Find A Tree School Plan - Microsoft



Find A Tree School Plan

By Daniel Armstrong

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6230 Wilshire Boulevard #45

Los Angeles, California 90048

Telephone: 1-866-Find-A-Tree (346-3287)

Email: Info@

Web:

Background

Daniel Armstrong worked for two years in Ghana, West Africa pursuing business and development projects. While there, in addition to his own business activities, he worked with youths coaching basketball and helping them to establish their own businesses. Two of those youths, a set of twin brothers, dreamed of having a school of their own. However, they had no resources or facilities. Armstrong advised them to “find a tree and start their school there.” These young teachers soon had nearly 100 students coming to their school under a tree. Seeing their success, a businessman in the community gave them a new building to use as their school. Thus, the Find A Tree program was created.

Testimonials

After two quarters in the Find A Tree program, students from Roosevelt High in the Boyle Heights community of Los Angeles experienced a 34% drop in failing grades and a 44% percent improvement in their GPAs. Compiled by Mr. Gus Reynoso

Teacher

Roosevelt High School

Los Angeles, California

“[Find A Tree] is the most effective day-to-day program I’ve seen in terms of encouraging students to develop meaningful goals and then relating the importance of education to achievement of those goals.” 

Mr. Randy Fong

Teacher

Roosevelt High School

Los Angeles, California

“Find A Tree is a program for anybody seeking to excite, engage and motivate students and have them succeed.”

Dr. Yolanda Rangel

Assistant Principal

                Santee Education Complex

“The goal of the Advisory was to extend our school wide vision of personalization and building relationships with our students into our homeroom classes.

[The Find A Tree] program went far beyond that expectation.”

                       

Mr. Ronald Steele

                            Principal

Pio Pico Span School

“[Find A Tree] has a very grounding and motivating force to help students master their academic subjects.”

Ms. Wanda Szeremeta

Teacher

Manual Arts HS

"The Find A Tree Program encourages the student to exam his or her aspirations. By learning the guiding principles presented in the program, the student begins to dream of possibilities, create real life projects, develop responsibility and take ownership of his or her future endeavors."

|  | |

| |Beverly Silverstein |

| |Teacher/training magnet coordinator |

| |Crenshaw High School |

| |Los Angeles, California |

“La Cresha [was]… a borderline student with unacceptable classroom behavior…. La Cresha has become a more motivated and on-task student. Her behavior has improved as her grade in my class. She has begun to put in the effort and time required to be a good student, knowing that she needs to do well in school to do well in life…. The difference is visible and, hopefully, long lasting.”

Gloria Pepin

Science teacher

Dorsey High School

Los Angeles, California

“The Find A Tree program has rekindled in my students the ability to once again dream and believe in themselves.”

Miriam Broadnex

Life skills teacher

Johnson Community Day School

Los Angeles, California

“[The] Find A Tree program offer[s] to young people in and from disadvantaged circumstances tangible hope and pragmatic strategies for acquiring empowering life-skills and achieving success through self-analysis, self-possession, self-determination, and self-discipline.”

                               

Mr. Ron Davis

Teacher

Roosevelt High School

Los Angeles, California

“Never in my 32 years of teaching and counseling have I experienced self-esteem raising results in adolescents in such a short period of time.”

Ms. Patricia Baylis

Counselor

Roosevelt High School

Los Angeles, California

Aim and Purpose

The aim and purpose of the Find A Tree School Plan is to raise student academic performance and decrease the dropout rate. By connecting academic classes and service learning projects to students’ dreams will cause students to take ownership of their education and put forth the required effort to improve academically and graduate.

Outcomes

9th Grade

• All students will complete the following:

• Identify their talents and interests

• Determine a dream (a purpose for being in school)

• Write an education plan outlining actions student will take to improve grades & graduate

• Develop awareness of character and the Find A Tree Principles (see page 9)

• Learn time-management

• Research about the area of their dream

10th Grade

• Write a research paper on a topic related to their career dream.

• Improve attitude toward school

• Decrease behavior issues

• Improve academic effort

11th Grade

• Write a plan of action for service learning project which will embody students’ dreams.

• Start service learning project

• Complete community service project

• Improve overall academic performance

• Improve attendance

• On track to graduate

12th Grade

• Intern with an agency or organization in the area of student’s dream

• Research post secondary education opportunities in area of student’s dream

• Meet with a mentor who works in the same industry as the students’ dream

• Improve overall academic performance

• Mentor 9th grade student

The Process

Teacher and Staff Professional Development

Teachers and staff members will be introduced to Find A Tree through professional development workshops. Participants will know how to motivate students to achieve. Teachers and staff members will determine their dream in the field of education and will use the Find A Tree Principles to realize their own dream.

“How to Live Your Dreams” Motivational Assemblies

Daniel Armstrong and representatives from Homeboy Industries who are in the Find A Tree program will speak to students about living their dreams and making changes in their lives.

Life Skills Class

Students will begin the processes of self discovery and determining their dream in their Life Skills class. Students will be introduced to the Find A Tree Principles and guided on how to explore their interests and connect their dream to their education.

Advisory Periods

Students will similar interests will form an advisory period along with a teacher who shares that interest. Advisory periods will learn the Find A Tree Principles through the Find A Tree Advisory Period Curriculum. Students will form Dream Teams will other members of their advisory period. Dream Teams will work collaboratively on researching their dreams and doing service learning projects. Dream Teams will be encouraged to form academic study groups as well.

Students will write an education plan outlining actions student will take to improve grades and graduate.

Advisory period teachers will be provided Find A Tree DVDs to support the process of teaching the Find A Tree curriculum.

An interactive Find A Tree web site will provide students further support in pursuing their dreams.

Teachers will work from the book “How to Live Your Dreams: Find A Tree and Get Started” and the Find A Tree curriculum. The book content will be on-line.

Research

Students will write a research paper on their dream.

Service Learning Project

While many schools, including the Los Angeles Unified School District, require service learning projects in order to graduate, in order to motivate students and to enable them to gain greater exposure to their field of interests, students will implement projects which embody their dreams. Students will be responsible for designing, planning and implementing their project.

Interact Clubs

Interact Clubs, an activity of the Rotary Clubs of America, will recruit students who take an interest in taking further steps toward their dream. These students— the Pioneers—will meet regularly as a group and under the guidance of the club’s faculty advisor.

Rotary Clubs will sponsor Find A Tree books for Pioneers. Pioneers who complete their research paper will have the opportunity to meet professionals who work in field of their dream. These meetings will be arranged in collaboration with the Rotary.

Guest Speakers

Collaborating with t Rotary, guest speakers will be invited to campus to meet with students.

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The Principles

1. Identify what you are Passionate about, your Interests, Talents and Gifts

2. Determine your Dream: Find A Tree and Get Started

3. Explore Life

4. Nurture your Dream with Knowledge

5. Empower Yourself

6. Be Willing to March into Hell

7. Build the Trust of Others

8. Embrace Struggle

9. Sometimes You Just have to Have Faith

10. Create Opportunities through Service

11. Value People

12. Plan, Prioritize and Manage your Time

13. Distinguish Yourself with Excellence

14. Understand the Process: From a Seed to a Tree

15. Tap into Your Creative Genius

16. You will Achieve what you Expect and Try

17. Lead Yourself

18. Start a Business

19. Work in Harmony with Universal Law (There is no Santa Claus)

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