>> So, welcome, welcome to everyone who are joining just now.
Hopefully, you're able to hear our voices, if not,
there's a call in number that's posted there, you can call in through the chat.
Is the recording going?
OK, just making sure, OK [inaudible].
So there are 4.9-- an estimated 4.9 million young adults ages 16 to 24 in America
who are neither in work nor in school.
Of these, there are estimated to be as many as three million youth living in poverty
who are not in education, employment or training.
When I saw those numbers, my jaw dropped.
So I don't know if any of you, we can't see your faces if your jaws are dropping.
This is a problem and these are the opportunity youth
with whom YouthBuild's programs around the country work.
There is also an international component, but specifically we're focusing
and have folks today from YouthBuild USA.
So welcome to today to CAST free webinar.
It's January 9, 2018.
It's just awesome.
I'm Allison Posey.
I'm here in the CAST office which is in Wakefield, Massachusetts.
And I'm really excited to be with you all today as we talk with YouthBuild leaders
from the field, Jason Marshall, Michael Anderson and Isa Galvez Lara.
We hope that this conversation leaves you inspired to become part of this movement.
This is a movement that's really exciting because we're looking
to build a more just society, where there are sufficient opportunities for all, all people
and all communities to fulfill their potential and to contribute to the wellbeing of others,
and I love this because we're not talking about your own potential,
but we're talking about contributing to the wellbeing of others.
It just gives me goose bumps to think about this message.
But before we begin, there are always a few just, you know, a little logistics
that we need to take care of here.
So we do hope that you contribute to the conversation today.
You're welcome to use the text chat box as many of you already have started doing.
And just remember that in the left hand or in your window, you'll see an area for the chat
and we ask that you make sure that you're responding to all panelists
and attendees, so everyone can here your words.
However, if you have a comment that you think is pertinent only for the panelists or something
that you think might distract other participants from the conversation,
we do ask that you actually make that comment only to the panelist,
just to make sure that we are able to respect the thread
of conversation that most folks are engaging.
But we do want to hear all of your thoughts, all of your concerns, all of your questions.
And we do have a live captioner here today, thank you Donna for being here.
If you would like to have captions on, just click on the little caption option
that should be located at the bottom of your screen.
If you have any challenges getting those captions, feel free to let us know.
Again, by typing in the textbox, that's the easiest way to get to us.
And you can also participate via Twitter.
So this is for those of you joining live today.
But there are also many folks who are watching remotely, you're probably in PJ's,
maybe it's 2 a.m. and-- So, welcome to those of you who are joining at a-- on the recording.
As we hope that this is just the beginning of the conversation,
please always feel free to use any of the hashtags.
The #CASTPL and the #youthbuildusa, so that we're able
to keep the conversation going not only today but beyond the scope of just this webinar.
So to practice using the chat box or Twitter, the goals for today,
we just want to take a moment always to--
in a very UDL way to take a moment and reflect on our goals.
We're going to learn about YouthBuild.
And we're going to share strategies to empower all learners from all communities
to fulfill their potential and contribute to the wellbeing of others.
So this is for all educators as well.
And so, I invite you to take a moment and reflect on goals you may have.
You've taken time out of your day today.
We're grateful that you're here, part of this conversation.
What are some goals that you have?
What's something that you hope to learn?
And if we don't get to your question or you're focused during the scope
of this conversation again, we'll really look to follow up with you either
through Twitter or some other social media.
So we'll give you a moment to reflect, think about some expectations,
some goals that you may have for the conversation
and then we'll get to the good stuff.
We'll introduce our guests for today and jump in to the conversation.
All right.
Well then, without any further ado, welcome YouthBuild.
Thank you so much for being with us today.
And we've included an image of some of the YouthBuild fellows
and you can see the video live with three of those fellows, and we challenge you all
to try to find them in the pictures.
So we have Jason Marshall who is also a peer in the Boston Youth for--
Boston area at the YouthBuild headquarters.
So, thank you for joining today.
Jason, do you want to-- Well, let's see if we can find Jason in the picture.
>> Yeah, I can-- I kind of stand out to some of the [inaudible].
>> So Jason, can you just, you know, say hello and tell us a little bit about what brought you
to YouthBuild and what you do there and then I'm going to invite you
to introduce Mike and Isa as well.
>> All right, yes.
Hello everyone.
I'm representing domestically and internationally.
My name is Jason Marshall, I'm the Director of Education at YouthBuild USA,
the headquarters in-- right outside of Boston in Summerville, Massachusetts.
Thank you, Allison, and the folks from CAST for having myself
and my colleagues, Isabel and Mike.
So I-- As I mentioned, I'm the Director of Education for YouthBuild USA.
We have about over 200 different YouthBuild affiliates domestically and we're also
in 21 countries internationally, except for Chile and Australia.
Essentially, we've been around for 40 years now.
The organization was started by Dorothy Stoneman.
She's our CEO.
She retired a year ago and our current CEO is a gentleman named John Valverde.
Our work is to work with out of school youth, opportunity youth,
ages 16 to 24 as Allison mentioned.
We're traditionally marginalized populations.
The majority of our young people are black and/or Latino in rural
and urban areas all across the country.
And essentially, a YouthBuild program is providing a few main things.
One, it's providing young people an alternative space to an education
to get either the high school diploma or their-- a high school diploma or a GED.
They're also going to learn some type of vocational--
get vocational training and learn the skills to have a trade that will provide them
with some type of way to earn a significant income.
Also, we do graduate leadership training for our young people
so that we can help them have the critical analysis to go back and be able
to impact their communities a lot of different ways.
Some of them may become leaders and some of them may be able to contribute in ways
where they're not necessarily out front being leaders, but they may have the skills,
the analysis to impact their community.
So, domestic leader 200 plus YouthBuild programs all have those three core pieces.
As an education director, I do a lot of technical assistance training
for the education staff for the YouthBuilds across the country that could
like professional development opportunities, teacher training opportunities,
organizing conferences and the like.
And in terms of the teacher training piece, that's how I've been connected
to my colleagues Isabel and Mike.
One of the important initiatives that we run is a teacher training program
which is called the YouthBuild Teacher Fellows where we have--
every year we have between 10 to 12 YouthBuild educators who apply into this--
our program and we-- of those that apply we choose 10--
10 to 12 and it's a year long intensive teacher training opportunity where we, you know,
they get grounded in the concepts of learning differences and another concept
of universal design for learning, which I'm not sure if everybody on this call has heard
about it, but I'm sure we'll get into a little bit more.
And so, I'll just use that as kind of like an entrée
to introduce my colleagues, Michael Anderson and Isabel.
They'll talk about themselves a little bit.
They're actually former teaching fellows who I worked with two years ago.
And last year, they also worked as universal disaster learning coaches where they worked
with our respective YouthBuild programs around the country, teaching their education staff
about the concepts of UDL and how it could impact the classroom learning environment.
So I'll allow them if-- Allison, if that's OK, I'll allow them to just introduce [inaudible].
>> It's perfect, and we're going to keep looking for both of you in there.
And I just-- as a quick aside, you know, as you're talking about the mission of YouthBuild,
I just-- I love to think of that as the mission of all educators in our entire system.
Unfortunately, it's not always but what-- and I mean, it really is a stand out.
So, OK. Yes, go for it.
>> I guess I can go first.
Hi everyone.
My name is Isabel Galvez Lara.
I work with YouthBuild Charter School of California
and we work across Southern California.
So I actually work for an educational entity.
YouthBuild has five pillars and one of those pillars is education.
And each YouthBuild program determines how they choose to fulfill that need for education
and at our school, we provide an interdisciplinary approach to learning
that own service at YouthBuild programs across our network.
So we have 19 YouthBuild programs that we are affiliated with or in partnership with,
stemming from Fresno, California all the way down to San Diego.
I am in my seventh year here with YouthBuild Charter School of California
and our school is actually in its 10th year, serving the same population
as YouthBuild programs across the country and the world now.
And we really just strive to really provide young people with an authentic education.
And my work has moved from being in the classroom as a history and arts teacher
and moving into site coordination with YouthBuild program that primarily now a lot
of my work is in providing trainings and support, not just to our teachers
but also our construction trainers on how to better support and instruct our young people
in the field, as well as actually working with our young people on either presentation,
skills or public speaking skills,
because we know that oftentimes our young people are our biggest teachers as well.
And so, a lot of my work moves beyond training and actually my title is Director
of Student Engagement Services, and really we look
at how do we become the most engaging school across the board.
So that young people who have usually been disadvantaged by the school process,
maybe haven't even attended a school sports event or a school field trip,
how do we offer these to young people?
Because we know that these are the kinds of things that get them excited about learning
and about what their own story as learners.
So that's a little bit about what I do and I got connected with the UDL work
through my teacher fellows and it has really expanded the work that I do, not just in my work
with staff, but also with students.
>> And just, again to make the UDL connection too,
I mean without knowing brain science, you're starting with engagement.
I mean it's [inaudible] [laughs].
>> It's been really wonderful actually.
It's been kind of a perfect fit.
>> Thank you.
Michael. Yes, sir.
>> Yes. My name is Michael Anderson.
I work with YouthBuild Omaha and I am kind of in charge
of education stuff here, as far as that is concerned.
I also do some classroom teaching pretty much.
And, basically our-- I started out at-- well, I used to teach college and university stuff.
Most recently I was at Creighton University here in Omaha for about eight and a half years.
It's a Latin American, Native American history and whatnot.
And how I got into this stuff, well, I kind of was very dissatisfied with what I was doing.
And, well I kind of got a tip to get
into some social work programs that we're looking for people.
They hired me because I was really-- I don't really like this terminology,
but outside the box kind of pick, just very different and they found that those kind
of people, they felt were much more successful.
And all of a sudden there was a YouthBuild through under kind of the same overseer.
YouthBuild teaching position opened up and they didn't have anyone to [inaudible].
So I was kind of ordered to take the job.
That was about five years ago and I'm just [inaudible] and didn't know what to expect.
I hadn't taught this kind of stuff before or I mean I haven't dealt with the demographic
and things that probably it would have been nice if YouthBuild was around when I was young
because I probably belonged to it, to be honest with you.
I think that the biggest challenge, it was--
There wasn't any kind of program [inaudible] in place.
And so I had to do a lot of learning on the fly and just do a lot of things by instinct I think.
Eventually, I got involved with these guys with a teacher fellowship, teacher fellows program,
and where we're all introduced to the UDL and things like that.
In an effort to try to kind of spread it around the United States through YouthBuild basically
because it's something that can really help our program doing the demographic
of what we deal with.
We don't-- at least in Nebraska, we have no charter schools whatsoever, for better or worse,
they are big state and as such, we are all based on the GED.
They don't give GEDs anymore.
They give actual high school diplomas out.
But you still have to pass the test.
And there are some progress but not very many.
It's really, really underdeveloped kind of system and it changes all the time.
And because of that we're-- We decided to make ourselves be the one,
one program that nobody can deal without is--
that's kind of been our overall goal as far as this is concerned.
And dealing with people that are out of high school are often not welcomed back
in with barriers and things.
It's often a challenge to figure out and yet we try to engage with them as much as possible
as to what, you know, the problem, why do you think you had issues in school.
What could have been done that would help-- would have helped you better?
And oftentimes they don't really know, and so being exposed like I said the UDL,
gave me some things to try in class, to try to clear that up.
And what I found was a very-- well, rather extreme response, to be honest with you.
We've had a lot of success with it originally because I came from the college ranks.
As Jason would tell you, I poopooed the idea of teacher training to a large extent.
I was kind of an arrogant fool like many people can be.
And I thought that, you know, the idea of knowing your field, intellectual rigor
and whatnot, was much more important than the manner in which one tries to get these ideas by
or a manner which one engages or draw students in, and I was wrong then-- and such [inaudible].
>> OK.
>> Been about that.
>> But don't they?
>> We've moved down.
And so, UDL certainly was a good part of that.
I mean I took it very differently.
I don't involve myself for the ton of lesson planning or things like that.
I still do it, but I don't do it probably in quite the structured manner,
which a lot of teachers who'd been trained in that system, like second, post--
you know, secondary and primary education and whatnot.
But I used it as an overall philosophy.
And in that, I've had some very remark-- striking -- I mean, we've had--
I've had started a new cohort this October and I already have three high school diplomas,
you know, a few months but are-- and usually about 90% on people raising their reading
and math scores as far as the state is concerned.
Certain number of grade levels and things like that which I'm responsible for.
And before, I always consider pretty successful at, you know,
that was about 50%, you know 500 and greater.
I started doing this stuff and I don't really have any direct evidence except that all
of a sudden my numbers started flying way, way north.
And as a result, that got a lot of attention on me, which is good and bad I suppose and--
but nevertheless, yeah, there seems to have been some very striking response
to working with this.
So did I forget anything in there?
Did I just ramble there?
>> Well, Allison, I can-- and one thing I forgot to kind of frame and sorry,
participants, for not mentioning this.
But one of our YouthBuild USA in general, one of our interest in terms of the work that we focus
on in a fellowship with learning differences and universities
on for learning I think Isabel will mention this because, you know, our young people come to us,
having been pushed out at the school system many times and experienced a lot
of different traumatizing events, part of it could just be their educational experience.
Part of it could be, you know, issues within our family.
Part of it could just be, you know, marginalizing society, it could have been
that they were in our present system for a little bit.
So they come into our learning spaces having already-- questioning who they are,
questioning if they should be there and when we got connected to the learning differences
in UDL concept, as we try to look at equity and access for all our young people as we try to,
you know, help them to interview, able to have a critical analysis so they can go back
in their communities and have some type of positive impact.
We looked at the UDL concept which is making the classroom space much more accessible.
It's taking a motion into play.
It's taking [inaudible] into play.
It's valuing the young people from where they're coming from and who they're trying to be.
And valuing those experiences is one of those things are when we're--
we're presented with the UDL concept, we saw that it kind of--
it connected to what we're trying to do in terms of, you know, equity and access,
and liberation for our young people.
You know, that's ultimately what we're trying to do.
We're trying to educate them as a means to liberation and use the educational pieces,
the postsecondary access, the GED, the diploma, the vocational trade so that they can, you know,
get those tools to be able to ultimately have that, but that's our ultimate goal.
So, I just wanted to frame that really quick.
>> Well, and it's a-- that's actually, Jason, a really nice lead into the next question I have
and that's really thinking about what our some of those barriers
that traditionally challenge your learner?
So Michael, I know you started to talk a little bit about just reflecting
on what would have helped you do better in school?
Oftentimes, teachers are ones who did well in school and they, you know,
the system kind of worked and they are getting back in the system that--
And often, you know, to-- this is just how our brains work, we--
our background informs, well, what we do and our perspective.
And so-- so what, so Jason, you're getting into some of those, what are some of those barriers
that traditionally challenge your learners specifically?
Because as you mentioned, it is a really unique population and--
>> Right.
>> -- and it's a population that is-- we can't lose.
>> Yeah.
>> We absolute-- can't lose one of these individuals.
So, what are some of those barriers that you find they come to you at?
>> I think some of them like, you know, is-- or some of them are just based on, you know,
a lot of our young people don't have a lot of--
grow up in families where they had a lot of access to generational wealth at all.
So, you know, there's fiscal issues that happened and that's just not
with them, it's just generations, right?
So they're not coming in with that access to be able to get
to certain places because of fiscal means.
That impacts a lot of different things, right?
That impacts transportation.
That impacts what district or what you're in for schooling that, you know,
impacts the resources that your schooling gets.
And I think it also has impacts trauma.
You know, a lot of young people grow up no-- you know, from--
there's a research showing that from eight years old, you know, if you're a student
that gets free or reduced price lunch and you're treated a certain way in school,
that automatically you're starting to get those triggers for what, you know,
trauma and what that that input on your brain.
So I think, you know, money, transportation, I think a lot of times with the educators
that they are with in their public schools, while they're in them, it could be lack
or cultural competence from the school administration and teachers.
And then I think for a barrier for the young people is when they internalize this in the way
that it manifest themselves when they go into any educational space.
And when I'm talking about education, I'm not-- I'm just talking at the formal schooling piece,
I'm talking about at work because all of that you're learning, right?
So it's all some type of education.
Though I think it has a lot of different--
You know, the barrier could be just internal [inaudible].
Another big one is childcare, the lack of access to childcare.
And then even for, because we're talking about generational trauma as well,
a lot of times their close family members or parents or guardians are not coming
from having satisfactory educational experience as well.
So having an advocate in your corner, to be able to ask certain questions or demand
that you have-- that you're treated a certain way in school.
We have our young people coming in and that's on average
that our young people are coming in to our learning spaces.
Isabel and Mike can speak to that even more
because they're dealing with the young people every day.
But I would say those are some of the barriers that just on average
that our young people are coming in with.
So having a concept or framework like the UDL, which from the outset is looking
to make it accessible for all learners is a huge tool and a toolkit
to be able to help our young people.
>> Yeah, I think-- Thank you, Jason, for bringing up generational trauma.
I think for me, when I think about the barriers, barriers for learners in our communities
that are serviced by YouthBuild programs are primarily young people of color
from various communities that are-- have usually either been marginalized, disenfranchised
or have not received the resources that they should be allocated, just to provide like,
you know, like access to livelihood and things that make quality
of life available for many of these communities.
So I think about, you know, I grew up in Los Angeles and much of what led me
to become an educator was really being that student that was the fluke, you know.
I was able to make it through when I saw the majority of my community and people
who I knew were intelligent not following up and not really supported.
And so I think about it, and one of the big things that comes
out of this generational trauma, I'm thinking about the language and the lack of access
to really being able to advocate and even know, how to speak up for yourself.
And so I will [inaudible] by, you know, my grandmother did not speak the language
when she came to the country and very much because of, you know, I do call it luck,
I do believe that I ended up in college by luck.
My grandmother met, you know, showed up to every school event but did not
and was not provided the tools and resources to even provide access for me.
So much of what my work coming back into, you know, teaching was recognizing that part
of my learning in college was this awareness of my historical lack of access and recognizing
that I didn't think of myself as a learner but much more
as an object of what learning was happening.
>> Correct.
>> So, you either follow the rules or you don't.
And I think many of our young people come from communities
that have been disenfranchised historically if you look back into, you know,
what resonates from slavery, from colonization.
I think oftentimes if we just look back at the establishments of schools in the United States,
we can see that oftentimes these are not about creating lifelong learners.
Schools were often thought of as production areas.
And so I really think that for me, one of the big barriers that we remove for young people
through UDL is that self-acknowledgement, I am aware, but also recognizing that the learning
and knowledge that has come from our communities and families has also been either, you know,
people have been told that what they-- or how they learned and how they were taught at home
or in their own communities because it's not a university or because there's no degree
to follow up on it but that learning is not valuable.
>> Right.
>> So oftentimes the biggest barrier is removing this historical understanding
that certain people deserve learning and deserve a certain quality
of learning whereas others do not.
>> Yeah.
>> And to think of the young age that they're carrying those burdens
and internalizing those barriers and not having those advocates,
it's just that it seems like a never ending spiral.
>> Yeah. And I think honestly one of the big things that I see is the barrier moving forward,
really supporting, you know, the families and the communities because we do know that our,
you know, students and our communities do have advocates, but how do we really empower people
to remove their own barriers to really see themselves as active participants
and then I think that's a challenge not just for us in the school forums
but really looking at our communities as a whole.
How do we continue to look at the barriers just across the borders of society?
>> Yup.
>> Right.
>> I think understanding that trauma is huge, as you mentioned.
We know that for-- I can speak for myself being a Black-American that--
and you could say now and even in historically learning for us and for slaves
like Isabel mentioned, our indigenous people, first nation people,
it's literally a radical act that you were killed if you were even thought to be doing--
or people who were teaching you or working with you were killed,
so literally it's a radical act of resistance of living.
So I think understanding that trauma and having that cultural competence, you know,
working with marginalized population to see--
Sorry, Mike, I knew you were about to say something.
>> No, it's OK.
I was just going to make a little more specific, so [inaudible] with that.
I think that all of our students, ours-- the majority as well, are students of color.
There are a few exceptions but [inaudible] and--
but they all, all of our students come in with three barriers that are common,
which I don't think are traditionally described as barriers necessarily.
Problem solving skills for whatever reason where they're coming from are almost nonexistent,
critical thinking skills, be it from school or wherever else are very, very underdeveloped.
And their lack of success beforehand has often led to self-esteem issues as well.
And so these things are things that--
Those three things or the areas that we attack very directly immediately before we even begin,
dealing or teaching them how to solve problems.
We do various methods, you know, in how to like look at your options,
what can do instead of responding just emotionally.
So there's certain level of detachment we try to get them involved with.
The whole course of even being here,
it's about being in a positive environment and relationship building.
I think a lot of that has do with this.
They were saying, you know, getting understanding and being comfortable
in one's identity and at the same time, I think that it's a process that they all need
and it's one of the things that has helped them back.
And so, we try to help them, you know, just through always being positive about things.
And if you have something to engage them with corrective manner, we always have--
I was trying to list out five or six positive things
to say before I even address that issue, whatsoever.
And critical thinking, I mean obviously everything is about that.
So I try to put them in shoes that sometimes make them very uncomfortable to put them
in other people's shoes so that they have to try to think from a critical perspective.
They may not realize they're doing it, but in the long haul that's what they need to do
to pass this test to get out of high school for example
or to be successful at pretty much any level.
And so we find that that's one of the things I think YouthBuild does well, is that we--
at least my YouthBuild we do pretty well by directly using that in every level
of our programming, whatever we do, get instruction, woodworking,
the education in the classroom, any of our leadership development,
any of the different things of our program that we do.
We try to be-- we try to deal with those three issues constantly, all the time,
all the way across so it's kind of like a--
just part of the fabric rather than being something that we have.
Does that make any sense?
>> It does.
And it really-- and in thinking, you know, in learning, the more I learn about YouthBuild,
the focus as we mentioned earlier on engagement and leadership
but also the real authentic life experiences that make the critical thinking,
the development of self-esteem, the development of problem solving, that makes those relevance.
I think it seems to be something-- a core piece to all
of your programs that you really focused on.
So to continue with some of-- what you're -- so overwhelming barriers, for sure,
as you're talking and, you know, we could keep going on barriers.
I have no doubt.
But to think about, you know, the-- how do we overcome some of these,
not only internal barriers but some of the overarching systemic barriers and then some
of the learning barriers that we're facing.
What are some of the strategies that you, that you find are really helpful and, and that--
I know we have a lot of general educators on the webinar today.
How could some of these perhaps translate and be used in programs even outside of YouthBuild.
To really start to better learning opportunities for all youth everywhere to, you know,
again try to continue the theme of universal and for all and focusing on the design
of the learning environment as opposed to trying to problem solve the learner themselves.
What do you all find have been really helpful in trying
to taking steps towards all learners being able to fulfill those potentials?
>> I can speak to two things really quickly.
I think two things that I think of first and foremost are one,
I think the educators need to do their work, right?
Like, you know, we go into a classroom and we want to be able to truly share
that learning space, which means you're sharing power if you want to call it power
and how are you able to do that with your students?
Are you willing to do that with your students, so what does it mean for you?
So I feel like educators need to do their work, understanding who you're working with
and that's-- and always going to be a learning opportunity.
It's not like you go and read this one book by, you know, Paulo Freire
or you know Michelle Alexander and you're good.
No, you need to continually do that work on your own to understand not only the community
but understand your young people, interrogate the what it is that you believed coming
into the classroom, what it is the why of what you're doing and how you're doing that stuff
and [inaudible] educators need to continue to always do their work, their internal work.
And I think the other thing, kind of flipping what Mike was saying,
Mike was talking about a lot of times young people come in
and they're lacking critical thinking skills and I think you-- and a couple other things.
And I do think that's true, but I also think part of it is also affirming that it may be
that they have critical thinking skills but they're not using it in the context
of what you need in the class, where when they're outside--
I've seen [inaudible] people where it's even--
to be able to stay alive or [inaudible] to school or take care of family,
or figure out how to pay the light bill or do childcare or stay out of jail
or evade the cops or, you know, just to live you have to be thinking critically
but you're not thinking that that's what it is, right?
You have the name for it.
So that's kind of like a more formal language that you use.
So I think as educators, to be able to affirm our young people and say that,
you know, you were doing this in case.
I think that's huge for them to be able to name it and they know that, oh,
I have been using the skill up until this point.
Now how do you kind of transition that same skill to understand algebra for math,
to learn a trade, to learn construction, to apply to jobs, to go to college and be able
to talk the language with instructors or case-- you know, it's--
I think that that's a huge part of the affirmation, so yeah.
Educators are doing their work constantly and always evolving,
and being able to affirm young people's experience.
Their lived experience and the education, the informal education that they've had outside
of the traditional classroom space are some of the things
that I would name as trying to overcome barriers.
>> With UDL we often talk about, you know, who's owning the learning--
>> Right.
>> -- when educator is the one holding the content, the curriculum, the materials,
access to different pieces, they are owning the learning.
And when you start to open that up and put those pieces in the design
of the learning environment, it becomes shared and it--
the process and, and you know the idea too, a lot of the skill, the problem solving skills,
critical thinking, you need a fully developed frontal lobe for that.
>> Right.
>> So from 16 to 24, that's when that brain growth is, you know,
on fire and so it makes sense that those are skills that are going to pop up in some context
and totally crash others and it's really giving them the language, the strength and the means
to be able to advocate for what they need based on their lived experiences,
what they need to be able to move forward for their goals, which is very exciting.
Isabel, did you want to jump in there at all?
>> Yeah. I think it's interesting when you post that question because I think, you know,
like pretty much when I was exposed to universal design for learning, you know,
it was a great aha for the work that we do at YouthBuild but I came back and really felt
like oh, this is a life strategy, how do I look at life and what [inaudible] and, you know,
it was in general, how do I remove barriers is really the question that continues to, you know,
kind of be at the forefront of my mind whenever I'm working with anybody.
And so I think one of the things that I would say is just-- even if you stick with that,
I feel like it could make a big difference in what you're able to provide educationally
if you just think about what are those barriers.
Because that question alone allows us to be dynamic
and that's what I think that we do well at YouthBuild.
We're dynamic.
We're aware of what the current context, what are young people being exposed to
and experiencing, both good and bad so that we can leverage that
and really make this something authentic.
I think one of the big things that I took away in my initial trainings around with CAST
and with UDL was if it's good for one it's, you know, it's good for all.
And I think one of the big issues that I identified in myself as an educator is
that oftentimes, I thought, you know,
the challenge to finding the answer was, you know, the learning portion.
And what I realized is for many of the young people that I was serving,
that in itself was not learning, that in itself could be traumatic for some folks.
If you were just being put through the ringer over and over again
without ever being told you're right or you're on to something or you're getting close,
and so I think it really changed how I approach teaching and learning not just with students
but even with staff in thinking of if-- why make it harder when time is so limited,
when we don't have enough time to teach or to share, when there's a lot of things pulling
at our attention, how do we make things that's easily accessible and digestible?
And I think that's really, you know, you're aware of what's going on around you,
you're aware of what's going on with your learners.
If you have that piece and you're aware of what gets in the way,
then oftentimes we can really think about how do we make it an open avenue
so everyone can get to the learning together.
And I think those are-- to think that learning is some sort of exclusive thing
that only some people can achieve, I think that was the barrier that I have to remove in myself
through this process, because it helped me recognize, you know, in modern technology,
in everything that we do, why are we making it harder for our young people,
why are we still practicing strategies that were good in the '80s
but have no place in 2018 or 2017.
So I would say that's a big one.
And then I think one for me that I've noticed in applying this to the work that we do
with the young people, one of the big ones that I have been trying
to just feed people is what are those avenues?
What are those option avenues?
And I think about that because with UDL, you were looking at, you know, the different forms
of engagement, you're looking at the different way something is represented,
how you hear it, how you see it.
So one of those things that I-- we just think about is how do you really just, you know,
and I'm kind of-- I don't know how to put this into words,
I think part of it is just how do you make as many avenues open and available so that,
like Jason said, you're not in control of the learning but really empowering people to say,
this is the kind of learning that works for me and as you said,
this was the option, I'm going to take it.
I think one of the big things that Jason brought up is very much around teaching the language,
teaching people how to acknowledge themselves and, so the more we feed them, you know,
the avenue and this is why this worked for you, you know, you took this option because you liked
to express yourself through reading or through something written.
I think all of those things is self knowledge and the more that we provide people
that self-awareness, I feel like they can find those avenues to their own learning after that.
And I think with modern technology, you know, we are not limited
to teaching in the classroom anymore.
So how do we get them excited about just being learners?
>> Then they're not compliant, they're actually advocating.
And in terms of a life skill, we don't want learners who are just going to sit
and be compliant and say yes, this is what I'll do because you told me.
We want them to actually disrupt what's going on a little bit and innovate and push.
So those traits that may have been seen as negative are really positive
and are really necessary and shouldn't be-- Yeah, should be seen.
I like how you talked about them as open avenues as opposed to road blocks.
>> And one thing I would say especially for all of those who are listening,
who are classroom teachers that say, hey,
I can't just leave open-ended options for everything.
I believe having no options is the option.
And what I mean by that is if I have to teach a five paragraph essay
because this is what's going to get you to the next level in college or your career,
then by making it clear to young people what the purpose of what they're working
on is, I think that that is the option.
They get to buy in to the purpose or not.
They get to choose, this is valuable or not.
And so I would say for those of you who are in the classroom that's say, hey,
but I have to still get them to pass this unit or these equations, keep that in mind.
The more that we have-- if we remove the barrier of why it's being learned
to clarify the purpose, then they get to choose whether they want
to keep that in their minds or not.
>> So this brings me to the next question because I have to say,
it has been overwhelming how from the very beginning of the conversation,
I've heard start with the positive, start with values, get to know the strengths.
So, I'm glad--
You often don't hear that when you-- when you hear conversations.
You know often I-- you know, I'm thinking of IUP conversations for example
that start with what learners can't do.
So you all have just been sending out positive vibes and positive approaches.
So, what do you think educators in the field should know in order
to really help create these positive learning environments for all learners?
Again, I've been overwhelmed with how you'd subtly been really talking
about supporting awareness and making authentic connections.
What else, yeah, what other pieces do you think are really key for all, again,
thinking about all educators to really create these environments.
Michael, do you want to start?
>> Yeah, I think from my perspective just-- because I'm doing this now,
I think part of it is on the administrators and educators,
but I often find that even my students on themselves are--
they gave such high expectations of where they're supposed
to be in such a short period of time.
They-- You know, it's not just unrealistic but I mean, you know, the system
or whatever it is has led them to believe like you need to be here.
If you're not there, then you're no good.
And they literally believed this, you know.
I mean it's in-- I-- when I was their age I did too.
And I think that one of the things that I used at least today I think is good--
in a good way is the idea of just the small steps they make.
They're making small positive steps every day.
And I point out those steps every day along the way no matter what it takes,
just a little comment here, a tap on the shoulder there,
anything I can do to show them, look, man, look what you did.
I had a student today, he took a practice test from GED to see if he can go
out take the real thing and he came up a few points short, was just devastated.
I'm like, man, you've-- look how far you've come in the short period of time.
Look at this and this, this means you only missed about one question,
and why don't you rephrase it, that kind of terminology,
to show him what he's accomplished rather than what didn't make and what he didn't do.
His whole attitude changed.
They went up [inaudible] and ready to take another one, and we're like, OK.
Well, that's, you know.
And so I think that that's only been part of my approach.
I had a real problem with educators and I'm-- It's--
We have any kind of party figure whatsoever.
So, I've always been big on, you know, if I don't have an explanation for the reason,
I always have given reasons why I do things.
We're doing this in class because this is what I'd like to get from it.
Do you have any suggestions?
What else can we do to get there?
What do you-- What would you like to do in addition to this or instead of it,
you know, and asking their part of it.
Because if I don't know her answer to one of those questions,
then I need to get out and do something else.
And so I kind of-- that's kind of my approach with the small steps and taking their feedback
and taking it very seriously and trying to incorporate it into what we're doing.
It requires a lot of doing things on the fly a lot of times.
But hey, it works, and so, it makes them much more engaged in the process in my experience.
All right.
>> Yeah, I want to acknowledge Michael and just
so everyone knows we have worked together before.
I know a little bit about his classroom.
But one of the things that I do think is important
about that positive learning environment is Michael exemplifies what it is
to be a responsive educator.
And so, being able to be on the fly I think one of those things is--
has been really difficult for a lot of people but I think one of the--
one of the beauties that I've seen from Michael is being so recognizant
that that student experience in that moment in that learning [inaudible] whatever goal was--
>> Right.
>> -- and that's in-- You know, you follow the passion.
So I-- You can speak on that more, Mike.
I just wanted to toot your horn a little bit.
>> Thank you.
But no, I'm-- I've got-- I think I've got my message across, yeah, right.
I can talk all day.
And we don't want to-- we don't want to get that started.
>> I think-- And so not to be quite-- Allison, but when I look at this question,
I kind of, you know, changed the word.
You know, so for me I'm thinking, I don't know if it's stuff--
well, they need to know stuff, right.
But actually for me, I want to know what they care about, because I think what you care
about will impact your goals and who do you think you need to be, like what does that mean
for you in terms of the work you need to do as educator where you were administrator,
support staff, vocational trainer, traditional classroom teacher.
And so I come to this kind of really briefly when I would study just
like historical movements throughout, you know, history if we're looking
at civil rights movement with like the arm resistant movement
or the Mississippi freedom schools.
What I found is that, you know, even when slaves were teaching themselves to--
teaching themselves to read back in the 1860s and it's one of the resources I provided
on here, it wasn't necessarily reading a book because they thought reading was fun,
it was because they were trying to liberate themselves, right?
And, you know, and they knew what that, that would take.
They needed literacy, they needed agency, they needed to be able to know how to vote.
So, you know, when we talk-- think about reconstruction and thinking about how all
of a sudden in this small period,
all of a sudden all these black Americans were taking these like offices of senator
and what have you and it's-- and it's because there was a history
of they were teaching themselves and literally starting, literally starting schools all
across the country which is now what we have free schooling, right?
It started because of the slaves.
And so when I think about that I'm thinking they had a goal in mind.
There was-- It was education as a means for liberation for them
but they needed all those core skills, right?
They needed to know how to-- the literacy, they needed like the math.
They needed to understand the world around them and how it came together, interconnecting these
of all the-- to help them get where they need to be.
So I think it's really about what you care about and I think that is-- that really informs--
It informs like how are you-- you were choosing to move in the classroom.
And I do agree with Mike was mentioning for the young people too like also being able
to provide them with the sense of agency in the classroom so that they feel
like they're-- Isabel mentioned this too.
Sort of feel like they're opting in and they know the why.
Like we're getting this education on this piece of content as a means to what?
Whole secondary access is great.
A living wage is great but as a means to what exactly?
And I think about this because I think if you're working on-- with the--
working with the population that we work with, I know it's not just enough for you to be able
to get to college because you have
so many forces systematically that are working against you.
You can go to college but you also can be arrested in college.
You can be harassed in college.
There's a whole lot of things that happen if you're not able to have the skills
to critically analyze the system that you're in.
So, yeah, you know, it's kind of like a convoluted answer
but I do think it's really what educators and that--
what do you care about, which can inform what type
of environment you're setting up for your young people.
>> And you feel that's really unique as well in the connections that you work to make
with those communities, so you can start to see some of the impact of the skills
that they're building in their own backyards.
>> Right.
>> And that's something that can often be missing in our--
in some of the traditional settings.
I'm going to jump ahead a couple of slides because we have--
CAST is working in partnership with YouthBuild also on a research project.
And so, if I could pause our conversation for just a moment and introduce Sam Johnston
who is a research scientist here at CAST and we're just going to share just a moment of some
of the work that's happening with the Career Explorations And Readiness Environment
for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics,
a research project going on with CAST and YouthBuild.
So here is Sam.
>> Hi.
>> Hey, Sam.
>> So, Jason-- Jason is working very closely with us on this work, as well as UMass Amherst.
And I've just caught kind of the tail end of the conversation but I think it's one
of the things we found as we're-- you know, this is a four-year project.
We're really collaboratively designing now with YouthBuild and with UMass Amherst.
We're at seven [inaudible] across five states.
We were really going from kind of talking about what is career exploration and engagement
and STEM, what are STEM competencies, how do we make these make sense on the ground
in the real world, how do we make this connect to values.
And, you know, the work that gets done around trying to ensure
that communities are what we want them to be and, you know, thinking about things
about who gets access to building evidence in science, who gets access to making decisions
about what should be studied for example, and that's where, you know,
what Jason was just saying about, you know, not education for its--
just its own sake but education to be a critical actor in the world that has influence,
that influences what we study, what hypothesis get made.
You know, I used to work with the psychiatrist who you saw me say these are just hypothesis.
So I-- It's just a hypothesis, you know.
And I think when we look at this work around getting young people in YouthBuild to work
with us to think about what would be helpful tools and supports and resources to help
with their already good work that's been done around exploring engagement of science,
technology, engineering and math and linking to possible careers
that are both specific STEM careers but also careers that use STEM.
This work of thinking about, you know, being in these careers is helpful because they're,
you know, good, middle to high income jobs and they're, you know, they're growth areas
but they're also critical because it helps us to shape the future of scientific research.
It helps us, you know, shape the future of--
of what kind of sustainable buildings we want, you know.
Are we going to do-- make decisions to build affordable housing and communities or not?
Well, we need people who have-- who are in leadership positions like, you know,
who are engineers, who are, you know, leaders in the building trades,
who are leaders in various areas to help us make those types of decision.
So I think that's one of the big things we've learned is it's not just about building kind
of hard skills like can you, you know, engage in mathematical reasoning
or do you understand how chemistry is applied to work
but do you understand the values behind these decisions.
And so we're trying to do a range of things.
We're building an e-portfolio where young people can kind of document and reflect on
and have the YouthBuild staff that are working
with them also evaluate what STEM competencies they're building.
We're having kind of using multimedia to build some cases with people who have STEM careers
or careers where they use STEM that are compelling, you know, that have folks sort of--
have made compelling decisions in terms of the choices they've made of what to study.
If they're scientists but also, you know, compelling in terms of, you know,
their journeys of interest and in skills they have or parent and then obviously in terms
of UDL, building scaffolds and supports throughout so that we're not, you know,
creating barriers to STEM career exploration and engagement or building STEM competencies
by saying, you know, you need to go and understand that's really convoluted explanation
of what it is to, you know, to think about equipment safety.
But actually let's look at that tangibly on the ground so we're not creating a barrier
and having someone who actually might have lots of skills in that area not even be aware
that they have them because we put it in a medium or a format that's inaccessible for them,
even understanding the skills they have.
So just a chance to tell you a few words about the project of, you know, people are interested
to follow up and we can share more.
I don't know if Jason wants to say anything about it as well.
>> No, that's
>> I think that you had them-- I think she got it.
>> Thank you.
>> Yeah.
>> Thank you very much.
Yeah, we-- again, this is really just the beginning of the conversation.
And-- so just to wrap up a little bit, if learning had no limits, pie in the sky,
where do you want education to go?
How can we positively impact our society here?
You've got 30 seconds just--
>> Thirty seconds to save the world.
>> Equal access.
>> Equal access, how-- how can we get there.
You have one, one concrete suggestion for how?
>> Admitting that we don't have it now would be--
>> Excellent, excellent.
Thank you.
>> We could just stop there.
>> Yeah, yeah I agree.
I think that's good.
I mean removing student debt would be another one or making university in college free for all
and making enough colleges to house all of the graduates, I think that would be brilliant.
>> Is there an action item we can take for that?
>> I would say advocating for more community colleges and universities in your states.
I think the reality is if young people are fighting for s seats in community college,
then really what are we-- what are we preparing them for after high school.
And so I think particularly in California, it's been very noticeable but you know how can that--
it's a barrier that we don't even talk about where young people say, oh,
I have to fight for a seat in the class, I think that's automatic barrier to education, so.
>> Yeah, action item just advocate, yeah political.
>> Yeah. I agree.
I think-- I agree with everything Mike and Isabel said.
I think it kind of [inaudible] back, I'd want to rethink the whole system.
Not rethink, I want to change it.
And here's why I want it to be-- I can't tell you how it all work,
but I know what I'd want it to be based on.
I feel like based on some core values of equity for all.
So we're talking about LGBTQ students.
We're talking about women and stopping this toxic masculinity and patriarchy.
We're talking about equitable economic system.
We're talking about sustainability for communities.
We're talking about love.
So we can even say, you know, UDL is based on the goals and how we get there, right?
So can we kind of-- can we rethink and reevaluate
and then change what we're basing everything on.
Because I think, you know, as I, again, looking at historical context, the education was based
on who do we want to be and how do we get there.
So if we're saying that this is who we want to be as like stewards of this earth
and I don't think this is being existential like who do you want to be and how does that inform
like how do we learn, how do we get there economically, creating communities,
how do we care for each other, the disabled, the elderly, you know, children.
Right now, in the US, if you look at our stats for like how, you know, rates of like infants
and how we, you know, afford our-- a childcare, how do we fund it,
especially in marginalized communities.
Like you can kind of look on paper and see like what we don't care about.
So they're flipping that and say OK, this is what we care about and this is how we're going
to get there, I think starting there I would love it.
>> And we can bring those core values into each and everyone of our classrooms.
Whatever context you all are in, so this can be a little call to action to think
about identifying what those core values are and then start basing decisions on those.
I know we had a couple of resource recommendations.
It's always fun to know, you know, what you're reading or what are--
you know, what are some resources that you have just found to be very valuable.
Jason, you want to talk about this briefly?
>> Yes. These are not necessarily UDL related.
I'd say just in the last year, all three of these books I think has had an impact on me.
Really quick, Carter G. Woodson in his book "Mis-Educaiton of the Negro",
it's really an interesting book in talking about questioning and education as a means for what?
So for-- specifically for the black community.
So you know, you have somebody studying the STEM and they go and get engineering degree,
how did they take those skills and contribute the community.
So it's not education-- not just education to earn
but education to help liberate the community.
Audre Lorde, I think is great, because it's a compilation of essays and it really speaks
to the courage it takes to be in the classroom and working with young people,
but also I think as I talked about dismantling patriarchy and toxic masculinity, like upholding
and liberating and listening to women, specifically in this case, I'd say black women,
black feminist and what all that means.
And so kind of like the intersection of that and education.
I think it's rich because we have all of these young people coming into the classroom.
And the last one I had referenced earlier "Education of Blacks in the South"
by James D. Anderson is just a really illuminating book, talking about slave from 1860
to 1935, how slaves, while they were enslaved were teaching themselves
and starting educational schools, principals, superintendents,
and how that informed the public, the free public education system that we have now.
So-- and maybe people look at that and they, you know, I think if you look at--
maybe you connect it to UDL, I can see the connection because it's--
UDL is access for all and having a concrete goal and options, so those are just a few
that have been meaningful to me from, you know, last year.
>> That's fabulous.
Thank you.
And so if you have any questions or comments, we invite you to--
I know that we were ready to change the system here in this short one hour conversation.
So if you have any concrete ideas, resources, questions that you want for our panelists
as you're typing those in, I'm just going to mention very briefly,
CAST UDL Summer Symposium had hold the dates.
The theme is going to be Empower Learners, and it will be July 30th through August 1st up here
in Cambridge Massachusetts at Harvard Law School.
Our call for proposals will be coming shortly.
There's an expanding list of titles from CAST professional publishing.
You heard a little bit from CAST research.
Thank you again Sam for stepping in.
There's more of that off of the CAST website.
And also coming soon, the UDL guidelines are going to be updated on CAST website.
There's-- It's the same content, just a new representation that really focuses much more
on the goal of expert learning because we really want to make sure that we are thinking
about how we are developing learners who are lifelong expert learners and that again to tie
to some of the points that were made earlier in the conversation when we're thinking
about education, how are we really developing this expertise in advocacy within our learners.
I found this quote from a YouthBuild graduate, "At a moment in my life
when nothing was going right, I found YouthBuild and began a journey
that has brought me to the place I am now."
Wouldn't it be amazing if each of our education context could provide this
for even just one individual, maybe more.
So I want to leave you all with that thought.
Jason, Isabel, Michael, do you have any final thoughts for us,
as we set you out into the sunny day?
>> I don't want to take-- I think Jason's message was perfect.
But one thing that I will say is, one of the big things that Jason talked about was
like our humanity and really caring about people's-- one another.
So I just want to recommend, I think the good next step and one thing that we're working
on at our school to build on from UDL is working on trauma informed practices
and we becoming aware on what that does to brain, because CAST
and UDL really is founded on brain science.
I think one of the big things that we need to remember is how we are all impacted by trauma
in some way or another and how that impacts our learning.
And so I think that would be a good recommendation, and yes join us in this movement
to create equitable, loving, caring, genuine, I don't know.
I'd say vote Jason Marshall for president because--
>> No, no you don't want that.
>> -- he's able to put it differently.
But that would be one thing I would say.
And thank you so much.
>> Yeah, thank you.
>> And maybe this will be our next conversation with you all or we can--
we have a dot, dot, dot to be continued.
So please fee free to, yes we do have a quick survey to get feedback from today's webinar
or ideas you have from upcoming ones, but thank you all so much for being here today.
It's means so much to me and to the field.
Thank you for the hard work that you do every day and let's keep the conversation going.
Thank you all for joining.
>> Thank you, Allison.
Thank you everybody.
>> Good to see you [inaudible].
We'll stay on for another, you know, minute or so, if you all do have questions, we can--
as you all are logging off, let us know and we can address them.
All right.
Well, thank you all so much.
I'll see you guys.
Thank you.
We'll be in touch offline.
>> All right.
Take care.
>> Bye, Allison.
>> Have a great day.
>> Bye guys.
>> Thank you.
>> OK.
>> All right, see you guys later.
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