Problem:

 Students are not often provided the opportunity for leadership within their classroom in which they can engage their classmates and teacher. Additionally, students are often not afforded opportunities to reflect and process their goals and aspirations.

Solution:

Matt created the Daily Student Inspiration Project which asked students to provide a two-part presentation to the class on something that inspired them. The first part consisted of a video, quote, song, or personal experience that inspired them and why. The second part consisted of engaging the class with a thought-provoking, open-ended question.

Problem & Root Cause:

Miami Gardens currently has a poverty rate of 21.5% which is inextricably tied with heightened rates of food insecurity in this community. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has only exasperated these rates. In addition, 100% of Joseph's students are on free or reduced lunch. Sometimes, students fail to eat breakfast or lunch which oftentimes affects their overall health and energy. 

Solution: 

Joseph start a community garden at school to start growing nutritious produce for students and their families. Additionally, the garden serves to educate our student body on healthy living and environmental sustainability. A group of students come every Thursday after school and every Saturday morning to water, weed, harvest, and manage the garden. Since the start in December of 2020, they have harvested on 10+ different occasions, sending home enough produce for 30+ families.  

Problem & Root Cause:

There is an absence of a functioning library to serve its 800+ students at Sierra's school. While the school physically has two large libraries, because of funding issues, the libraries are not functioning and instead serve as computer labs and textbook storage rooms. 

Solution:

Sierra created a school-wide book club that would both encourage and challenge students to become better readers and find joy in reading. She built a learning community where students could feel safe to express themselves and think critically when connecting themes in the texts to their lived experiences.

Problem & Root Cause:

Latinx students represent a great portion of the school population and do not have a cohesive outlet for cultural pride or a safe space to share experiences as immigrants and first generation students. 

Solution:

In order to create community and help my students deal with the traumas they may face, Elizabeth started a club called “Latinos Unidos”. The club meets via Zoom and in-person to support each other and develop relationships with others who share similar experiences. The club has started a Cultural Art Wall project in which students are able to exhibit their cultures through a canvas painting and verbal description that will hang in the Magnet Wing for years to come!

Problem and Root Cause:

This school year exacerbated an existing lack of socioemotional support as students faced new challenges due to the pandemic.  Teachers needed resources to equip students with tools proactively, and to respond to students' concerns in the moment. 

Solution: 

Breanna created a research-based, 15-topic modular resilience resource website to develop resilience in upper elementary and middle school students. These resources can be utilized as a full resilience program or drawn from to respond to specific student needs. The program is based on the three major components of resilience: sense of mastery, emotional regulation, and sense of connection. 

Problem and Root Cause:

According to the Pew Research Center, less than 10% of STEM professionals identify as BIPOC. Representation and exposure to young BIPOC scholars is the key to unlocking opportunities.

Solution:

Paulina founded and initiated an introduction to a coding club at her school designed for younger elementary students. The club offers exposure to coding through Kodable, an online and mobile platform for students to learn coding fundamentals and content. The second component of the club included a Guest Speaker Series where BIPOC guest speakers from various STEM fields (Youtube Video Producer, Reef Product Designer, Facebook Data Scientist, etc) answered questions about their work.

Problem & Root Cause:

There is a lack of youth-centered voice and action in classrooms. As such, there is a need to decenter teachers as barriers to student's education.

Solution: 

Sebastian set out to find ways to let students lead and move from towards a facilitation approach to teaching. This disrupts the banking model of education where many teachers across the country still teach with the mindset that we “fill empty vessels with knowledge.” Our students are not empty vessels, they have so much knowledge as they enter the classroom. Building critical consciousness in students is vital for motivation and engagement. Sebastian did this by exposing students to aspects of history that are not taught in the US curriculum, like focusing on the Haitian Revolution. 

Problem & Root Cause:

Miami students don't have access to learning and mentorship opportunities that focus on 21st century skills such as: networking, finance, and applying for post-secondary opportunities. 

Solution:
Alexis launched a fully functioning virtual mentorship program over a span of 8-business days called "Miami Students of Tomorrow." The group generated and executed a child-proof marketing plan and cross-collaborated with Brownsville administration for proper implementation.  This program was conceptualized with the hopes of providing Brownsville Middle School students with an extra layer of support throughout their matriculation. The program will be conducted using an online mentorship platform called iCouldBe and will consist of various topics that support students achievement. 

Problem and Root Cause:

Students do not always have the space to name and understand their feelings or to understand the impact of their actions in their formative years, especially when they have caused harm. The continuation of the current disciplinary system used in many schools contributes to the school to prison pipeline.

Solution:

Victoria implemented Social and Emotional Learning lessons and community circles in her homeroom class. Restorative justice circles were utilized when an issue between students arose. When the project launched, students had very minimal understanding of the six basic emotions, as evidenced by their performance on the diagnostic assessment. As the children progressed, students used more complex words and gave longer responses when addressing their emotional state. Students were able to name their emotions and voice how others may feel in certain situations.

Problem & Root Cause:

As a first year teacher, Nayida noticed her students struggle with reading comprehension and a short attention span with certain texts. It made sense then that their Florida Standard Assessment scores were in the bottom 25th percentile. Even when students could verbally demonstrate their understanding of the content, their scores suffered because of their poor literacy practices.

Solution:

Nayida worked with a group of students to read Angie Thomas’s "The Hate U Give", focusing on their comprehension and ability to read long texts.  An ideal reading selection because students were familiar with the story, they were able to fall back on a movie if they needed assistance interpreting the plot, and it would allow an opportunity to discuss broader and current social issues that students were interested in. Students worked up from reading two chapters the week to six chapters a week. They were able to hold in depth discussions that included plot, tone, character development, symbolism and motifs, and of course society and race relations. They also participated in a literary analysis and Q and A with a local Miami author.    

Problem & Root Cause:

Students are not always given the space to explore and develop their own civic engagement and participation in the classroom. 

Solution:

Derek set his students up to discuss issues on a recorded podcast and tasked 11th grade students with writing a letter to their elected officials. As such, students explored their own socio-political conscious by researching an issue of interest to them, and developing and proposing solutions to address that issue.

Problem & Root Cause:

Typically, there is not much time during school dedicated to exploring current societal issues. Students are expected to engage in “bell to bell” instruction without the opportunity to build community.

Solution: 

In order to build community and explore societal issues with students, Bianka implemented a 15 minute segment at the end of class called “Philosophy Fridays”. During this time, students engage with a broad question about any issue or are asked to share something specific about themselves, following a restorative justice circle structure.

Problem & Root Cause:

Students in Miami lack the hands on opportunities to learn about science, there's high teacher turnover, and students don't have culturally relevant ways of connecting to the curriculum. 

Solution: 

STEMpowerment is an after school STEM enrichment club for 6th-8th grade students at Horace Mann Middle School. At meetings, students have the opportunity to engage in STEM activities and topics that are not always supported by the Florida science curriculum, including coding, computer literacy, hands-on experiments, and STEM college and career readiness. The goal of this program is to instill and cultivate interest in STEM fields in our students, while providing additional opportunities for learning, discovery, and inspiration outside of the classroom.

Problem & Root Cause:

The pandemic hit Shyla's school culture hard. Student’s academic, social, and emotional gains were being overshadowed by a sole focus on academic progression when reopening for instruction.

Solution: 

At the classroom level, Shyla implemented an incentive program to engage students and create a positive environment. She recognizes, acknowledges and rewards student actions and behavior while uplifting the school culture through boosting student confidence and motivation.

Root Cause:

Students are growing up in a world threatened by climate change and are not being equipped with the tools to live sustainably and conserve their environment. This is especially important in a place like Miami where the effects of the changing climate are already being felt.

Solution:

Joe approached sustainability and conservation through two phases: education and action. He implemented a short lecture series in his classes focusing on what conservation is and why it matters in the context of climate change. For the action phase, students will create and maintain a “Native Species Garden” at school that preserves species native to South Florida.