Running head: ACTION PLAN 1

Planning for Access Action Plan

Rhiannon Lewis

Johns Hopkins University

Abstract

Most of my students will be first-generation college students and have never seen much outside

of the neighborhood communities in Memphis. To truly prepare them to excel in college and in

life, I must provide them opportunities and experiences that close the access gap. The Bridge

Builders COLLABORATE program would be a valuable opportunity to increase my students

access as it would help them develop confidence as leaders, communication skills, and ability to

work effectively on a team. I will launch the Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program

application process as part of my English Language Arts curriculum along with relevant Habits

of Mind.
ACTION PLAN 2

Action Plan

General Information

The Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program would be a valuable opportunity to

increase my students access as it would help them develop confidence as leaders,

communication skills, and ability to work effectively on a team. The program prepares students

to initiate and lead complex responses to issues that affect [their lives] and improve the well-

being of the entire community, (Program Overview, n.d.). Conley and McGaughy (2012) state

some of the most important skills for students to build to prepare for college and the workforce

are communication capabilities; technology proficiency; problem-solving strategies; and

flexibility, initiative, and adaptability. In the Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program,

students would learn these soft skills. By developing students with the practical skills to succeed

in college, enter the workforce, and make positive change in the community, the Bridge Builders

COLLABORATE program would increase students access to opportunity.

The intended outcome of this opportunity would be to help students develop confidence

and leadership skills as well as experience being part of a team to make change in their

community. These skills would give them a competitive advantage when applying to other

programs, organizations, colleges, and future jobs. I will know that these outcomes have been

achieved when they complete the Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program because they will

be more confident leaders in their school community, be able to communicate more effectively

with others, and take initiative to make positive change in their community.
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I am excited to connect my students to this resource because it will provide students with

the opportunity to participate in a summer program to develop their confidence as leaders,

communication skills, and ability to work effectively on a team outside of the school year.

Students will meet other students who are outside of their neighborhood community and culture,

which will be a great opportunity for students to explore multicultural perspectives. The

COLLABORATE program also provides ongoing workshops during the school year, which

would be a great extracurricular activity for students to continue to grow their self-confidence,

leadership, and communication skills.

I think this resource will spark interest, passion, and motivation in my students because

they enjoy group work and project-based learning which is largely how the Bridges

COLLABORATE programming is designed. My students are passionate about growing as

leaders and participating in hands-on activities, so the COLLABORATE program would be a

great fit for them. Participating in teams, building confidence, and critical thinking skills in the

COLLABORATE program will transfer into the classroom as they will exemplify these skills in

class too. With confidence to lead teams and consider different perspectives, the students who

participate in the COLLABORATE program will be more motivated to rise as positive leaders in

the classroom.

Statement of Purpose

My classroom vision and goals would be served because my goal is for students to make positive

change in the world by learning more about it. By participating in the Bridge Builders

COLLABORATE program, students would learn more about the problems in their community

and develop the skills to make positive change through first-hand experience.
ACTION PLAN 4

Action Steps

Step 1: Introducing Bridge Builders COLLABORATE to students and families.

Present introductory information about the Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program to

students.
Organize a Bridge Builders representative to come speak to students about the program.
Familiarize myself with the Bridge Builders COLLABORATE application.
Send home a newsletter about the Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program, get

consent from parents for students to apply, and get parental information that will help

students complete the information required in the application.

Step 2: Explicitly teach students about relevant habits and mindsets necessary to be successful

Bridge Builder COLLABORATE participants that they would refine in the program through

several mini-lessons. Cooper and Jenson (2009) state there needs to be a process for [Habits of

Mind] to be explicitly integrated into the delivery of the curriculum and used in every lesson and

in every activity. As a reading teacher, I can effectively integrate most Habits of Mind into my

curriculum as we study character. Using the vocabulary of Habits of Mind in discussing

character development will help raises these habits to the consciousness level (Cooper and

Jenson, 2009). The Habits of Mind I will prioritize incorporating into my reading curriculum

over the next few weeks are persisting, thinking flexibly, listening with understanding and

empathy, thinking interdependently, and striving for accuracy.

Habit of Mind: Persisting

Rationale: Persisting will be an important quality for my students as participants in the Bridge

Builders COLLABORATE program because at times it may be difficult to work with people that
ACTION PLAN 5

are unfamiliar on tasks that are difficult, but it is important that they see the program through

completion to realize the benefits of the program.

Curricular Connection: The main characters in A Long Walk to Water go through many

difficult journeys and hardships, so the language of persisting can be easily applied to the

characters in the story and in nearly every lesson. I will introduce the idea of persisting through a

vocabulary Do Now and have students continue to use it to describe the characters in A Long

Walk to Water. I will also narrate students showing persistence themselves in class.

Habit of Mind: Thinking Flexibly

Rationale: As Bridge Builders COLLABORATE program participants, my students must

consider the perspectives of others to achieve the best solutions. When original plans do not

work, they must consider alternatives.

Curricular Connection: In A Long Walk to Water, the characters are faced with many difficult

situations. An important quality of the characters is that they think flexibly and try different

solutions to overcome their difficulties. Because thinking flexibly may be an abstract concept for

students, I will want to have them do an activity that will require them to think flexibly and

consider alternatives when the first attempt did not work. This will allow them to better

empathize with the characters of A Long Walk to Water when they have to think flexibly.

Habit of Mind: Listening with Understanding and Empathy

Rationale: As Bridge Builders COLLABORATE participants, students will meet people from

different backgrounds. To appreciate the backgrounds and cultures of others, students must learn

to listen with understanding and empathy.

ACTION PLAN 6

Curricular Connection: The characters of A Long Walk to Water endure very challenging

situations, so students must learn about their experiences and empathize with these characters to

truly understand what they are going through. I will explicitly teach what empathy is and have

students analyze for ways the author of A Long Walk to Water helps the reader empathize with

them.

Habit of Mind: Thinking Interdependently

Rationale: As Bridge Builders COLLABORATE participants, students will have to work with

others and think interdependently.

Curricular Connection: One of the main characters of A Long Walk to Water has to work with

others in his survival, so I will make this curricular connection to thinking interdependently clear

to students. Students work in groups frequently in my class, so I will narrate the importance of

thinking interdependently with teammates.

Step 3: Explicitly teach students how participating in Bridge Builders COLLABORATE

connects to classroom goal of making a positive change in the community. Baynes (2009)

presents the idea that it is important that students construct their own vision as to what they

want to get out of their education. As I have framed my vision and goals for students to become

positive community changers, I should push them to create their own unique visions as they

relate to their own personal goals. I will have them reflect on how the Habits of Mind we cover

relate to their own goals. I will push students to reflect on how participating in the Bridge

Builders COLLABORATE program will help them achieve their vision for their education and

future.
ACTION PLAN 7

Step 4: Have parents/guardians and students provide a list of all awards or honors the student

received as well all community service, clubs, and sports that student has been involved in.

Step 5: Plan at 3-5 lessons around drafting Bridge Builders COLLABORATE application essay:

What does it mean to be a Bridge Builder? If selected, what would you contribute to the Bridge

Builders program? What would you hope to gain?

Step 6: Obtain Parent/Guardian information for application submission and agreement to Bridge

Builders Parent/Guardian Agreement.

Step 7: Students will ask and receive contact information from necessary number of references

for the application.

Step 8: Complete and submit online application in class.

What Informed My Plan

The modules resources informed my plan for launching the Bridge Builders

COLLABORATE application to students because it made me reflect on the habits and mindsets

that my students need to be familiar with and embody to be competitive applicants for the

program and to be successful in college and life. Costa and Kallick (2009) state that the goal for

education is to create a critical, discerning, and creative citizenship for the future of

democracy, and teaching students the Habits of Mind help achieve that goal. The Bridge

Builders COLLABORATE program will certainly refine certain Habits of Mind in students, but

my students will be able to thrive within the program if they already have exposure and
ACTION PLAN 8

familiarity to them. The more they thrive within the program, the greater the benefit in the long-

term.

My exploration of access resources informed my plan because I wanted a program that

put responsibility on students to highlight their accomplishments and put together a thoughtful

application to simulate what they will have to do when they must apply to college. Other access

resources I explored mostly required teachers to organize things for students, but the Bridge

Builders COLLABORATE program places responsibility on students to seek the opportunity and

articulate why they would be a great candidate for the program.

My feedback from colleagues informed by plan because they pushed me to try to get a

speaker from Bridge Builders to actually speak to students to invest them in the program. I had

not considered that before, but I think it would be a great launch activity for students to hear

from someone in the actual organization rather than just through me.

Evaluating Success

I will evaluate the success of my plan by the following measures.

100% of students will be able to explain how participating in the Bridge Builders

COLLABORATE program will further their educational and career goals.

100% of my students will submit a complete application by the deadline.
Freedom Prep rising seventh graders are selected to participate in Bridge Builders

COLLABORATE program.
Freedom Prep rising seventh graders participate in Bridge Builders COLLABORATE

program.
ACTION PLAN 9

References

Baynes, D. (2009). Habits of Mind and a journey into student-initiated learning. In A. L. Costa &

B. Kallick (Eds.), Habits of Mind across the curriculum: Practical and creative

strategies for teachers (pp. 194205). Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Conley, D. T., & McGaughy, C. (2012). College and career readiness: Same or

different? Educational Leadership, 69(7), 2834.

Cooper, A., & Jenson, G. (2009). Practical processes for teaching Habits of Mind. In A. L. Costa

& B. Kallick (Eds.), Habits of Mind across the curriculum: Practical and creative

strategies for teacher (pp. 1735). Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and

Curriculum Development (ASCD).

Costa & B. Kallick (Eds.), Habits of mind across the curriculum: Practical and creative

strategies for teachers (pp. 213218). Retrieved

from https://smartjaguar.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/habits-of-mind-across-the-

curriculum.pdf.

Program Overview. (n.d.) Bridges USA. Retrieved from http://bridgesusa.org/youth-

programs/bridge-builders-collaborate/program-overview/