meacham of the School of Education and Sirat-al Salim, a CU-Boulder doctoral student and former Kepner Middle School teacher. The program is based on the tradition of literacy and liberation, which shows that African American and Latino youth have a greater commitment to literacy when it is connected to the theme of community liberation and improvement. For more information call Meacham at (303) 492-5785.
Reform Efforts at Manual High School
Education Professor Patrick McQuillan is in his third year of working with reform efforts at Manual High School in Denver. He is working with Manual's faculty and students throughout the year to learn how these reforms are affecting test scores, dropout and attendance rates as well as student and faculty attitudes toward the school. With the Denver Public Schools' return to a neighborhood school policy, the school now enrolls a very different student population than in the days of court-ordered busing. About 80 percent of Manual's incoming students are performing below academic grade level and more than 80 percent of the school's incoming ninth graders qualify for free or reduced price lunches. The faculty is trying many new approaches to overcome these obstacles including smaller classes, Socratic seminars and team teaching -- many aspects of the middle school philosophy. McQuillan can be reached at (303) 492-0773.