Recommended reading
At the Minority Affairs Conference
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, August 26th, 2008
The Minority Affairs Conference was held this year on Aug 12 and 13 at KahNeeta. This conference is an annual event for educators (mostly teachers attended this year) who work with minority students. This summer, people came from all around the state to learn from one another and be inspired by experts in the field of equity, teaching and learning and social justice. Click here to learn more, and see a video about the conference
I attended the conference, and presented there too, with Patricia Martinez, former principal and Executive Director for the Oregon Council of Hispanic Advancement (OCHA). We offered two presentations of our talk, The Third R: Strong Relationships Help Keep Kids in School and Achieving. These were a great opportunity for both Patricia and I to share stories about how building relationships can make a difference with kids at risk of dropping out of school, and ALSO with coworkers, parents and members of the community. The stories we told, and the stories shared in the workshops illustrated the power of connecting with the people in our community, and the positive difference that even something as simple as a smile can make.
If you have stories about relationships – both good and bad – and how they affected your willingness to stay in school, your desire to teach or work with kids, or your sense of yourself, please share them on this blog. Experience and research shows that, for many of us, it’s the stories that we hear and read that inspire us to work harder to help kids (and they help us to understand ourselves better too.)
During our talks, Patricia listed several resources that teachers in the classroom, and mentors who work with culturally diverse kids can use to extend their learning about how to work with kids and families from diverse cultures. These are some of the suggestions.
If you attended the conference, and/or, if you have ideas for resources (books, speakers, websites, etc.) that teachers and mentors can use to learn more about subjects such as Cultural Competence, Social Justice and How to Bring Family and Community into the Schools and learning community, please add your ideas to the list by clicking the COMMENT button below.
Building Culturally Responsive Classrooms: A Guide for K-6 Teachers
By Concha Delgado-Gaitan
Published by Corwin Press, 2006
ISBN 141292619X, 9781412926195
166 pages
http://books.google.com/books?id=_aCWtZmBFSUC
Con Respeto: Bridging the Distances Between Culturally Diverse Families and Schools: An Ethnographic Portrait (Paperback) by Guadalupe Valdes
http://www.amazon.com/Con-Respeto-Distances-Culturally-Ethnographic/dp/0807735264
Alma Flor Ada (San Francisco State Univ)
http://www.almaflorada.com/
This website shows the collection of work by the extremely talented and prolific writer. There are books, resources and learning opportunities on the site.
Topics: Recommended Resources, Creating a Positive, Recommended reading | No Comments »
Multicultural Resources: When you need something to read
By Tobi Kibel Piatek | Tuesday, May 20th, 2008
Teachers, SMART volunteers, parents and mentors often ask me “what’s a good book to read with my kids?” Now, I not only have a great list of books to add to my recommendations, but a lovely magazine too.
The magazine is Skipping Stones, an International Multicultural publication for youth that “encourages communication, cooperation, creativity and celebration of cultural and environmental richness.” Founded in 1988, Skipping Stones is award-winning resource in multicultural education, designed to provide “a playful forum for sharing ideas and experiences among youth from different countries and cultures.”
Each issue contains stories, articles and photos from all over the world, as well as book reviews, news, and a guide for parents and teachers. Non-English writings are accompanied by English translations to encourage the learning of other languages.
Skipping Stones publishes bimonthly during the school year. Click here for subscription information.
In addition, every year, Skipping Stones recognizes exceptional books and teaching resources that “encourage an understanding of the world’s diverse cultures, as well as nature and ecological richness. The selection promotes cooperation, nonviolence, respect for differing viewpoints, and close relationships in human societies.”
So, looking for something to read this summer? Start with the 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Awards – a list of 26 books for different ages, reading levels and interests. Click here for the 2008 winners list.
To view past lists of recommended books click here.
One more thing, Skipping Stones invites submissions from young writers. Click here to learn more about their entry guidelines for Youth Honor Awards.
WHAT ARE YOU READING WITH YOUR KIDS? Please share your recommendations for books and publications that you like. Tell us why?
Topics: Recommended reading, Resources for Teacher, Culturally Competent, Resources for Mentor | No Comments »
National Mentoring Center Resources
By Michael Garringer | Monday, May 19th, 2008
Hello to everyone on the Making Connections blog… Tobi suggested that I take a minute to let all of you know about some of the great resources available to you from the National Mentoring Center, located in Portland, OR.
The NMC is a federally-funded project that provides training and technical assistance to youth mentoring programs across the country. Most of our materials are written for program coordinators and other staff members, but we do have some resources that are written for mentors and others working directly with youth.
We have a wealth of free downloadable publications on our site, everything from training guides and handbooks for new mentors to evaluation tools and sustainability planning workbooks. You can view these resources here:
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/nmc_pubs.php.
We also have a lending library of materials for those running programs or working directly with youth. Lots of great resources on youth development, program models, and training curriculum for volunteers. You can borrow materials via the interlibrary loan services of your local public library (or university library if you have access to one). You can search the collection online here:
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/library.php.
We also have a great selection of links to other mentoring resources and toolkits, so for any of you who are working in mentoring or tutoring programs, feel free to poke around the rest of the website at:
http://www.nwrel.org/mentoring/index.php
If you have any questions about our services or resources, you can contact me at the numbers/addresses below.
Michael Garringer
Resource Advisor/Web Designer
National Mentoring Center
101 S.W. Main Street, suite 500
Portland, OR 97204
503.275.9647
www.nwrel.org/mentoring
garringm@nwrel.org
Topics: Recommended reading, Resources for Mentor | No Comments »
my motivation
By Kevin Truong | Thursday, April 10th, 2008
*one night in 1981 my mom got in a fishing boat.
it was rickety i’m sure. i imagine the wood was rotting, the paint was flaking, patterns were left as the coating began to peel, and chip, and crack. the swelter of the south east asian heat. by any standards, not a safe vessel. it had a motor, but definitely not anything any rational minded person would feel safe using for a voyage across the south china sea. but, funny thing, when you’ve spent the day hiding in tall grasses, waiting for the night, the dark, about to flee a country–a life, the only life you’ve ever known–rationality tends to be trumped by fear, fear by desperation, and desperation by the only way to make it through it all–hope.
so my mom, with two young daughters and pregnant with me, got in that fishing boat with a couple dozen other refugees and headed out into the water. headed out towards that hope.
* and i’m thinking at that moment, i really didn’t have a care in the world. i was twenty-four years old, about to move to new orleans, spending a couple june weeks on a cadamaran sailing waters off the coast of hawaii, it’s pretty nice to have the luxury of believing you can do anything you want in life. i looked over across the water, and all i could see was ocean. nothing but ocean. “life’s pretty amazing,” i thought.
* but all she could see was ocean. nothing but ocean. a week and a half in a rickety fishing boat, the wood rotting, the paint flaking, patterns being made as the coating continued to peel, and chip, and crack, and all she could see was ocean. terrifying. terriying when you’ve been on that boat for a week in a half. drifting somewhere in the water between vietnam and the philippines, or maylasia. too sick to eat. two young daughters begging for food. not that there was anything to give them. pirates stole all the rice and the motor off the boat. and i’m not talking the friendly, jack sparrow, pirates of the carribbean type of pirates.
*and to be quite honest, i was a little bummed. sitting on the paramount studio back-lot, somewhere between the beaches of malibu and the theatres of sunset blvd, and for some reason i missed that casting call for pirates of the caribbean 3. the guy next to me–both of us extras for the new christopher walken flick–he got casted for it. he got to see keira knightley. and i missed the chance. “man that sucks,” i was thinking, ”that would have been a great opportunity and i missed it.”
*an opportunity. and to be sure, she was beginning to question whether it was all worth the risk. the opportunity to immigrate to america–was it worth it, to be drifting somewhere in the water between vietnam and the philippines, or maylasia, for the better part of two weeks. there had to be doubts. that hope had to have been beginning to peel, and chip, and crack. she looked out. and all she could see was ocean. nothing but ocean. and then land. she could see land and she began to cry.
***
that’s the story of my mother. inter-sliced with stories from my own life. a contrasts in the extreme danger my mother took in immigrating to america, and the luxuries that have been afforded to me because of that risk. i was born not too soon after she fled vietnam, after she got in that rickety fishing boat. in a refugee camp in malaysia, august 3rd, 1982. lived there for only eight months, before spending a childhood growing up around the mud puddles and fir trees of oregon, and then a young adulthood ‘exploring’ zipcodes outside 97236. and having been fortunate enough to have been raised in this country, for almost my entire life, it’s easy for me to mistake my circumstance as something that just is–something that just happened, not meriting much recognition because it’s just been a given that i really do believe i can accomplish anything i want in life.
but nothing just is. my life–the opportunities i have been given–every door that has been opened for me and every window cracked, are things that have been fought for. it’s all a testament to my mother, a woman who went through so much just to get me to this country, to give me opportunities, to save me from the desperation and fear she felt in a life she once had.
and that’s what motivates me. the conscious acknowledgement of every opportunity that has been given to me, not just by mother, but by everyone in my life who has ever contributed in some way to the person i’ve become. how my life is and how my life could have been, and most importantly, how my life can be. i’ve made a commitment to make good on all the fortunes i’ve been given and do my best to not just to take, but to give as well. because i know that to do otherwise would in many ways be a spit in the face of everyone who’s ever took the effort to love, care, and support me in the hopes of what can be.
if my mom can get in a rickety fishing boat, i can take some risks too. and i will 
Topics: Recommended reading, Mentor Stories | No Comments »
Youth Today Newspaper
By Lydia Brooks | Monday, March 24th, 2008
Youth Today Newspaper is a publication geared toward people doing youth work. They also have a great support website.http://youthtoday.org
Topics: Recommended reading, Mentor Stories, Culturally Competent, Resources for Mentor | No Comments »
Great speaker
By Corey Goldberg | Monday, March 17th, 2008
I recently attended a conference presented by the U.S. Department of Education, for recent grantees and their mentoring programs. I had the opportunity to sit in on a seminar with an amazing speaker. His name is Charlie Appelstein and he spoke about strenght-based mentoring. He has a website www.charliea.com and has written some books. He was one of the most engaging, humorous, and inspirational speakers I have ever heard.
Topics: Recommended reading | No Comments »