Just a quick heads up that this year's Rida Institute Summer workshop is coming up Aug 1-3rd.
New for this year the Rida Institute will be a year long! Kicking off in the summer with touch points throughout the year -- here is some of what we're planning so far
Rida Institute Summer Workshop 2016 (Aug 2016)
This is the traditional three day institute will introduce teachers to the Rida Framework. This year we'll have talks by visiting Educators (to be named soon!) and we'll be focusing on developing unit plans for the school year.
Tune-up Meetings (NEW)
At two points in the year, teachers will have the opportunity to come together after the summer workshop to “tune up” their classroom plans and practices. The Tune-ups will focus on troubleshooting challenges and sharing successes.
Classroom Visits (NEW)
Every classroom will be observed and evaluated at least once throughout the year, using the DFS 11 Essential Skills rubric. DFS will also conduct interviews with students to assess their perceptions of the classroom. Teachers will reflect on the evaluations during Tune-up Meetings to understand what’s working and not working in their classrooms, and adjust their practices accordingly.
There will be more info soon and I'll be sure to pass it along to you --
Two weeks ago Detroit Teachers closed 88 Detroit schools as a protest of inhumane school conditions. Last week students walked of several DPS Schools in support of protesting teachers. It's no secret, our school system needs serious change. At Detroit Future Schools we believe that this change should have Detroit’s young people at its center.
The Out-of-School Project (OSP) is an afterschool program that brings together young people from all over the city – including Detroit Public Schools, charter schools, private schools, alternative schools, and colleges. In this program, students create media that inserts youth voice into the conversation about the challenges and opportunities facing Detroit’s public education system.
We are excited to announce the launch of #DFSIdeas, a research project and social media campaign led by young people in our Out-of-School Project. These youth will collect and share stories from Detroit students who are thriving despite obstacles in Detroit’s school system such as high teacher turnover, poor access to transportation, lack of classroom materials and resources, unhealthy food, etc. We hope to bring to light the many ways in which students are responding to these problems and their unique visions for change within the system.
Over the next six months we will conduct interviews, identify broad themes across the stories we collect, and create a media project such as a video or blog that shares the big ideas and lessons from our research. We will present this work at public events such as the Allied Media Conference in order to uplift the youth perspective around Detroit schools and reform. Ultimately, we hope this work will inspire and inform future OSP projects that provide youth-led solutions to problems within Detroit’s school system. See how you can participate below!
Tell us Your #DFSIdeas
Are you a young person in Detroit? We want to hear what being a student in Detroit schools is like.
Are you always looking to switch schools because your school doesn't work for you or was closed? Do you struggle to get to school everyday because of transportation issues? Do you get up really early to travel to the ‘burbs to get to a “good school”? Do you feel like nobody cares about your education?
How are you dealing with the problems you face in your schools everyday? What are the things you want to change and how would you change them?
We’re looking for Detroit youth who want to share their stories with us! If you have a story and would like us to interview you, please email DFS@alliedmedia.org
You can also send us your ideas on twitter, facebook or instagram using the hashtag #DFSideas
Our mission at Detroit Future Schools (DFS) is to humanize schooling in Detroit. We share what we learn from our classrooms with educators in Detroit and beyond through curriculum consultation with teachers, our annual Rida Institute, and through publications sharing our best practices.
We are excited to share the newly released Detroit Future Schools Guide to Humanizing Schooling. In these pages you will find lessons from our work in more than 30 Detroit classrooms over the past four years of DFS programming. This guide includes tools, best practices, and step-by-step curriculum planning exercises for educators and group facilitators who have a vision for transforming their classrooms. It includes easy-to-follow interactive activities that can be used and expanded upon within classrooms, as well as supplementary diagrams and worksheets.
The Detroit Future Schools Guide to Humanizing Schooling is an updated and expanded version of the previously released Guide to Transformative Education.
The New Rida Framework
The core of the DFS Guide to Humanizing Schooling is the “Rida Framework,” a planning tool that we have developed to help teachers articulate a clear vision for bringing community context into lesson planning. The Rida Framework is inspired by Jeff Duncan Andrade's article “Gangstas, Wankstas and Ridas.”
For the DFS Guide to Humanizing Schooling we provide an updated Rida Framework based around an interactive, five-step process, which includes:
+ Mapping your community context
+ Articulating a clear purpose statement
+ Creating a vision for your classroom
+ Identifying essential skills and practices to cultivate in your curriculum
+ Measuring your progress towards your purpose
The Rida Framework is not only a useful tool for educators, but also may be used by students to investigate their community context and develop their vision for the classroom.
We invite classrooms throughout Detroit and beyond to adapt and evolve these tools to make them their own.
You can purchase a copy of the DFS Guide to Humanizing Schooling here!
You can also get this resource and more DFS classroom tools as part of the DFS Rida Kit, available during the month of September only. This kit includes the following items from Detroit Future Schools:
+ 11 Essential Skills Flash Cards Set
+ 11 Essential Skills Poster
+ DFS Tote Bag
+ Guide to Humanizing Schooling
