Providing Access to Opportunity

Assignment Name: Planning for Access—Part 2: Resource Selection

Due: by the end of Week 3
Part A: Identify Two Additional Resources
Based on your continued investigation this week, identify two additional resources that
hold potential for your students.
Name and all contact information (personnel, phone, e-mail, website, network leads,
etc.):
a. Why might this be a valuable opportunity to increase your students’ access?
b. What specific strategies will you use to bring this resource to your students?
(e.g., have the principal make the initial phone call, visit the store manager
personally, have students write invites to the author, partner with a school parent,
search your TFA network to see if anyone knows the team’s coach)
c. What are your intended outcomes for this activity? How will you know they have
been achieved? How will your classroom goals and vision for your students be
served?
d. Are there possible roadblocks or considerations that are evident already?

Additional Resources
Resource 1: Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Midweek Education Concerts
Potential Access Resources
Personnel: Katie Brill, Education Programs Coordinator
Phone: 410-783-8000
e-mail: educationtickets@BSOmusic.org
website: https://www.bsomusic.org/education-community/programs-for-
schools/midweek-education-concerts/#tab-21119
a. My students have limited exposure to art in schools, despite our location being
a block away from the American Museum of Visionary Arts. We have one
music teacher and one art teacher on staff, which does little to mitigate the
trauma our students’ experience. Being culturally responsive means that
students need to feel their culture being valued within their traditional learning
environments (InTime, n.d.). The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Midweek
Education Concert includes a program, Baltimore Voices, which combines
mainstream culture and Hip Hop. Experiences such as visiting the Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra will allow students to transition out of the traditional
learning environment better, in preparation for entering college or professional
workspaces (Conley & McGaughy, 2012).
b. Our school recently received $5,000 in grants to bolster student learning and
many staff members are looking to spend it on field trips. Going on this field trip
will be as simple as teaming up with other STEAM teachers to get them on
board with this trip and submitting our request on the Baltimore Symphony
Orchestra Midweek Education Concerts website. However, the key is to
identify students that they want to come on this field trip so that they can take
part of the planning process. Administrators will be more willing to allow
students to attend a field trip if they see that students are willing and able to
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Additional Resources
subsidize the cost.
c. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s Baltimore Voices program is specific to
Baltimore and focuses on elevating the organic types of speech and voices
that students are use to. My students tend to see mainstream culture as
‘phony’ and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra will challenge their idea by
combining classical music with rap. My goal here is to expand their
multicultural experience because our curriculum does not reflect their primary
culture (InTime, n.d.). Having a diverse learning experience will open students’
minds up for more interconnectivity between contents and cultures (Conley &
McGaughy, 2012). I will be able to measure their receptiveness to different
cultures by evaluating their professionalism after the field trip. On their
professionalism, I measure characteristics such as respect and responsibility.
d. I am concerned about this program’s relativity to math, even though it does
target high school STEM subjects. I am concerned about recruiting students
who are going to be able to appreciate the experience and who are willing to
pay for their own ticket. I want to students to be able to present a project on
this trip, related to math, but I am unsure of how this trip is academically
relevant.
Resource 2: Guest Speaker: Thomas J. Stosur, Director of Baltimore City Department
of Planning
Potential Access Resources
Personnel: Thomas J. Stosur, Director of Baltimore City Department of Planning
Phone: (410) 396-7526
e-mail: deptofplanning@baltimorecity.gov
website: https://planning.baltimorecity.gov/contact-planning-dept
a. Many of my students remain in Baltimore after graduating high school and I
think that they can use their experience to their advantage by learning about
how they can actively improve their city. Most of my students feel connected to
their communities and listening to how others have attempted to improve the
circumstances will allow students to think about what they can contribute
(Sethi, 2009). Many of my students live in impoverished neighborhoods and I
want them to look at their situations from a structural perspective through a
critical lens. Thomas Stosur has worked in Baltimore City’s Department of
Planning for the past eighteen years, long enough to witness the deterioration
and uprising of a city. It will be important for my students to learn about the
geographic history of their city and I am hoping that it is a transformative and
engaging one (InTime, n.d.). In addition, my students need reminders; from
beyond the people they see everyday, to emphasize the importance of school
and working hard.
b. I am going to reach out to parents, past students, and administrators, who I
have a relationship with; to see if there is anyone that has ties to the
Department of Planning. I can also reach out into my TFA network, since this
network is more established than I am. My ultimate goal is to get someone who
works at City Hall, grew up in Baltimore, and has an interest in math, in a
personal or professional capacity to speak with my students about how the

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community has transformed in the past several decades and what students
can do about it.
c. My intended outcome for this activity is to broaden students’ knowledge of the
possibilities that exist beyond the classroom. City planning directly relates to
Geometry because it deals with infrastructure and having Thomas Stosur talk
about the impact of living near major roadways or changing a bus route can get
students to think about how their lives are impacted by math. For this activity, I
am going to return students’ projects that required them to map out their
favorite places in Baltimore and I am going to have students redesign a portion
of their community under specific Geometric guidelines. This assignment will
demonstrate their knowledge of Geometry vocabulary as well as apply their
knowledge of city planning. This ultimately contributes to their sense of being
able to achieve academically and set aspirations for themselves (Farr, 2010). I
will know that guest speakers are providing them access when they begin
setting long and short term goals, such as passing Geometry and attending
coach class every week. By setting incremental goals, students will be able to
clearly measure the distance they need to go to reach their big goal (Farr,
2010). I want students to develop their vision of Baltimore City and to create
opportunities for others that are currently absent. This serves my classroom
goals and vision because it pushes students to think about learning beyond the
confines of school (Adams, 2013).
d. I am new to Baltimore City and I do not have a large network outside of my
school and education. I am unsure about whether professionals will want to
visit my classroom due to the reputation of my high school. I know that I am
looking for a person that my students are going to relate well to and I think that
I am going to struggle in finding the time to bring in a speaker due to the fast
pace of the curriculum. I know that this experience will be beneficial for my
students, but I think that the majority of them will appreciate a speaker coming
into class for the wrong reasons.

Part B: Make Your Selection

Of the five resources you have researched (three from Part 1—Initial Exploration and
the two additional resources identified above), select one that you will use to provide
access for your students and for which you will develop an Action Plan for Part 3 of this
Assessment. With this resource in mind, complete the following:

Resource Selection
Identify the resource: GEAR UP
State your reasons for your selection:
GEAR UP (Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate
Programs) provides the most direct and stable access to college for my students. Its
funding offers students the opportunity to visit colleges, listen to guest speakers, obtain
a mentor and tutor, SAT and college application help, and access to financial
scholarships. As one of the five teachers on the GEAR UP team at my school, I have
the ability to plan events for my students that are tailored to their interests and
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Resource Selection
experiences. Having autonomy to utilize GEAR UP resources, specific to Digital Harbor
High School students’ needs, will produce results that none of the other resources can
because of GEAR UP wider net and financial support.

Providing access to GEAR UP means that students can receive academic help,
financial aid, and social support through their college application process. Without
GEAR UP, students would not have access to a single organization that provided this
amount of care and long-term assistance. GEAR UP prefaces the popular college and
career ready theme of junior and senior year and levels the playing field for many of our
low-income students (Conley & McGaughy, 2012; Farr, 2010). In the classroom,
students will increase their academic results because they will understand the
correlation between hard work and higher grades better.
What excites you about connecting your students to this resource?
I’m excited about GEAR UP because it provides tremendous access for my students.
Some of the additional funding will be going towards GEAR UP uniforms, for students
who are a part of the program. Aside from the Digital Harbor High School uniforms that
students are required to wear, GEAR UP uniforms will be permitted. This will raise
enthusiasm for students who want to or are applying to colleges. This is important
because our school has always waited until senior year to visibly focus on college
applications, so I am very excited for this change in pace.

How do you think this resource will spark interest, passion, and motivation in your
students?
For one, students will be ecstatic to find out that they will not have to wear their normal
uniforms, but that they will be able to showcase one of their extracurricular activities. I
think that certain students will be more than happy to be in a leadership position and to
become mentors or coaches for younger students. Their time would be compensated
for service hours and the student leadership aspect would be set up to replicate student
organization structures at colleges. This leadership group will teach students
communication and organizational skills and will refine students’ ability to reflect on their
leadership approach (Adams, 2013; Sethi, 2009). The relationships they build will push
them to improve their work ethic and share their knowledge with one another.

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Resources
Adams, C. J. (2013). Internships help students prepare for workplace: Job shadowing

also a tactic schools use for career readiness. Education Week,32(19), 8.

Baltimore Symphony Orchestra Midweek Education Concerts. (2017). Retrieved

October 27, 2017, from https://www.bsomusic.org/education-

community/programs-for-schools/midweek-education-concerts#tab-21126

Baltimore City Department of Planning. (2017). Retrieved October 27, 2017, from

https://planning.baltimorecity.gov/contact-planning-dept

Farr, S. (2010). Teaching as leadership: The highly effective teacher's guide to closing

the achievement gap. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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

different? Educational Leadership, 69(7), 28–34.

Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs (GEAR UP).

(2017, March 22). Retrieved October 22, 2017, from

https://www2.ed.gov/programs/gearup/index.html

InTime. (n.d.). Culturally responsive teaching. Retrieved July 22, 2016,

from http://www.intime.uni.edu/multiculture/curriculum/culture/teaching.htm

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Sethi, K. B. (2009). Kiran Bir Sethi teaches kids to take charge [Video file]. Retrieved

from https://www.ted.com/talks/kiran_bir_sethi_teaches_kids_to_take_charge?ut

m_source=tedcomshare&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=tedspread

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