Graham’s Journey: Building a Partnership with our Latino Community

Our Journey... the big questions? Who are we? What do we believe? What is our moral compass? Over the last four years we defined who we are and what we believe ..

Our Journey...our identity defined I Belong Pursue Knowledge Take Pride Together We Can Do No Harm Essential Elements Our Core Belief system....Our Essential Elements The next step was figuring out how we institutionalize them... Welcome Week and Revisit Days Model, Model and Model Walk the talk Every communication is through the Essential Elements We are not where it is just how we operate and think totally, but we are getting close We still need to get to the point were we all say including our students... Hey we don’t do that here ...Our Charter

Our Journey continues...our course Do No Harm Together We Can Pursue Knowledge Take Pride I Belong Whatever It Takes!! CCSS ELL Collaboration Quality Instruction All students being successful E.E. Our Journey continues...our course Our Journey...the ship A Graham ship with sails that proudly display our beliefs and the bigs ideas we are all working on. ELL USS Graham USS GRAHAM

We were all working together to sail our ship.... This week we hope to define this... Where were we going?

Our Dream… our North Star To build partnerships with our Latino families To unite all our parent groups Improve student achievement Close the achievement gap

Bit of History…6 years ago Toxic School Environment 2-3 people came to ELAC (English Learner Advisory Committee meetings Our English Learner families were not involved with the school Our ELL students not engaged in their own learning

Our Crew Teachers and classified staff Joey Ordonez, Community Engagement Facilitator (new position) Lisset Tellez, At Risk Coordinator Parents Students

How did we get our Latino Community Involved? Inspiring trip to Overfelt High Latino Role Model Career Day We decided to host our own College Career Day with a focus on Latino speakers Invited a few of our Latino moms to help with the food….the rest is history Planning the fiesta…decorations, food, working side by side Earning their trust

Next Step…Parent Education…PIQE More Latino parents coming to ELAC meetings Some Latino parents wanted to bring PIQE training (Parent Institute for Quality Education) to Graham They insisted on fundraising to bring PIQE to Graham

Garage Sale Months of planning together Cooking together Bonding Continuing to build trust PTA starting to think differently and be more inclusive

PIQE 1 Started with 30 people Ended with 45 people National Hispanic Foundation heard our families were trying to raise money to pay for PIQE, and donated the entire amount PIQE said they never had such a dedicated group of parents who attended all the classes

Spring Fling PTA asked if ELAC would chair the food for Spring Fling Many Latino families involved making tamales, papusas…. and sharing their skills with others Latino Student Union had students present their poetry readings

Holiday Faire Another party featuring homemade Mexican food Raising money once again for PIQE 2 Merging of many cultures

Impact of PIQE 2 PIQE 1 had 45 new parents…PIQE 2 had 45 parents They taught the parents to be “metiche” Our Latinos were no longer uninvolved They were coming to school demanding to to talk with their student’s teachers

Impact of PIQE 2 They came with questions They came to meetings They facilitated ELAC They came to help They were involved in all aspects of school Language was no longer a excuse

Why did things change? Building Relationships Earning Trust Being purposefully inclusive Changing mindsets Parent Education Working together

How did we accomplish this? It began with a dream… “ A dream doesn’t become reality through magic, it takes sweat, determination and hard work.’ ~ Colin Powell

Changing the World “Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” ~Harriet Tubman

Our Journey continues… This is the 5th year of our journey together. Developing a culture of collaboration doing whatever it takes so that all students are successful USS Graham