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Posts by Paul Costello1

What Makes Storytelling So Effective For Learning?

October 6, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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by Vanessa Boris | December 20, 2017 Harvard Business Publishing

Learning and development professionals walking and talking

This is the second of two posts co-written by Vanessa and Lani Peterson, Psy.D., a psychologist, professional storyteller and executive coach.

Telling stories is one of the most powerful means that leaders have to influence, teach, and inspire. What makes storytelling so effective for learning? For starters, storytelling forges connections among people, and between people and ideas. Stories convey the culture, history, and values that unite people. When it comes to our countries, our communities, and our families, we understand intuitively that the stories we hold in common are an important part of the ties that bind.

This understanding also holds true in the business world, where an organization’s stories, and the stories its leaders tell, help solidify relationships in a way that factual statements encapsulated in bullet points or numbers don’t.

Connecting learners
Good stories do more than create a sense of connection. They build familiarity and trust, and allow the listener to enter the story where they are, making them more open to learning. Good stories can contain multiple meanings so they’re surprisingly economical in conveying complex ideas in graspable ways. And stories are more engaging than a dry recitation of data points or a discussion of abstract ideas. Take the example of a company meeting.

At Company A, the leader presents the financial results for the quarter. At Company B, the leader tells a rich story about what went into the “win” that put the quarter over the top. Company A employees come away from the meeting knowing that they made their numbers. Company B employees learned about an effective strategy in which sales, marketing, and product development came together to secure a major deal. Employees now have new knowledge, new thinking, to draw on. They’ve been influenced. They’ve learned.

Something for everyone
Another storytelling aspect that makes it so effective is that it works for all types of learners. Paul Smith, in “Leader as Storyteller: 10 Reasons It Makes a Better Business Connection”, wrote:

In any group, roughly 40 percent will be predominantly visual learners who learn best from videos, diagrams, or illustrations. Another 40 percent will be auditory, learning best through lectures and discussions. The remaining 20 percent are kinesthetic learners, who learn best by doing, experiencing, or feeling. Storytelling has aspects that work for all three types. Visual learners appreciate the mental pictures storytelling evokes. Auditory learners focus on the words and the storyteller’s voice. Kinesthetic learners remember the emotional connections and feelings from the story.

Stories stick
Storytelling also helps with learning because stories are easy to remember. Organizational psychologist Peg Neuhauser found that learning which stems from a well-told story is remembered more accurately, and for far longer, than learning derived from facts and figures. Similarly, psychologist Jerome Bruner’s research suggest that facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they’re part of a story.

Kendall Haven, author of Story Proof and Story Smart, considers storytelling serious business for business. He has written:

Your goal in every communication is to influence your target audience (change their current attitudes, belief, knowledge, and behavior). Information alone rarely changes any of these. Research confirms that well-designed stories are the most effective vehicle for exerting influence.

Stories about professional mistakes and what leaders learned from them  are another great avenue for learning. Because people identify so closely with stories, imagining how they would have acted in similar circumstances, they’re able to work through situations in a way that’s risk free. The extra benefit for leaders: with a simple personal story they’ve conveyed underlying values, offered insight into the evolution of their own experience and knowledge, presented themselves as more approachable, AND most likely inspired others to want to know more.

Connection. Engagement. Appealing to all sorts of learners. Risk-free learning. Inspiring motivation. Conveying learning that sticks. It’s no wonder that more and more organizations are embracing storytelling as an effective way for their leaders to influence, inspire, and teach.

Read more about the power of storytelling in our brief, “Telling Stories: How Leaders Can Influence, Teach, and Inspire”

Vanessa Boris is Senior Manager, Video Solutions at Harvard Business Publishing Corporate Learning. Email her at vanessa.boris@harvardbusiness.org

The Importance of Storytelling and Story Creation

October 6, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Kate Hurst  Paths to Literacy

Perhaps the thing that makes us human is the stories (real and imagined) that each of us has inside. Many people think that the gift of storytelling belongs only to writers, shamans, and the very old. The reality is we are all storytellers from the very earliest days of our lives. Children who are blind and visually impaired or deafblind also have stories inside them. Helping them to tell their stories is very important to their social, emotional and cognitive development, especially communication and literacy.

Stories come in different forms and mediums.

Stories come in a variety of forms: poetry, song, movement, pictures, plays and even Dad Jokes. The creators of the stories use various mediums such as braille, sign language, movies, and dance to share the stories with others. 

Some stories are dynamic, we hear them or experience them and then they are gone. Stories become static when we write them down or record them in some way so we can revisit them over-and-over again. 

Children who are visually impaired or Deafblind, may experience a story by tactually exploring items collected on a walk or playing with the materials used to take a bath if these are placed in an experience box or bag. Another child with low vision may enjoy simple picture books with limited print. Audio and braille are other mediums that may be used to share a story with others. 

The form or the medium are not as important as the story itself or the creation of the story.

Storytelling quote

Stories help us cope.

We make sense of our life experiences in part by the stories we learn or tell ourselves. Imagine a story the young child might create and revisit. 

“It is dark and stormy. I am frightened. I think I see a monster in my closet. Will it hurt me? If I cry out loud Dad or Mom will come save me.”

At the time the child tells himself the story he doesn’t know if it is fiction or nonfiction. He is just building a story based on his experience of what happens when he cries out at night. But the power of that story may help to calm him and take action to meet his own needs. This can be true of many stories we read or hear.

Even stories that might frighten us a bit, help us to cope because the outcome for the protagonist or hero ultimately turns out well.  So, when we face challenges in our own lives we may have a certain belief that everything will be alright eventually if we take action.

Research actually shows that using expressive writing can help us deal with stressful and traumatic events and can even positively impact our health. (Opening Up by Writing It Down, Pennebaker, J.W. and Smyth, J. M., 2016)

Pen and ink drawing of 3 young children reading a newspaper outside

Stories help us remember and imagine.

Humans are constantly creating stories. We make up stories in our heads about how our day will go before we head for the office. We tell ourselves stories about the amazing places we will see and exciting things we will do as we plan our vacations. We tell ourselves stories about how people treat us and how we treat them. We are our stories.

Many people may not agree that this is storytelling, but it is where many of us begin to learn the power our own memory and imagination. Stories told within a family or in a culture become even more powerful as they are shared year after year. They become part of who we are, what we believe, and how we see our future. 

When we preserve stories in some static form like a book or a recording or a movie, people from different times and places can share that story. Many of these stories guide whole populations in learning how to live their lives (e.g., religious and spiritual texts, the Constitution).

Using our imaginations to modify an existing story or create a fictional world allows us to create solutions to existing problems or imagine places where other challenges exist. For example, think of the different real-life devices that reflect the long-ago creations of Jules Verne in his stories, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea or From the Earth to the Moon. 

Stories help us solve problems and try on solutions.

Stories also help us to solve problems by providing opportunities to try out different actions that might lead to different outcomes. This is especially true if another person is helping to co-create the story.

When someone is creating a story with us, he or she might suggest a different action than we would suggest. What will be the outcome of the story with this new twist? What might I learn from their suggestion or solution? We can often work through a problem or situation by writing about it or creating a story.

Two students collaborate to co-create a play-based story.

Two students collaborate to co-create a play-based story.

Stories engage our attention.

When we find ourselves sitting in an airport or waiting to see the dentist, reading a magazine or book engages our attention and helps to make time pass more easily. For many of us, there is no better form of escape than to stick our noses in a book and vanish into the story. With the advent of audiobooks and podcasts, many of us listen to stories as we jog or walk or ride in a car or airplane. For many of us, reading or listening to stories is our favorite form of recreation.

Stories help us understand others.

Stories have the ability to help us learn about others and to find understanding and empathy for them and their situations. Whether we actually know the individual or not, hearing their story evokes feelings within us. Learning to relate to others and empathize with them is so important in developing social skills and making friends.

We need stories. 

Stories serve so many purposes in our lives. Stories are about so much more than just reading or listening. They are instrumental in cognitive, social and emotional development. 

Literacy begins with stories others tell us or we tell ourselves. Co-creating stories with an adult or peers helps our children and students begin to create stories they can share with others.

Adults begin “storytelling” with infants and toddlers by sharing nursery rhymes, songs, and bedtime stories. Then we help them to learn to read others’ stories and write their own. 

Stories help us understand others and ourselves. We feel empathy with the characters we encounter in stories. This ability to learn from stories is a skill that will help our students throughout their lives. In addition to academic goals, stories enrich lives and provide guidance to living.

If you want to do something great for your child or student, explore the ways you can begin to co-create stories with them. 

https://www.pathstoliteracy.org/playing-words/why-it-important/importance-storytelling-and-story-creation

Other articles about the importance of storytelling

Storytelling in the First Three YearsSusan Engel

 Importance of Storytelling in Child Development   Yash Patel 

Telling and Re-Telling Stories: Learning Language and Literacy   Rebecca T. Isbell

To Achieve Lasting Policy Change for Kids, Advocates Need to Choose Their Words Carefully

September 29, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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By Nat Kendall-Taylor and David Alexander
– Chronicle of Philanthropy 

Kendall-Taylor-092721.jpg

Kids right now are making more than the usual amount of noise. In Congress and state houses, they’re at the center of public-policy debates on issues such as the child tax credit, Covid-19 vaccines and mask mandates, and the long-term effects of climate change.

For the first time in many years, advocates have a real chance to get something done for children. To take advantage of this opportunity, nonprofits and foundations need to reconsider how they talk about the problems facing kids. They need to recognize that the words they use have the power to shift how legislators, governments, and the public as a whole think about children and what they need.

While many nonprofit organizations are remarkably effective at showing concern for America’s kids, they rarely frame problems affecting them in ways that encourage public action and solutions. A new report released by the organization’s we lead — FrameWorks and Leading for Kids — makes this abundantly clear. The report, How are Advocates Talking About Children’s Issues?, sampled communications materials from 25 organizations that advocate for policies and programs to help children. We found that much of the messaging focuses on fear and crisis, not efficacy or solutions.

Most nonprofits, as well as the media outlets that cover their work, use terms like “vulnerable” or “at risk” to describe the primarily low-income children of color they serve. This is understandable given the significant challenges facing children historically harmed by societal and cultural institutions. But our research shows such language often backfires. The idea of “vulnerability” puts the focus on deficits and sets up a fatalistic perspective. Even if no ill intent exists, such language can be demeaning and paternalistic and can perpetuate racist stereotypes.

Vague and Uninspiring Language

Instead, rather than using language that emphasizes the suffering of oppressed groups, the focus should be on the policies and social structures that cause harm — and what decision makers need to do to fix them. Those discussions should offer clear and concise solutions. Unfortunately, our research found that messages about solutions are themselves often nonspecific and fail to inspire action.

Part of the problem is an overuse of the amorphous term “child well-being” in nonprofit narratives. While “well-being” is a strong, positive word and a rich concept, without clarification it is merely shorthand for a broad set of outcomes and fails to convey the types of solutions that will make a difference. Left in the dark, many people, including policy makers, default to their own interpretation. For instance, we found that people often think about children’s issues solely in terms of child care and education. This narrow focus leaves out many solutions that advocates know would benefit kids.

A better approach is to specifically show what well-being looks like for children and what is necessary to achieve it. An explanation of the child tax credit, for instance, could include a discussion about how the credit helps parents pay the rent, buy healthy food, and provide their children with opportunities, such as camp or music lessons, all of which are essential to a child’s well-being.

When discussing children’s issues, it’s important to translate collective concern for kids into a collective sense of responsibility — and action. That requires demonstrating that these aren’t just problems experienced by some kids but are part of a larger systemwide set of issues that demand a societal response.

Contextualizing the latest research from across the field of philanthropy, the Snapshot of Today’s Philanthropic Landscape provides nonprofits with the information they need to create informed fundraising strategies.

The Black Lives Matter movement, for example, showed that racism isn’t just perpetrated by a few bad cops or some guys waving Confederate flags. It’s deeply embedded in societal systems that, over centuries, favored white people over Black people — from slavery to Jim Crow to housing and employment discrimination to today’s harmful policing practices. Addressing racism requires dismantling these larger systems, not just taking one-off actions.

Show the Impact of Racism

Similarly, when addressing problems affecting children, nonprofits need to clearly explain why creating a new child-care center or education program isn’t nearly enough. Frequently that involves discussions about how racial inequities that permeate institutions and societal systems have hurt children and their families.

Nearly 40 percent of the communications materials we analyzed mentioned issues involving race, using terms such as “racial equity,” “diversity equity, and inclusion,” and “systemic racism.” While such terms are commonplace in the nonprofit world, we found that most people, both white and Black, either don’t understand what they mean or have a different view of their meaning than advocates. Our focus groups, for example, revealed that many people think of equity as a financial term, associating it with home or business equity.

Such terminology needs to be explained in relatable ways that invite more people into the conversation rather than putting up barriers to involvement. One way to do that is by using examples to show what these concepts look like in real life. Again, in the context of the child tax credit, explaining the rationale behind the policy could begin with a discussion of how unequal employment opportunities in this country have created large wealth disparities between both races and immigrant populations. That would lead to the proposed solution: how a tax credit to boost incomes would help alleviate the effects of such systemic inequity and help all children and their families.

A similar approach should be taken when data is used to illustrate challenges confronting children. Too often we found that data presented in reports and other materials about racial disparities were expected to speak for themselves, with little or no explanation provided for why those disparities existed. Here’s an example of a typical sentence from materials we examined: “In 2018, Black children represented 14 percent of the total child population but 23 percent of all kids in foster care.” Without explaining the causes of such disparities, people fill in their own explanations, frequently relying on racist assumptions about people of color.

For example, people might explain differences in income or wealth by suggesting that work or education isn’t valued in “some communities” and that this explains why “those” (Black and brown) families are less successful. In other words, when context isn’t provided, data are often interpreted in ways that reinforce the assumptions about race that communicators are trying to dispel.

Most Americans, including most policy makers, want to solve the problems facing our kids today. To take full advantage of the increased focus on children’s issues, advocates and foundations need to choose their words carefully. That includes recognizing that few people outside their bubbles understand how public policy relates to children. Rather than reflexively using language that doesn’t mean much to most people — or may even alienate them — advocates need to create narratives that pull people in and compel them to fight for the changes we know kids need.

We welcome your thoughts and questions about this article. Please email the editors or submit a letter for publication.

https://www.philanthropy.com/article/to-achieve-lasting-policy-change-for-kids-advocates-need-to-choose-their-words-carefully?cid=gen_sign_in

All MUST be VACCINATED to serve, says MCPS

September 23, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Vaccinations are one of the most critical strategies to help schools resume and maintain regular operations. On Sept. 9, 2021, the Montgomery County School Board of Education unanimously passed a resolution mandating that all MCPS staff be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Exceptions will be made for employees who provide documentation of and are approved for a medical exemption. In the absence of a medically authorized exemption every MCPS employee must be fully vaccinated by Oct. 29, 2021.

Important Note: Vaccination or authorized medical exemption are a condition of employment. Failure to comply will result in progressive discipline up to and including termination from MCPS. By working together, we can ensure our students are able to safely learn and thrive as they return to school. Our commitments to the entire MCPS community are critical steps to maintaining a successful start to the school year for all students.

Reporting Vaccination Status and Uploading Your COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate

  • All staff are required to be fully vaccinated and report their vaccination status by Oct. 29, 2021.  Please click here to report your status and/or begin the process of uploading your COVID-19 certificate or medical exemption documentation.
  • For those employees who have submitted the required proof of vaccination no further action is required.

Instructions and more information to both report your vaccination status and upload proof of vaccination can be found at the end of this correspondence.

Proof of Vaccination Procedures

  • Staff may provide any of the following to satisfy proof of vaccination:
    • Maryland Department of Health Certificate of COVID-19 Vaccination (or equivalent documentation from employee state of residence). Staff who received their vaccination in the state of Maryland can obtain a copy of their vaccination certificate from the state at the following link: https://app.myirmobile.com/
    • vaccination verification provided by your health insurance provider; or
    • a letter from your primary care physician attesting to the employee’s vaccine status.
  • All information submitted will be protected and kept confidential.
  • No employee will be required to provide any medical information beyond the vaccination status and the medical exemption documentation, if applicable.For a comprehensive list of free vaccination sites, please click here.

Weekly Testing

Employees who are in the process of completing their vaccinations must continue to comply with the weekly testing requirement until becoming fully vaccinated.  Employees who are medically exempt must comply with the weekly testing requirement.

Thank you for all you are doing to keep our students and community safe and healthy. For any technical difficulties, call the MCPS Help Desk at 301-517-5800 or visit their website. If you have questions about COVID leave, please call 301-517-8100, email ERSC@mcpsmd.org

Technical Support Resources

To Report Your Vaccination Status and to Upload Your Proof of Vaccination. If you are having a problem accessing the Vaccination Status form please refer to the support resources provided below.

Helpful Troubleshooting Topics

If you don’t see a help topic listed check the Staff Vaccination Status Form Quick Guide for additional subjects.

Click here to access the MyIRMobile site to download the Maryland COVID-19 Vaccination Certificate (Vaccinated in Maryland)

Click here to access the MCPS Staff Vaccination Status Form.

If you are still having difficulty reporting your vaccination status, reach out to your supervisor for assistance.  For a comprehensive list of other free vaccination sites, please click here.

What kind of Self Reflection Journal do I need?

September 21, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Self reflection is akin to looking at yourself in the mirror. It helps you become aware of your emotions, your deep subconscious beliefs, recurrent thought patterns, inner conflicts and unresolved issues.

By becoming aware of these facets of your personality, you now have the power to discard negative and limiting beliefs and change your focus toward gratitude, abundance, inner peace and balance.

Journaling for self reflection

One of the best and most powerful ways to reflect is through writing, and in that – ‘Journaling’ as it is more structured.

As you put your thoughts on paper on a regular basis, you slowly being to de-clutter your mind and bring things into perspective leading to self awareness, clarify, alignment and inner peace.

While you can start journaling using just about any blank notebook, it is always helpful when you have something more structured. This is where journals come to your help.

Self reflection journals contain questions, prompts and activities that will motivate you to continue writing on a day to day basis. Some journals even have other add-ons like inspirational quotes, coloring pages and interactive elements to keep you motivated.

The following is our curated list of 20 all time best journals that will help you rediscover yourself.

1. Tiny Buddha’s Gratitude Journal

Find on Amazon.com

First on our list is Tiny Buddha’s gratitude journal.

This beautifully crafted journal will help you self reflect and creatively foster gratitude in your life.

This journal contains a combination of creative writing prompts and self reflection questions that are fun, inspiring and thought provoking. In addition, there are 15 beautiful coloring pages sprinkled throughout the journal.

Examples of questions/prompts in the journal:

  • What’s the best thing that has happened to you today (so far), and what did you most appreciate about it?
  • What do you most appreciate about spending time in nature?
  • Though they are not perfect, I appreciate that my family ______
  • I am grateful that I am healthy enough to _______
  • Which places (cities, beaches, restaurants, etc.) do you appreciate the most and why?

Example of a coloring page:

Quick facts about this journal

  • This is a 168-page interactive journal that contains a combination of writing and coloring pages.
  • Writing pages have ruled lines for you to easily jot down your responses.
  • You can start anywhere (on any page), no need to follow any particular order.




2. Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration

Find on Amazon.com

The ‘Start Where You Are‘ journal is a collection of questions, prompts, exercises and inspirational quotes that will provide you with a powerful outlet to have thoughtful reflections.

Example of questions in this journal:

  • List five things that always and immediately bring a smile to your face.
  • Write down ten dreams that haven’t come true yet.
  • What are three thoughts that made you smile today.
  • What gives you light?

Quick facts about this journal:

  • Features vibrant hand-lettering and beautiful watercolor images.
  • Contains a combination of questions, prompts, exercises and quotes (There are quotes on every other page that relate to the following prompt).
  • Pages are unruled and there is plenty of room for writing and reflecting.




3. Story of My Life Journal

Piccadilly Story of My Life Journal | Personal DIY Memoir | Guided Autobiography Notebook | 204 pages

Find on Amazon.com

This is essentially a blank memoir with pages of prompts for you to ponder, this journal provides thought-provoking questions concerning all the corners of your life. Filling in a journal such as this one feels like meeting yourself for the first time, as you consider questions ranging from your childhood to your present-day self.

Examples of questions in this journal:

  • Write about the earliest childhood memory of your Father/Mother.
  • Describe the most difficult thing you’ve ever had to do, either physically or mentally. Did you do it alone or did you have support?
  • List the top 10 songs you have loved as a teenager. What memories stand out with those songs in the background?

https://www.outofstress.com/self-reflection-journals-list/

WHAT IS A REFLECTION JOURNAL?

September 21, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Pre-Service Teacher Reflection Journal - Water Colour | TpT

Taken from The Center for Service Learning

CRTLE, Office of the Provost – Division of Faculty Affairs
800 Greek Row, Box 19128-Trinity Hall, Room 106, Arlington, Texas 76019

Journal writing has become a very popular educational tool which can help students learn subjects as varied as literature and psychology, and is utilized as a key component of experiential learning, where you are both a participant and observer.

As a participant, you contribute to the nonprofit organization in which you are placed. The academic component of your service results from your ability to systematically observe what is going on around you. A well- written journal is a tool which helps you practice the quick movements back and forth from the environment in which you are working to the abstract generalizations you have read or heard about in class.

HOW DO YOU WRITE A REFLECTION JOURNAL?

  • Buy a notebook or start a computer file – write an entry for each day you conduct your service. Your entries are based on the activities of the day, but they are more than a mere chronology of events. Include detailed descriptions of some aspect of your service environment, whether physical, behavioral, or organizational. These descriptions should sound as if you were describing them to someone who was never there.
  • Tentative explanations – Speculate as to why something that you have observed firsthand is as it is. You might derive your explanation from a lecture you have heard, a book you have read, or your own reservoir of “common sense.”
  • Personal judgments – Make judgments about something in your community service environment. There may be people’s actions that you find unpleasant, ways of doing things that are not as you would do them, work environments in which you would not want to remain. These judgments will help you learn about yourself, your values and your limits. Journals allow you to speak your mind.

WHO WILL READ THE JOURNAL?

  • Journals are very private documents. You should write the entries each day you perform your community service, but you should write them after you have left the placement.
  • Do not let colleagues read your journal. When you hand in your journal, only the instructor will read your journal and the contents will not be shared with anyone else.

WHAT SHOULD I WRITE IN MY JOURNAL?

Here are a few of the ingredients that go into a keeping a great journal:

  • Journals should be snapshots filled with sights, sounds, smells, concerns, insights, doubts, fears, and critical questions about issues, people, and, most importantly, yourself.
  • Honesty is the most important ingredient to successful journals.
  • A journal is not simply a report. It’s not a work log of tasks, events, times and dates.
  • Write freely. Grammar/spelling should not be stressed in your writing until the final draft.
  • Write an entry after each visit. If you can’t write a full entry, jot down random thoughts, images, etc. which you can come back to a day or two later and expand into a colorful verbal picture.

STRUCTURING YOUR WRITING:

  • Read and reread your entries so that you can see your own development over the course of the semester. You should use the data you have recorded in your journal in writing your paper.
  • Use the journal as a time to meditate on what you’ve seen, felt, and experienced, and which aspects of the volunteer experience continues to excite, trouble, impress, or unnerve you.
  • Don’t simply answer the prompts given to you by your professor, but use the questions as a diving board to leap from into a clear or murky pool of thought.
  • Final journals need to be edited for proper grammar and spelling. 

THE MIRROR (A CLEAR REFLECTION OF THE SELF)

  • Who am I? What are my values?
  • What have I learned about myself through this experience?
  • Do I have more/less understanding or empathy than I did before volunteering?
  • In what ways, if any, has your sense of self, your values, your sense of “community,” your willingness to serve others, and your self-confidence/self-esteem been impacted or altered through this experience?
  • Have your motivations for volunteering changed? In what ways?
  • How has this experience challenged stereotypes or prejudices you have/had? Any realizations, insights, or especially strong lessons learned or half-glimpsed?
  • Will these experiences change the way you act or think in the future? Have you given enough, opened up enough, cared enough?
  • How have you challenged yourself, your ideals, your philosophies, your concept of life or of the way you live?

THE MICROSCOPE (MAKES THE SMALL EXPERIENCE LARGE)

  • What happened? Describe your experience.
  • What would you change about this situation if you were in charge? What have you learned about this agency, these people, or the community?
  • Was there a moment of failure, success, indecision, doubt, humor, frustration, happiness, sadness?
  • Do you feel your actions had any impact?
  • What more needs to be done? Does this experience compliment or contrast with what you’re learning in class? How?
  • Has learning through experience taught you more, less, or the same as the class? In what ways?

THE BINOCULARS (MAKES WHAT APPEARS DISTANT, APPEAR CLOSER)

  • From your service experience, are you able to identify any underlying or overarching issues that influence the problem?
  • What could be done to change the situation?
  • How will this alter your future behaviors/attitudes/and career?
  • How is the issue/agency you’re serving impacted by what is going on in the larger political/social sphere?
  • What does the future hold?
  • What can be done?

FIRST EXCERPT

Today I got to really to really help people. It was such a thrill to use my knowledge to really help people. Generally I see my skills as somewhat esoteric. Being a history student sometimes feels a bit wasteful. But today I helped a middle-aged woman called Marie. To her passing the language section of the GED really means something concrete. My one semester of Spanish really helped. I couldn’t really say anything useful, but I could use little examples to help him: “What would the Spanish word for ‘it’ be here? ‘Los’? That’s plural isn’t it? In English ‘los’ is always ‘them’, not ‘it’.” It’s so nice to feel useful.

Apparently my background check still hasn’t gone through, and I’m not supposed to be helping. I know this is a side issue, but it is one of the things about volunteering that upsets me. When a potential volunteer approaches an opportunity full of enthusiasm, and a background check takes over a week, and no one contacts her, it is easy to quickly loose that enthusiasm. I was the only person assisting the two teachers; they clearly needed me. But I no one contacted me about the classes starting. I had to take my own initiative. I don’t feel particularly wanted by the organization. This has been a problem for me in the past when I tried to volunteer. It seems sometimes organizations think people who are not being paid don’t care about details.

SECOND EXCERPT

My first day, and already I am reminded of why I love doing this…those revelations about your life that you can only acquire while being a part of others. If I wanted to be bland I could say that I spent the day teaching homeless children how to make pop up cards, but that would not do justice to what really happened. It was bitter sweet, to have the importance of a mothers care in hard times highlighted in front of me, while the pain of the recent loss of my own mother is still strong and undoubtedly will always be.

Alva didn’t think twice about who she would make a card for… “her mama” she proclaimed proudly. She chatted away on how her mother worked late at the ballpark and I could sense just how proud she was of her mother as she described her mothers work duties, “she works the register and sometimes she makes the food”. I knew the feeling, my own mother was a welder, the only woman where she worked and although many people would look down at the job, I was very proud. The burns on her arms and the dirt under her fingernails showed me just how much she loved me. She worked for all of us and it didn’t matter that I didn’t have everything because I had all that mattered. It gave me hope that, although the current situation Alva found herself in at such a young age was difficult, she was going to be alright …maybe better than a lot of kids sleeping in their own beds because in her life she had what really mattered. That can make all the difference.

Yesterday I held the card that my mother had sent me when I first went away for college. I can’t express how much it meant to me, maybe even more than when I first received it. It read, “I’m missing something…you.” Gosh, how it seems so appropriate yet so ironic. I was thinking of how exactly I would start my creative project class for this course…what better way than a scrapbook…with a card to my own mother to start.

https://www.uta.edu/csl/for-students/reflection-journals.php

Week 3: Hitting My Groove

September 21, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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So it’s my third week in the program and my second week with students.  Last week was short because of all the Holiday and Inservice days.  But this week I feel like I’m starting to hit my stride and find my place working in the classrooms with the teachers and students.

I was part of helping a student get organized.  The result of which was that they realized they in fact did not need to carry their book bag from class to class, they really just needed their binder.

I also helped a student with ADHD find a positive way to get attention by contributing to the class discussion.  It may have only lasted for one day this time, but it’s definitely a move in the right direction for this student.

I feel like I am actually being of service again.  And that’s a wonderful feeling. I am happy to celebrate the little every day accomplishments and small victories with the students.  I am enjoying getting to know them as individuals and starting to see paths to assisting them with their Social-Emotional Learing.

To this end, I have been asking students quietly while they’re working on independent assignments how they are doing.  This provides an oppertunity to have a conversation about the current assignment that is more student led.  And I hope over time, as we continue to build rapport, will become an avenue for students to open up about other things they may have going on and want to talk about.

I am looking forward to getting to introduce the MyScore tool to the students, to help them gauge and track their own Social-Emotional Learning.  And in the meantime I will continue to build rapport as I provide steady, consistent, caring support as needed.

Week 2: First Week Back with Students

September 21, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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So with the Holiday Weekend, it was a rather short week.  I only got to spend two days this week in the classroom directly serving the students at the Middle School I am assigned to.  However, it still felt amazingly wonderful to be finally back in a classroom working with students to help them reach their goals.

After a year of sitting around and waiting of going from odd gig to odd gig; I was finally feeling useful again.  Here I was back in the classroom actually being of service to students.  

The first day was spent mostly feeling out my place in the classroom, how best to support the students, and which students might need extra or additional supports. This was of course in addition to building rapport with the students.  Getting them used to seeing me in the classroom, and showing them that I am there to help them succeed.

My only hiccup of the week was technology-based.  I am supposed to be getting access to an email address and the classroom website that is used to share assignments with students as well as track their progress.  By Friday, I had not yet received the email from the county school system that I will need to set all of that up, however.  Hopefully, I get it soon so I can have access to all of that.  As that access will most definitely help me serve the students.

All in all, it’s been a short but terrific week.  I can’t wait for Monday, and to see the students again.

Welcome to AmeriCorps- My Week One of Service

September 21, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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Week 1: Welcome to AmeriCorps

Week 1: Welcome to AmeriCorps

From the very beginning of the day on Monday the 27th of August, I felt like I was professionally coming home.  And that feeling has lasted through the week. I want to soak up this feeling and this energy and carry it forward with me for the rest of the year and beyond.

This first week has been powerful.  I’ve already learned some lessons about myself that I had not known I needed to learn.  That’s the wonderful thing about being in a room of intelligent, driven, caring people with a common goal.  Some times it inspires, sometimes it pushes us to do better, and occasionally it challenges us to face truths about ourselves in order to become a better person.

I find myself learning from the perspectives and experiences of my fellow members; and hopefully able to teach or inspire them with my own experiences. I have a feeling this is going to be a very good year, if only for that reason.  And yet, there’s more.  

The list of planned excursions and professional development sessions through AmerciCorps has me excited for the weekly training days on Fridays.  

I also received a book on Cultrually Resposive teaching the very first day of training.  I am referring to Zarretta Hammond’s Cuturally Responsive Teaching & the Brain which I am mining for all its shared wisdom.  And jives very well with both the concept of Narrative Change and the MyScore tool for Social-Emotional Learing that Project Change has developed to help students identify and track their own Social Emotional-Learning with our support.

I truly feel inspired by all of this and the support I will be receiving.  I can’t wait to dive in and get to work with Students again.

Getting Ready for Service

September 21, 2021 Paul Costello1 Uncategorized
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My Story’s Background: Linda Grimmer 2021/22

I came to AmeriCorps this year out of a space I think many Americans may have been in recently.  I was re-evaluating things due to the widespread pandemic.  Did I still want to be in a classroom? Did I want to keep teaching?  What was teaching even going to look like now?  Would being closer to home be better in case things suddenly changed again?  Would it be better to be in an environment where more support was provided?

To understand my thought process and the answers I would come to, we first have to go back.  I could say my story started 12 years ago when fresh out of school I took what was originally supposed to be a temporary job as a Substitute Teacher, but then found Teaching to be my purpose.  Or I can say it started when I was a young child and saw the example my Mom set of service through education.  Or even further back we could look at my family record of service of over 200 years of stepping up when called on. Really though my journey to AmeriCorps and Project Change specifically started about a year and a half ago in March of 2020 with the onset of the Pandemic.  

In March 2020 I was laid off from the Substituting job I had held for over a decade without much warning as schools closed down to flatten the curve. And like many at the time, I thought this was just going to be temporary.  Surely it would all sort itself out by the end of the school year or at the latest by the start of the next. Of course, this was not the case.  And in the next year, I would face some other major changes that all got me thinking of the path I wanted to take.

I moved from a very rural area kind of at the edge of the state to the much more centrally located and metropolitan by comparison Glen Burnie, Maryland.  I spent time participating in the Gig Economy as a personal shopper delivering groceries.  My parents relocated to South Carolina, an 8-hour drive away. I got married to my wonderful Husband while the officiant and my closest family had to join us via Skype. I got dreadfully sick with COVID 19 and spent 6 months rehabbing my lungs.  (And I am still dealing with some of the long-haul COVID symptoms) In short, the last year and a half was rather eventful.

I came out of that Pandemic Whirl of Time knowing I needed and wanted to make some changes careerwise.  Teaching was still my calling but I needed to set some ground rules on what my next Teaching Job would look like.  First and foremost I wanted to be a lot closer to my new home.  Almost as importantly, I wanted to feel like the program I was working in was supporting my desire to grow as a teacher and would be a partner in working through the new landscape of Teaching Post-COVID.  And I desperately wanted to be of service to my community and the students I would be working with.

This is when I found AmeriCorps Project Change through a job posting on Indeed.  Reading the ad on Indeed and knowing a little of the history of AmericCorps’s founding in the 1990s, this seemed like the right fit.  From the moment I had my first interview for the position, I was excited and enthusiastic to go back to a classroom working through Project Change and AmeriCorps. My Mom and Husband, ever my cheerleaders, encouraged me to take the position when it was offered.  And I spent a good part of July revered up and ready to get started. 

AmeriCorps was going to be the beginning of my next chapter.