THE ARC Urban Prep Academies

ABOUT THE STUDENTS The school is located in the Englewood area of Chicago and the school was originally named Englewood High School. It was picked up from a gentleman named Tim King who say a need for a change. The children in this neighborhood was loosing in education because of the poverty. So the students that were chosen to get into this school were these exact children. This person see the talent that this children had, but they had no one to take them under their wing to bring it out of them except this gentleman. These children went in with an open mind ready to learn and ready for a change. Other students were allowed as well through a lottery but their first choice were the young men in Englewood.

INNOVATIVE & UNIQUE This school is innovative because of their determination to teach this young men how to be a man. It is a must that every young man is put into a mentoring program for their entire 4 years of being a student. They have a creed that the students have to recite every morning not just for the officials to show they believe in the them, but to make sure they believe in themselves. They mold and guide these young men down the right path showing them that is more out here than joining a gang, selling drugs, becoming a baby daddy at an early age. They are showing them that there is more to life such as college, having a career and that you can have all the education you want if you just go for it.

21 ST CENTURY SKILLS The 21 st Century Skills that are offered by this school are the basics Academics Arc that are aligned with both the Illinois State Learning Standards and the ACT College Readiness Standards. The students take double periods of English and math all four years which falls under the key subjects. Under the Learning and innovation skills this school offers the Service Arc which consist of working in their community to see what they can do to make it better. The Service Arc fosters levels of compassion, leadership, and character that will stay with our young men as they mature into successful, civic-minded community leaders. Regardless of social inequities, students must be provided with the tools to achieve academic proficiency. Furthermore, in order to participate in a democratic society, students need to develop skills in literacy and numeracy and to expand their technological, social, and political abilities. Ladson-Billings maintains that culturally relevant teaching “requires that teachers attend to students’ academic needs, not merely make them ‘feel good’” and that it is imperative to have students “choose academic excellence.”11 By focusing on the importance of academic success in the world, teachers can foster a desire for intellectual achievement.

REFLECTING CULTURALLY RELEVANT PEDAGOGY This school offers the young men certain activities and clubs like Future Educators of America, Japanese Cultural Club, UP PAC (Political Action Committee), Los Amigos (Spanish Club), S.W.A.T.( Technology Club), Sketch Comedey Improv, FBLA (Entreprenueship), Peer Medicaiton, and Student Government.

CREATIVITY IN THE CLASSROOM The creativity that is shown in the classroom for both the teacher and student is when the students are having music classes, art classes, baseball, lyrical diction club, basketball, film studio, and men's choir. This is where the students show their creativity when interacting in these classes.

REFERENCES Coffey, H. (2004) Culturally Relevant Teaching. K-12 Teaching and Learning form the UNC School of Education; Learn NC. Retrieved on June 13, 2015 from King, T. (2012) URBAN PREP ACADEMIES. Urban Prep Charter Academy for Young Men; Englewood Campus. Retrieved on June 13, 2015 from