AmeriCorps Promise Fellows #4 Small Corps Meeting! Welcome!

Small Corps Agenda  Welcome!  Supporting Youth Dialogue  Brain Science review  Reactive & Proactive Conversations  Supporting Sustainability, Transition, and Summer planning  Closing Announcements/Reminders

Supporting Youth Dialogue & Becoming an Adult Ally

 Self-Reflection: write on a post it, a situation that has come up at your site, that you’ve been involved in with a student about race and equity Supporting Youth Dialogue & Becoming an Adult Ally

What’s happening in the Brain?  Majority of brain developed 0-5 years  We now know, prior to puberty brain enters another period of growth and change – hardwiring of lifelong habits (positive/negative)  Experiences that are most common are hard wired, ‘pruning’ of connections that aren’t used “If a teen is doing music, sports, or academics, those are the connections that will be hard wired. If they’re lying on the couch, playing video games, or abusing drugs or alcohol – those are the cells and connections that are going to survive.”

The Developing Teenage Brain  Pre-Frontal Cortex – acts as CEO of the brain – last part of brain to fully develop  Controls advanced brain functioning, planning, working memory, organization, mood, impulse control, empathy skills, cognitive flexibility, and problem solving  Adolescence greatly vulnerable and susceptible to intense learning – positive and negative/risky experiences (similar to young child’s brain)

The Developing Teenage Brain Related to race and identity- why would it be important to keep this (stages of brain development) in mind?

Reactive and Proactive Opportunities  Reactive – tools and skills to use in response to statements, to foster learning experience, and critical thinking skills  Proactive – opportunities to bring out issues of equity, to intentionally engage/plant seeds with youth or peers (exercises, activities to pause, and engage multiple perspectives and view points).

Supporting Youth Voice & Dialogue Questioning Techniques: o Inquire for more: “Tell me more…what do you mean when you say…” o Utilize Empathy: reflective responses, use and engage more feeling words than ‘heady’ words o “It’s clear that made you really frustrated, I can understand that would be a hard situation” o Gauge and recognize emotion: Echo and inquire around feelings shared or showed o “that sounds challenging, how did that make you feel when it happened, how do you feel now?”

Be Careful! Check Your: o Own bias, racial bias/socialization o Need to lead o Need to project own experience/viewpoints or make it about you. Don’t Forget: If a young person is trusting you with personal information, or seeking advice; remember your role as a Caring Adult/Adult ally should be to foster their own critical thinking.  Don’t enable, take over, or speak for; allow youth to lead, speak, and process.

Scenarios Activity  Goal: Amplifying stories and narratives – that are powerful- so individual feels heard  Promise Fellow Role: Just go with it, allow yourself to practice and mess up  Youth Role: identify with scenario and play youth role  Observer Role: Take notes, give feedback on body language and reactions or thoughts you have.

Scenarios Activity: Debrief  How did these go?  What stuck out to you?  What worked; what was most challenging?

Proactive Conversations  Proactive – opportunities to bring out issues of equity, to intentionally engage/plant seeds with youth or peers (exercises, activities to pause, and engage multiple perspectives and view points).

Proactive Exercises  Engage various identities: messaging related to gender, culture, race/ethnicity, age, ability, religion, sexual orientation, social roles, …  Music analysis, book studies, movies, video games, article discussion on topical theme  What images, stereotypes, roles are portrayed, and perpetuated?  Make it relevant to your students’ lives, to be engaging

Activity: Advertisement Analysis  What are your first reactions, thoughts?  What emotions are elicited from this Ad for you?  What does this Ad make you feel like?  Why?  What associations may these feelings be connected to?

Supporting Youth Voice: Site Brainstorm  What questions would you ask?  How are you going to help your youth process their thoughts?  What complications or challenges do you expect?

It’s time to Recruit!!  Interested in serving again? Apply online by March 21 st  Talk to you your supervisor  Now, share on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in… with your networks!  Consider yourself Challenged!

Supporting Sustainability & Transition  Your Service Site – staff, volunteers, partners  Supporting your Focus List Students: be the bridge!  Summer Tracking guidelines

Closing Announcements/Reminders  Spring Break training and engagement opportunities!  Spring site visits coming up  GYSD Volunteer Sign up!  See you next time - May Regional meetings!