Andover Bread Loaf: City of Promise

City of Promise:

Andover Bread Loaf in Lawrence and Beyond January 2016 | Prepared for Andover Bread Loaf

by Eva Gold, Ph.D. & Elaine Simon, Ph.D.

TABLE OF CONTENTS Authors and Acknowledgements

iii-iv

Appendices

Executive Summary

v-xiv

Appendix A:

1-6

Appendix B:

Introduction Chapter 1: The Foundation for Andover Bread Loaf

i

9-22

Chapter 2: Place-Based Social Action Strategies

23-40

Chapter 3: Dual Level Change

41-66

Chapter 4: Capacity for Civic Engagement for Equity

67-78

Conclusion

80

References

81-82

Table A: Qualitative Data Collection and Analysis Tables B & C: Participation and Activities Metrics in Lawrence,Cynthia Greene

Appendix C:

Table D: Lawrence Activity vs the Ideal for Entering a City, Cynthia Greene

Appendix D:

83-98 83-86 87-92 93-95 96-98

Journal articles and book chapters authored by ABL and BLTN participants

Illustrations Theory of Change

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Figure A: Map of ABL In Lawrence

32

Figure C: ABL Summer Programs in Lawrence

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Figure B: Map of ABL in the U.S. and Worldwide

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AUTHORS AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE AUTHORS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Eva Gold, Ph.D. (evagold47@gmail.com) is an independent consultant based in

We would like to thank Lou Bernieri, Dixie Goswami and the Andover Bread Loaf

Philadelphia, PA. She was a founder of Research for Action in Philadelphia, where

Advisory Board for inviting us to study ABL in Lawrence and beyond. We were familiar

she was a principal and Senior Research Associate for 20 years. Her research interests

with Bread Loaf from research over 20 years ago, but only had a faint idea about the

include: the intersection of schools, communities and families with a special focus on

work of ABL. Learning about ABL has been exciting and inspiring. Thanks especially to

the role of community and youth organizing in school reform; the privatization of urban

ABL Advisory member Scobie Ward, who provided the grant to support this study. We

education; literacy in and out of schools; and the building of civic capacity for school

would also like to thank the many ABL teachers, community educators, youth and allies

reform. She is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Education at the Graduate School of

who talked with us, showed us their projects, or allowed us to sit in and observe their

Education, University of Pennsylvania.

work. We have long been interested in the intersection of schools and communities, and your work has shown us new and vibrant ways in which local communities and

Elaine Simon, Ph.D. (esimon@sas.upenn.edu) is Co-Director of the Urban Studies

schools can connect and make education central. Thanks also to Naomi Sun, whose

Program at the University of Pennsylvania and Adjunct Associate Professor of Education

graphic ability has made this report more attractive and accessible than we ever could

in the Graduate School of Education and of Anthropology in the School of Arts and

have without her design assistance.

Sciences. Her research focuses on the intersection of communities and schools through the study of education policy and community organizing. Drawing on her training as an

For more information about Andover Bread Loaf please see their website:

anthropologist, she has conducted ethnographic research and evaluation in education,

www.andover.edu/breadloaf

employment and training, the arts, and community organization. Past studies include the impact of education privatization on public engagement, the role of community organizing and engagement in education, and evaluations of a range of programs in literacy, science, and math education. She conducted much of her education policy research as a senior research consultant with Research for Action.

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Copyright Š 2016 by Andover Bread Loaf. All rights reserved.

Cover Photo Credit: John F. Hurley http://www.andover.edu/about/newsroom/documents/ablarticle_cofp_2014.pdf

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

City of Promise:

Andover Bread Loaf in Lawrence and Beyond In 2012 Boston Magazine ran an article now infamous in Lawrence, describing Lawrence as “the city of the damned…where crime is soaring, schools are failing, and government has lost control.” 1 The article discounted Lawrence describing it as a wasteland. It is this very “wasteland” that Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) is revealing as a city of promise. ABL is an educator professional and youth development initiative. ABL uses literacy to enable participants to realize the power of their voice and their capacity for school and civic leadership. ABL is unique in that it works both with teachers and community-based adult educators to develop a set of literacy practices that enable youth, parents, teachers and other educators to tell their stories through writing.

The ABL model is designed to affirm cultural and community identity and provide opportunity for growth and academic advancement to individual participants. But ABL does not stop with individuals; ABL is devising a community change model. ABL is a deeply social learning endeavor that is building the capacity for civic engagement that advances equity and the betterment of the community.

Atkinson, Jay. 2012. “City of the Damned.” Boston Magazine, March, 2012. Retrieved December, 2015 (www.bostonmagazine.com/2012/02/city-of-the-damned-Lawrence-Massachusetts/).

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The most developed ABL “site” is Lawrence, Massachusetts, where ABL is an outreach

As the ABL Theory of change shows the foundation for ABL includes two parts: an

program of Phillips Academy Andover working in partnership with the Bread Loaf School

institutional base and set of guiding principles. The institutional base consists of a

of English of Middlebury College for 29 years. Lawrence is an ongoing and evolving

partnership with two elite educational organizations, Phillips Academy Andover and

model for activism and social change through literacy. But ABL extends beyond Lawrence.

the Bread Loaf School of English, which can mobilize the resources required to

There are now active “nodes” in Springfield, Lynn and Lowell, MA, in NYC, New

undergird an educator and youth development initiative with a goal of creating greater

Orleans and in six other countries, El Salvador, Haiti, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and South

equity. The five guiding principles are based on the theory and practice of democratic

Africa.

education. Below, we list each of the principles separately, but in reality they are interconnected and participants experience them holistically. The principles are:

Many close to ABL believed it was having an important influence on Lawrence, but to date there was no systematic research that could demonstrate the nature and breadth of that influence. To respond to this need, we designed a “theory of change” study. We selected this approach because a theory of change study can explain a program’s dynamic and the relationship between an initiative’s activities and its anticipated results.

Below is a graphic depiction of the ABL Theory of Change

• A democratic theory of learning • Valuing individual voice through self-expression • Connecting to the cultures and experiences of the local community • Creating a sense of community • Embedding social justice in all ABL activities With a democratic theory of learning, ABL encourages an approach to literacy that is social and linked to change. Participants explore their own experiences through writing, examine their own backgrounds and cultural practices, and inquire into the social and political context of their communities. Critical to a democratic theory of learning is valuing the learner’s voice and, as a learner, feeling that your voice is valued. Voice means expressing one’s own stories, experiences, and sense of identity. Teachers and writing leaders connect to the cultures and experiences of the local community by encouraging students to use their own language and background in their writing. In this sense ABL is non-hierarchical. In addition, ABL educators are deliberate in creating a sense of community. Every ABL activity involves taking a risk: writing that is personally meaningful and public sharing of writing, which creates a sense of “mutual vulnerability.” However, ABL educators are good listeners, which promotes the sense of being part of a supportive community. This gives participants a sense of power as they

ABL Theory of Change:

The pathway from place-based social action to a sustainable social movement in Lawrence

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begin to identify as part of a collective with similar experiences and concerns. ABL educators embed social justice in all ABL activities. First, ABL educators try to motivate

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

students who traditional education frequently fails. ABL gives these educators a way

These strategies and their related activities are interactive, dynamic, and mutually

to understand their students and the students’ families in a positive light and to think

reinforcing. We characterize these strategies as the “engine” that drives the Phillips

about how they can change their trajectories. Second, the formation of community and

Andover/Bread Loaf School of English/ABL partnership to result in changes for its

seeing one’s self as part of a collective builds participants’ sense of empowerment and

participants and local communities.

their willingness to “give back” and address social problems at the root.

In the third phase of the Theory of Change we show evidence for the kinds of change In the second phase of the Theory of Change we show the strategies ABL uses to

the ABL strategies set in motion. This change is at two levels, individual and collective.

advance its social action mission:

Inherent to the change process is ABL’s social action agenda: young people and adults

• Participatory educator and youth development • Connecting to community-based organizations • Building a network Participatory educator and youth development are characterized by two elements, an intentional community that is often multi-generational and cross-sectoral, and a literacy event2 in which participants respond to a prompt and engage in expressive writing and public sharing of their writing. In response to standardized testing, state takeover, and imposition of the core curriculum, ABL altered its strategy from one that focused on

become the authors of their lives and collectively, of their communities.

Individual change involves: • Strengthened sense of pride in participants’ cultural identity • College-going aspirations for youth and advanced education for teachers • A heightened sense of agency • Increased social awareness • Democratic educational practices in the classroom

school system change to connecting to community-based organizations. In 2014/2015

Participants in ABL — youth, teachers and community adults — described a sense of

ABL was connected not only to 10 Lawrence schools but also to six community-based

empowerment through strengthened sense of pride in their cultural identity and for

youth development organizations. Finally, ABL and the Bread Loaf Teacher Network

teachers, a dramatic change in their teaching practice. Many participants gained new

are building a network that helps ABL participants stay connected and collaborate. In

opportunities for growth, including college going aspirations for youth and advanced

Lawrence the network is the vehicle through which ABL activities — local conferences,

education for teachers, aspirations that they could not have imagined before their ABL

writing workshops, and other events — are planned. It keeps teachers, community

participation. As participants gain a sense of pride, and begin to have an increased

educators, parents, and others in communication with each other across their

social awareness of themselves as part of a broader community, they begin the slow

institutional boundaries.

process of reversing negative images of immigrants, their culture and communities.

They also are able to counter, with their own example, the deficit messages so common in schools, which focus on shortcomings of low-income, minority and/or immigrant

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Heath S. B. (1982). What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school.

Language in Society. Vol. 11, Pp. 49-76.

communities rather than on their capabilities and assets. For teachers, their practice is often stood on its head. When they introduce democratic educational practices in the

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

classroom they find their relationship to their students transformed from one which

In the last phase of the ABL Theory of Change we examine the capacity ABL is creating

was “top down” to one in which they are teaching and learning alongside their students,

for civic engagement, with the long-term goal of building a more equitable and just

listening to them, and adapting curriculum to their interests and concerns.

educational environment and society. ABL’s long-term goal is to give voice to Lawrence residents through literacy practices that make them the authors of and participants in

Collective change involves: • Reframe the narrative of Lawrence • Community infrastructure • The network In Lawrence, the collective project is reframing the narrative of Lawrence by building awareness of the city’s positive heritage as a gateway immigrant city, and, with this recognition, the capacity for civic engagement that can revitalize education and renew the city. By making education a “community enterprise” ABL is building a platform for Lawrence residents and teachers to work from to make the schools reflective of the culture, aspirations and needs of the Lawrence community. This platform consists of

Lawrence’s future. In this way the ABL activities are, in effect, social change actions that set the stage for greater equity for Lawrence youth and adults. Social action that is collective and aimed at making change is the subject of research on social movements and on building civic capacity. We found that ABL shared the characteristics identified as critical to both. These characteristics are: • Shared social action agenda • Inclusive membership base • Mobilization of resources • Spread of ABL ideas • Potential to influence public policy

a dense community infrastructure. In 2014/2015 there were a total of ten schools and

ABL is creating a shared social action agenda community-wide through its promulgation of

six community partnerships. The community infrastructure blurs the boundaries

a common approach using literacy as a vehicle of empowerment and means to action

between schools and community as sites of learning. It creates a set of inside and out-

for equity. It is also building commitment to youth development in which immigrant

side structures all pulling in the same direction — one that recognizes the value of what

and low-income youth become education and community leaders. As ABL evolves and

every individual has to say, and is committed to creating a broadly defined educational

engages new players it can document not only its expansion, but also how its social

enterprise that is committed to social action. The network helps to provide and sustain

action agenda evolves and is adapted to the advent of new groups and individuals.

the sense of being part of a community. The network is the means through which ABL

Following the trajectory of writing leaders into teachers and civic leaders could also be

is able to harness the energy of its diverse body of individuals and organizations, and

important evidence of a shared social action agenda.

construct and realize plans for collective action that align with a shared mission to

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mobilize to revitalize education and renew Lawrence. The Network, however, does not

To enact a social action agenda — and have change sustained — it is critical to build an

stop with Lawrence. It is a means through which students and teachers across the U.S.

inclusive membership base. Teachers and other school leaders are an important part

and around the world learn from each other, share their beliefs and traditions, and address

of the ABL base, but ABL has tremendously expanded its base with the exponential

issues of global consequence through mutual investigations and shared writing.

growth of the number of writing leaders and by the addition of community-based arts

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

and youth development organizations as partners. There is also evidence that ABL is

important to continue mapping the spread of ABL, both in the U.S. and abroad, and

beginning to engage parents, grandparents and other child guardians as well as business

to learn the different iterations ABL takes, and how the principles are interpreted and

and city leaders, creating a base that is cross-sectoral and cross-generational. In the

applied in widely different contexts.

future, ABL can document participants at different levels of intensity, and what the opportunities are for the diverse base to interact, build trust and experience in working

While eventually ABL leaders might imagine a Lawrence school district which is locally

together over time.

controlled, the directors of ABL believe that the ability to reclaim the schools from state receivership — the potential to influence public policy — is still largely in the future.

To deliver on a social action agenda requires the mobilization of resources. ABL has

Nonetheless, there are early signs that ABL is starting to be an influential player in Lawrence.

successfully brought together elite institutions, higher education institutions, community

Recognitions of the value of ABL to the community, as well as invitations to sit on civic

based groups, teachers and other school district leaders to mobilize a range of human,

committees, are all evidence that ABL is, over time, becoming positioned to have influence

social, intellectual and capital resources. Mobilization of the grass roots to participate

on public policy. In the future, in addition to keeping a count of invitations and recogni-

is also crucial, which is done largely through its association with community-based

tions, ABL might also track how their participation is moving forward an agenda for

groups and through its writing leaders. Going forward, a closer look at the nature of

change that increases equity in Lawrence in the form of specific policy wins.

the relationship between ABL and school administrators, and ABL and leaders of community-based groups might yield useful information for the broader education

In sum, what distinguishes ABL is its potential for place-based transformation. Such a

movement interested in forging a closer relationship between schools and communities.

transformation is possible because the ABL process is building capacity for collective civic engagement and the potential for long-term educational and community change.

One measure of the strength of a social movement is the extent to which there is a

Its example can animate discussions of “school reform” bringing to them a fresh sense

spread of ideas beyond the movement membership itself — affecting the discourse,

of what it means to make education an intrinsic part of a community, and what it

action, and policy in the broader society. ABL ideas are spreading and taking root in

requires to build authentic school-community relations. While ABL is deeply invested

Lawrence through the many institutions and community organizations with which it

in Lawrence, its influence has spread well beyond Lawrence. It now has “nodes” in other

works. As a result, there is evidence that some of ABL ideas have spread to civic, political,

Massachusetts cities as well as New York City and New Orleans and in six foreign nations.

and school leaders in Lawrence who are not necessarily active ABL participants. ABL

It is lighting a path to how to build a broad social movement including global educa-

directors, parents, and educators are being asked to bring the ABL approach to new

tional relationships.

settings in the city, including city government, and are receiving public recognition by community institutions for the contributions ABL is making to Lawrence. ABL ideas, however, are also spreading beyond Lawrence. Teachers attend the ABL summer program from throughout the U. S. and from abroad, and writing leaders have migrated to other cities. The Network also is a vehicle for spreading ABL ideas. Looking forward it will be

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INTRODUCTION

City of Promise:

Andover Bread Loaf in Lawrence and Beyond

INTRODUCTION In 2012 Boston Magazine ran an article now infamous in Lawrence, describing Lawrence as “the city of the damned….where crime is soaring, schools are failing, and government has lost control.”1 The article discounted Lawrence describing it as a wasteland. It is this very “wasteland” that Andover Bread Loaf (ABL) is revealing as a city of promise.

This report shows how, through its literacy work with school and community educators, parents, and youth, ABL is demonstrating the talent, courage, and personal fortitude of Lawrence residents. As they write about their lives and share their writing publicly, those who live or work in Lawrence engage in social action. By connecting literacy, learning, voice and social justice ABL contributes to the effort to re-imagine the city by rewriting the Lawrence narrative and revitalizing education.

Atkinson, Jay. 2012. “City of the Damned.” Boston Magazine, March, 2012. Retrieved December, 2015 (www.bostonmagazine.com/2012/02/city-of-the-damned-Lawrence-Massachusetts/).

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INTRODUCTION

As they write about their lives and share their writing publicly, those who live or work in Lawrence engage in social action. By connecting literacy, learning, voice

THE CONTEXT OF LAWRENCE

and social justice ABL contributes to the effort to re-imagine the city by rewriting the

Lawrence is the locus of ABL’s work and where ABL’s theory of literacy’s potential as a

Lawrence narrative and revitalizing education.

vehicle for civic engagement and social change is being refined and tested. Lawrence is a medium sized city that has long been an immigrant destination. In the early part

ABL is an educator professional and youth development initiative.2 ABL uses literacy to

of the 20th century Lawrence was home to Italian, Irish, and other European and Eastern

enable participants to realize the power of their voice and their capacity for school and

European immigrants drawn there by the potential of a vibrant textile industry for providing

civic leadership. ABL is unique in that it works both with teachers and community-based

jobs and a good life. Lawrence boasts a strong union history, and was the site of the

adult educators to develop a set of literacy practices that enable youth, parents, teachers,

now infamous Bread and Roses strike. A substantial Dominican population moved into

and other educators to tell their stories through writing.

Lawrence just as its fortunes were turning. Today Lawrence is a city trying to recover

The ABL model is designed to affirm cultural and community identity and provide opportunity for growth and academic advancement to individual participants. But ABL does not stop with individuals. ABL is evolving a community change model. The most developed ABL “site” is Lawrence, Massachusetts, where ABL is an outreach program of Phillips Academy Andover working in partnership with the Bread Loaf School of English of Middlebury College for 29 years.

Lou Bernieri, a Phillips Academy Andover English teacher, initiated ABL and is its executive director. Rich Gorham, English department chair at Lawrence High School, wrestling and track coach at Phillips Academy Andover, and former student of Bernieri’s has been an associate director since 2001. In 2014, Jineyda Tapia, who grew up in Lawrence, was a student of Rich Gorham’s, and is an ABL educator, also took on the responsibility of an associate director. None are full-time staf — all three continue their teaching professions while directing ABL. Dixie Goswami, director of the Bread Loaf Teacher Network at the Bread Loaf School of English, works closely with them, and the ABL Advisory Committee, a

from the flight of the textile industry, the debasement of union organizing, and the impoverishment that followed. It is 75 per cent Latino, largely Dominican, with about 29 per cent of its residents below the poverty line. 3 Its main streets, bordered on either end by the old mills, some converted to house an emerging non-profit sector, are a mix of bodegas, fast food restaurants, historical buildings and a public park. Its public school system is ranked among the lowest performing by state standards, even as it struggles to educate a very low-income and high needs group of students, many for whom English is their second language. In 2012 the schools went into state receivership, and a state appointed administrator began managing the district.

It is against this backdrop that ABL has encouraged a highly participatory and culturallyresponsive school and community-based teaching and learning environment. ABL is a deeply social learning endeavor that is building the capacity for civic engagement that advances equity and the betterment of the community. Lawrence is an ongoing and evolving model for activism and social change through literacy.

group of Phillips Academy Andover alumni, also provides support.

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We refer to “educator” professional development and ABL “educators” in this report to reflect ABL’s inclusion of both school teachers and community educators in their literacy work.

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http://www.census.gov/main/responsive-header/images/census-logo.png

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INTRODUCTION

THE EVALUATION STUDY AND WHAT IS IN THIS REPORT ABL is a complex, layered, and nuanced initiative with many moving parts and is always a work in progress. Though Phillips Academy Andover and Bread Loaf publications, as well as the local Lawrence press, have showcased ABL accomplishments, there has never been a holistic view of the project. The ABL Advisory Board and Dixie Goswami understood that ABL was having an important influence in Lawrence, but lacked a way of demonstrating the breadth of the changes that were happening. They wanted a study that could explain both ABL’s processes and its impacts. To respond to their need, we designed a “theory of change” study. We selected this approach because a theory of change can explain a program’s dynamic and the relationship between an initiative’s activities and its anticipated results.

We conducted qualitative research from October 2014 through Fall 2015. We made three site visits for three days each. During these visits, we conducted interviews of ABL directors, school and community allies, and teachers. We also toured Lawrence and Phillips Academy Andover, visited Bread Loaf VT with the ABL teacher summer

This report presents the ABL Theory of Change, and a narrative illustrating the theory’s empirical basis. Work done by Cynthia Greene, ABL Advisory Committee member, who gathered and analyzed descriptive metrics showing ABL participation levels in Lawrence over the past several years complemented our research and is integrated into the report and provided in its entirety in Appendix B. Although the bulk of this report is about ABL in Lawrence, ABL is reaching beyond Lawrence, and we include some description of ABL beyond Lawrence as well.

On page 7 is the ABL Theory of Change and a short description of the ABL process and impacts the ABL Theory of Change illustrate. The remainder of the report is organized into chapters corresponding to each of the four phases of the ABL Theory of Change.

Chapter 1 discusses the foundation that ABL rests on, including its institutional partnerships and guiding principles. Chapter 2 looks at the interrelated and dynamic ABL social action strategies that lead to change. Chapter 3 shows evidence of the kinds of change the social action strategies bring about at both individual and community levels.

Chapter 4 concludes with an examination of the capacity ABL is building for civic engagement for equity. Where appropriate we look forward and point to the kinds of indicators of impact ABL might want to document in the future.

program, and did observations of a range of ABL activities. In addition, we interviewed by phone ABL educators who did not work in Lawrence. We reviewed important ABL documents, press coverage and other publications in which ABL appears (including the ABL website).4 Perhaps most importantly, we reviewed interviews of ABL writing leaders conducted by MaryEllen Farrell, an ABL volunteer. Analysis of this data allowed us to construct a theory explaining how ABL works to bring about change, and the kind of changes that can be expected. This ABL Theory of Change was checked with Bernieri, Gorham and Goswami, and revised using their feedback.

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See Appendix A for a full account of interviews, focus groups, observations and documents reviewed, as well as for a brief description of our analytic process.

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INTRODUCTION

ABL Theory of Change:

The pathway from place-based social action to a sustainable social movement in Lawrence Key to ABL’s work are its strong institutional base in the partnership between the Bread Loaf Teacher Network and Phillips Academy along with a set of principles that reflect a belief in democratic education. With this base, ABL carries out three interacting placebased social action strategies, as depicted in the theory of change figure. By participating in ABL activities, individual participants gain motivation, skills, and dispositions that enable them to be more successful academically and to be civic actors in their community.

Taken together, the three ABL strategies also lead to collective change in the form of extensive collaboration across people and institutions and a positive future vision for the city. These dual level changes build the capacity for civic engagement to advance social justice and renew education in Lawrence and beyond.

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

The foundation for ABL includes two parts: an institutional base and a set of guiding principles. The institutional base consists of a partnership with two elite educational organizations that can mobilize the resources required to undergird an educator and youth development initiative with a goal of creating greater equity. The guiding principles are based on the theory and practice of democratic education. Below we elaborate on each of these parts of the ABL foundation.

CHAPTER 1:

THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF The Institutional Base of ABL

10-12

The Guiding Principles of Democratic Education

13-21

• A democratic theory of learning

14-16

• Valuing individual voice through self-expression

17-18

• Connecting to the cultures and experiences of the local community

18-19

• Creating a sense of community

19-20

• Embedding social justice in all ABL activities

20-21

THE INSTITUTIONAL BASE OF ABL ABL is an outreach program of Phillips Academy Andover and is supported by a partnership between Phillips Academy Andover and the Bread Loaf School of English at Middlebury College, Vermont. The partnership began in 1987 with a summer teacher workshop.

The workshop was the idea of Lou Bernieri, a Phillips Academy Andover teacher who attended the Bread Loaf School of English. Bernieri wanted to make the Bread Loaf experience accessible to more teachers, particularly urban public school teachers, who do not typically enroll in the Bread Loaf School of English. With the help of Goswami, and members of the Bread Loaf Rural Teacher Network (BLRTN), a rural teacher outreach program of the Bread Loaf School of English, Bernieri used BLRTN as a model and vital resource for ABL, which is the urban teacher outreach program. Phillips Academy Andover had an interest in doing outreach beyond its campus and its own students, and Bernieri’s idea fit Phillips Academy Andover’s interest. Phillips Academy Andover, therefore, became the site for the first summer teacher workshop.

Twenty-nine years later the Phillips Academy Andover/Bread Loaf School of English partnership still exists, and is providing a foundation for the ever deepening and widening work of ABL with urban teachers. The interaction of intellectual ideas and the commitment of resources to youth development, as well as enriching teaching and learning by connecting writing and social action are among the most important benefits of the partnership. The benefits of the partnership accrue, however, not only to ABL, but also to its partners. Below are examples of these mutual benefits.

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

The interaction of intellectual ideas and the commitment of resources to youth development, as well as enriching teaching and learning by connecting writing and social action are among the most important benefits of the partnership.

For Bread Loaf School of English: • Increased diversity, including racial, ethnic and linguistic diversity and more urban teachers with the enrollment of ABL teachers • A mutual and synergistic focus on both individual teachers and the power of sitebased work

For ABL:

• A model for BLTN and others of site based work

• A beautiful campus, Phillips Academy Andover, where every summer a two and a

• BLTN publications, websites, and other communications enriched by the participation

half week ABL teacher workshop and three week high school student workshop is held

of the diverse ABL community

• A corps of Phillips Academy Andover students each year who assist ABL with classroom workshops and other ABL activities

These benefits change and take different forms over time. But what remains true is

• An ABL Advisory Committee of Phillips Academy Andover alums who help increase

the unique partnership between two elite educational institutions and a community

the reach of ABL and support the program through fundraising, documentation of

social action endeavor. The reach of the partnership, however, does not stop in the

its impact, and its enthusiasm

low-income immigrant city of Lawrence. ABL now has nodes in three other Massachusetts

• A professional Phillips Academy Andover fundraiser to assist with fundraising for ABL

cities, and two other U.S. cities, as well as in six foreign countries. Phillips Academy

• A pipeline for academic advancement through the Bread Loaf School of English for

Andover is seeing its resources spread beyond its campus, and being committed to

teachers who attend the ABL summer program • Access for ABL teachers to the Bread Loaf Teacher Network (BLTN)

the public good. Similar elite Massachusetts’s schools have become interested in the Phillips Academy Andover/Bread Loaf School of English/ABL partnership for this reason.

Worcester Academy has asked formally and five others have inquired about the possibility

For Phillips Academy Andover:

of ABL and the Bread Loaf School of English helping them explore partnerships that

• A Phillips Academy Andover English course that trains 45 Phillips students as writ-

would provide an institutional base for social action in communities near them that are

ing leaders during the school year and places them in writing programs in Law-

low-income and could benefit from the kinds of resources they might have to offer. The

rence schools during the school year

reputation and influence of ABL is spreading and building a vision of a new kind of

• The opportunity for Phillips Academy Andover students to be trained as writing

pathway to educational revitalization and greater equity of opportunity.

leaders and to work in the summer workshops for Lawrence students • A community outreach experience for Phillips Academy Andover students that goes beyond service learning, and for some is life transforming as they gain exposure to and learn about Andover’s neighboring immigrant community

The reputation and influence of ABL is spreading and building a vision of a new kind of pathway to educational revitalization and greater equity of opportunity.

• Opportunities for Phillips Academy Andover students to travel to other ABL sites in the U.S. and abroad and see ABL in action in multiple sites

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

GUIDING PRINCIPLES OF DEMOCRATIC EDUCATION There are five principles that guide ABL’s work. These principles animate all of the different ABL activities that we describe in subsequent chapters and shape the changes that occur for individuals as well as at the collective level. ABL participants, both adult and youth, articulated these principles in interviews and modeled them in workshops.

The principles are: • A democratic theory of learning • Valuing individual voice through self-expression • Connecting to the cultures and experiences of the local community • Creating a sense of community • Embedding social justice in all ABL activities

A DEMOCRATIC THEORY OF LEARNING

Below, we discuss each of the principles separately, but in reality they are interconnected

They [public schools and ABL] don’t 100 per cent line up, no, because urban

and participants experience them holistically. The longer and deeper their ABL

public schools are not 100 per cent on board with what I consider to be cutting

involvement, the more clearly participants understand the principles and can apply

edge pedagogy quite yet. (An ABL associate director)

them. In other words, learning and adopting the ABL philosophy requires thought, experimentation, communication with peers and mentors, and self-reflection, which happens over time through the many different structured ABL opportunities for involvement. As an associate director observed, “… when you get down to it, it’s hard.

And turning these philosophical things into a practical reality gets difficult.” He went on to explain that the kinds of principles that guide ABL are not what educators are typically exposed to in professional development. The complexity and challenge that fully understanding the ABL approach requires reveals why participation can be energizing and immersive.

ABL pedagogy differs sharply with what is typical in U.S. schools. This is especially true in the last decades where the emphasis on testing to evaluate schools and teaching has narrowed the curriculum and the focus of teaching to the tested subjects. In contrast, ABL holds strongly to a pedagogical approach that is open-ended, encourages and demands creative self-expression, and is non-hierarchical. This democratic approach draws on a Vygotskyian theory of learning and the “new” literacy studies that see literacy both as socially embedded and as a tool for social change.5 The Russian psychologist, Lev Vygotsky moved thinking about the nature of learning

... learning and adopting the ABL philosophy requires thought, experimentation, communication with peers and mentors, and self-reflection, which happens over time through the many different structured ABL opportunities for involvement.

from being a purely developmental process to a more interactional one. The two components of a Vygoskyian approach are, first, that learners must be able to use what they already know to learn new material, and second, that learning involves social interaction. A learner’s pre-existing knowledge is the scaffold on which a teacher can build new

5

13

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Cole, Michael; John-Steiner, Vera; Scribner, Sylvia; & Souberman, Ellen (Eds.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Street, Brian (2003) What’s new in the new literacy studies?: Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education Vol. 5(2), Pp. 77-91.

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

knowledge. This place of “readiness” to adapt one’s thinking and learn something new,

see learning as deeply situated in learners’ experiences. Paulo Freire is a leading thinker

in Vygotsky’s terms, is the “zone of proximal development.” It is a term that ABL educators

and practitioner of literacy learning as a means to gaining awareness of inequity and

use in talking about their strategies for structuring learning environments. To set the

the ability to take action to make society more just.7 The “new” literacy movement that

stage for capitalizing on what learners already know, ABL educators need to be open

grew out of Freire’s ideas rejects the definition of literacy as skills-based and in-

to what students bring to the setting. In the words of an ABL associate director, “So [it

dependent of social context. Instead, new literacy studies see literacy as embedded in

is important to be] starting with the notion that kids are brilliant, intelligent, creative

a social context and influenced by relations of power.8 Literacy in this sense is a broad

beings who come to us with a giant fountain of knowledge, and our job is to figure out

set of practices present in informal as well as formal settings, tied to cultural practices,

what that is, and connect them to that.”

and shaped by social interaction. It embraces a variety of technologies and “texts” as legitimate forms of expression.9 Many who identify with the new literacy movement

The second aspect of Vygotsky’s theory that is embedded in ABL pedagogy is the idea

use writing as a tool for social change.10

that learning is social and interactional. The social nature of learning has implications for the relationship of educator and learner. As pointed out above, the educator has to

With a democratic theory of learning, ABL encourages an approach to literacy that

be sensitive to the learner’s existing experience and able to tease out what the learner

is social and linked to change for equity. Participants explore their own experiences

knows. The educator-learner relationship, therefore, is one that is dialogic and mutually

through writing, examine their own backgrounds and cultural practices, and inquire

respectful. In the words of an ABL educator, this means that she is “getting on the same

into the social and political context of their communities. Because there is a premium

level as my students.” In addition, learning occurs in interaction with peers and other

on social interaction as part of the writing process, sharing writing is an essential part

community adults such as artists, parents, and coaches, as well as with school-based

of the activity. As youth and adults explore and express their social realities, then share

professionals. Writing leaders, youth that ABL have asked to work with students just a

and learn about others’, they identify issues of common concern and begin to see the

bit younger than they are, are especially important in the social process of learning,

potential for change at broader levels.

and teachers note that their students are very engaged when writing leaders are there because “they were closer in their experience.” In other words, a writing leader’s similar social experience and the fact that they are just a bit more advanced than the students themselves, creates a social relationship that encourages learning.

Friere, P. (1968 – 1970 translation) Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York City, NY: Bloomsbury; Freire, Paulo and Donaldo Macedo (1987) Literacy: Reading the Word and the World. South Hadley, Mass.

Bergin & Garvey.

8 Street 2003 9 Gee 1999 10 National Writing Project (2006) Writing for Change: Boosting Literacy and Learning through Social Action. Berdan, Kristina; Boulton, Ian; Eldman-Aadahl, Elyse; Fleming, Jennie; Gardner, Launie: Rogers, Iana; & Solomon, Asali (Eds). New York City, NY: Jossey-Bass.; Benson, Chris; Christian, Scott; Gooch, Walter; and Dixie Goswami (Eds.). (2002). Writing to Make a Difference: Classroom Projects for Comunity Change. New York City, NY:Teachers College Press.

7

ABL also draws on new literacy studies, another strand of thinking that sees education as democratic and forwarding social change.6 Proponents of the new literacy studies

6

15

Street, 2003; Gee, James (1999) The New Literacy Studies and the “social turn.” Retrieved December 2015 (Files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED442118.pdf); UNESCO. UNESCO: Global Monitoring Report 2006: Education for All Literacy for Life, Ch. 6 Understandings of Literacy, Pp. 147-159. Retrieved November 2015 (Unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001416/141639e.pdf)

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

VALUING INDIVIDUAL VOICE THROUGH SELF-EXPRESSION It’s the microphone giving you the power to speak and to share, and listening.

So, speaking into the microphone, and hearing what comes out of it, is the most important part to me…. (Writing leader) Critical to a democratic theory of learning is valuing the learner’s voice and, as a learner, feeling that your voice is valued. Voice means expressing one’s own stories, experiences, and sense of identity. So it is not surprising that the writing leader quoted above saw the microphone as a defining metaphor for ABL. Just as an actual microphone amplifies the voice of the person who takes it, ABL serves to amplify participants’ voices by valuing self-expression. In the words of an associate director, “That’s a large part of what we do is help people to find their voice and encourage them to share their writing with the world because what they have to say is important.”

Educators, writing leaders, and others who are encouraging writing and sharing of writing have to be active listeners. Being able to listen to what each person has to say is a critical component of democratic pedagogy because real listening reduces the hierarchy between educator and student. One of the teachers that we interviewed told us that, previous to her involvement, she had heard and used the term “student voice,” but did not really understand or genuinely apply the ideal until her exposure to ABL.

CONNECTING TO THE CULTURES AND EXPERIENCES OF THE LOCAL COMMUNITY And we believe that education is successful when kids are connected to their communities… Often, urban public education attempts to… dissociate kids from their communities. And we think that’s a failing philosophy… [it] comes down to, is their opinion valued? Is their cultural background valued?

(An ABL associate director)

Critical to a democratic theory of learning is valuing the learner’s voice and, as a learner, feeling that your voice is valued. Voice means expressing one’s own

Instruction in school settings often is abstract and decontextualized, which can diminish

stories, experiences, and sense of identity.

the importance of students’ home and community settings. In contrast, ABL highly values

Listening without judgment is a component of the principle of valuing self-expression.

A speaker has to feel comfortable and safe in order to feel he or she can reveal what is really on his or her mind. One of the writing leaders explained the importance of listening without judgment.

these settings and sees them as the source for participants’ self-expressive writing. The principle of valuing a learners’ home community is consistent with the Vygotskyan idea that a learner should draw on what s/he already knows.

Valuing the community that students come from also encourages ABL participants to express themselves freely and openly. Teachers and writing leaders encourage students to use their own language and background in their writing. A Lawrence teacher native

But it all starts with them knowing that…their thoughts and their opinions

to the city recalled her surprise when her ABL high school teacher asked the class to

are important, and that you’re not going to judge them for anything that they

imagine that the protagonist of The Scarlett Letter was an immigrant.

say, or anything that they think.

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

He said, ‘I want you guys to find out your own parents’ immigration journey.’

that ABL program planners see the structure of the program, particularly events where

And it was the first time ever that anybody ever asked about our parents in

participants step up to the microphone to share, as an intentional strategy to create a

school. Like, it was always, oh, parents don’t care. I remember hearing that

shared reality. An ABL educator explained, “Bread Loaf is, let’s come together and let’s

while I was in school. You know, teachers think they’re being quiet about it;

talk about these questions. And you are a big part of this, but it’s not just you. It’s not

they’re not. We knew.

an individual thing — it’s a group thing… it’s that welcoming place where you can come

ABL connects to the community through its broad definition of educator as well. Not only teachers, but also community members and youth acting as writing leaders facilitate ABL activities. When mentors come from the same background as ABL students, ABL staff believe it gives students confidence. One writing leader observed, “We could identify with the student’s experience because we lived that experience. We could identify with the students culturally because our backgrounds are similar.” He believed his shared background with students helped them to tap into their experience and express themselves, as well as providing them with a model.

“

”

And we believe that education is successful when kids are connected to their

communities.

CREATING A SENSE OF COMMUNITY When they plan activities, ABL educators are deliberate in bringing people together who will both support and challenge each other. Every ABL activity involves taking a risk: writing that is personally meaningful and public sharing of your writing. As one participant noted, the sense of the group is “mutual vulnerability.” The ability to be a good listener helps to promote a sense of community and to create a support system.

We don’t believe in the power of the individual star; we believe in the power of the community, and the power of the network. (ABL educator) When the group includes people who are older and accomplished, but from similar backgrounds, it reveals possibilities that otherwise participants might not consider. For example, another ABL educator explained the importance of learning settings deliberately constructed to assure interaction among diverse participants. “For one thing it is about support, and for another about modeling and seeing possibilities, and finally about seeing the similarities in one’s situation.” ABL participants believe that community building serves an empowerment purpose, and that seeing oneself as part of a larger group develops greater social awareness.

“

”

We don’t believe in the power of the individual star; we believe in the power

of the community, and the power of the network.

EMBEDDING SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES IN ALL ABL ACTIVITIES

The support system offers both emotional support to feel safe in one’s vulnerability but

I think the one thing that unites all of the people that are involved… is their

also support in learning, and it often extends beyond the immediate activity in which

commitment to social justice, really. They want the world to be a way that it

mentors and participants are engaged.

isn’t. But they’re not just dreamers, they want to be pragmatic about it, so

Being part of a supportive community gives participants a sense of power as they begin to identify as part of a collective with similar experiences and concerns. We learned

19

and be a part of something that’s bigger than you.”

they… organize writing workshops,… volunteer their time in the school,… give of themselves so much that it’s really selfless. (ABL community partner)

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CHAPTER 1: THE FOUNDATION FOR ANDOVER BREAD LOAF

The formal mission of ABL, which appears on the Phillips Academy Andover website, is to “promote literacy and educational revitalization in the most economically disadvantaged school systems and communities around the world, particularly in U.S. urban public schools.” As we show in this report, ABL promotes the ideals of social justice and equity through its activities. The ABL executive director captured the mission in recounting what he believes is the relationship between ABL educators, writing leaders, and the youth participating in ABL activities.

“

”

I think the one thing that unites all of the people that are involved… is their

commitment to social justice, really. They want the world to be a way that it isn’t.

In this chapter, we described the foundation of ABL: its institutional context and the

five underlying principles that guide ABL activities. In the next chapter, we move on to the action phase of the theory of change. In it, we describe the three major strategies that ABL uses, which we identify as “place-based social action strategies.”

This whole thing around social justice issues. I just see them [educators and writing leaders] as an equalizer… A group that is committed to urban inner-city kids that maybe don’t have the opportunity that other kids have — they are sort of equalizing that.

ABL teachers work in settings that can be extremely disaffecting for youth. They are trying to connect and motivate students whom traditional education frequently fails.

ABL gives these educators a way to understand their students and the students’ families in a positive light and to think about how they can change their trajectories.

As noted earlier, people use the term “empowerment” to describe both the purpose and product of ABL activities. Certainly, the formation of community, and seeing one’s self as part of a collective builds participants’ sense of empowerment. This translates into a motivation to be engaged in one’s community, to give back, and to address social problems at the root. One ABL educator recounted how ABL is creating the desire among young people to return to Lawrence, not to escape from it.

Bread Loaf is showing that kids want to be engaged; they want to learn.

They’re involved. They want to be involved in their community. They want to even be part of Lawrence. The kids that you see from high school, leaving high school, going off to college, and then coming back and saying, ‘I want to be here. This is it. This is what I want to do. This is an amazing city.’

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

CHAPTER 2:

PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES Strategy #1: Participatory Educator and Youth Development

25-30

• Creating Intentional Community

26-27

• An ABL Literacy Event

27-30

Strategy #2: Connecting to Community-Based Organizations • ABL Programs • ABL and Schools • ABL and Community-Based Youth Development Groups

Strategy #3: Building a Network

31-37 33-34 35 35-37

38-40

As noted in Chapter 1, ABL’s activities grow out of its social action mission. In this chapter we examine the strategies ABL uses to advance social action: Participatory Educator and Youth Development; Connecting to Community-Based Organizations; and Building a Network. These strategies and their related activities are interactive, dynamic, and mutually reinforcing. In the ABL Theory of Change, we characterize these strategies as the “engine” that drives the Phillips Academy Andover/Bread Loaf School of English/ ABL partnership to result in changes for its participants and local communities.

One of the distinctive features of ABL is its responsiveness to local context, and the ways in which its strategies are shaped by and are shaping the particularities of place.

Here we examine ABL social action strategies largely within the context of the Lawrence community.

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

STRATEGY #1:

PARTICIPATORY EDUCATOR AND YOUTH DEVELOPMENT In 2014/2015, there were multiple ABL participatory educator and youth development events. In total, Greene estimates that there were 1425 student participants in a variety of events, 210 teachers, and 1,210 participants in Family Literacy Nights. While there may be overlap in participation, this count is probably low as it does not include Gorham’s influence as English department chair at Lawrence High School on the teaching of English, nor an event of 500 held at Lawrence High School. Nonetheless, according to Greene’s count, over the past four years there has been an increase in the number of participants in all categories. Student participation multiplied by almost five times since 2011-12; teacher participant numbers increased most significantly during the same period, with only 16 in 2011-12 to over 200 in both 2013-14 and 2014-15; participants in Family Literacy Nights increased about threefold over that same period. The expanding numbers indicate the growing local presence and influence of ABL.11 Participants usually become involved because ABL was recommended to them. Writing leaders, for example, typically reported that an English teacher had encouraged them, “My English teacher, like she just said, you have to go, you have to go. So I went one Saturday [to a conference at the Girls and Boys Club]… That happens a lot, a lot of friends that I had, that were in Bread Loaf like as students, they say their teachers encouraged them to be here.” Gorham noted that ABL does not need to advertise its summer program because they fill with students who have learned about it through recommendations and word of mouth. In summer 2015, 160 students participated in ABL’s three summer programs for youth.

11

25

Cynthia Greene, Metrics Report on 2015, ABL Advisory Board Meeting, July 16, 2015.

Because ABL is committed to the building of new sites, recruitment of teachers to the summer program usually occurs because a teacher already connected recommends other teachers from his/her locale. As Gorham explained, “We believe in building communities, and building communities in those [emerging Bread Loaf] sites — communities of people who buy into the same philosophy and can and will work together. So starting with who people know, and finding the exceptional teachers, is where we start.”

Other participants became a part of ABL because they or a relative attended Phillips Academy Andover and met Lou, who then encouraged them to join. Teachers from Mumbai, Nairobi and Karachi, for example, were encouraged to become a part of ABL because they worked in schools that were part of the Aga Khan Educational Service (AKES), which had developed a relationship with Phillips Academy Andover. An administrator from AKES met with Bernieri and wanted his teachers exposed to ABL. Two elements characterize ABL participatory educator and youth development: • An intentional community which is often multi-generational • A literacy event12 in which participants respond to a prompt and engage in expressive writing and public sharing of their writing

CREATING INTENTIONAL COMMUNITY Regardless of the particular setting of an ABL literacy event, ABL brings together a diverse group to participate. These groups almost always include an ABL leader and a writing leader. In addition, depending on the setting and occasion, retired teachers, community leaders, or leaders of cultural or service organizations may join the group.

Although focal participants might be youth or teachers, at Family Literacy Nights, the group can include parents, children of all ages, and even grandparents.

Heath S. B. (1982). What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school. Language in Society, 11, Pp. 49-76.

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

Spanish is often the dominant language among Lawrence families. ABL practice is to

happens, ABL educators and writing leaders are most interested in having a student,

encourage writing and sharing in any language in which the participant is comfortable.

parent, or teacher write and express themselves, not in having them follow a protocol.

A writing leader might model writing and sharing in a mix of Spanish and English.

One writing leader explained ABL’s commitment to allowing participants to have voice

Among ABL’s guiding principles is the importance of self-expression and that participants

compared to the type of writing assigned in her school.

and their writing will not be judged. These principles have helped to attract and make diverse groups a success.

Creating intentional community is one way of democratizing education. It recognizes that all community members have valuable experiences from which others can learn. It is a means for connecting learning to the language, culture and experiences of those in the community.

Creating intentional community is one way of democratizing education.

So, when I was at school…we learned structure. You have to sit in your seat and pay attention more and not really voice your own opinion or say what you have to say or say what you’re feeling… At Bread Loaf, most of the time the kids go toward the prompts, they usually like what we’re writing about so they’ll do it, but they’ll be a few kids who’ll want to write about different things.

An ABL educator described the power of the prompt in terms of it spurring his own writing. “What would happen is we would go into these writing prompts and we would just do this naturally. This is just what we did. Bread Loaf gave us certain structures that

AN ABL LITERACY EVENT

allowed us to really develop…” When “students” were writing, so were writing leaders

The focus of any ABL event is on writing. Every ABL led writing event shares three

students, but were good for the development of his writing as well. In an ABL literacy

and educators. As this ABL educator found, the prompts were not just good for the

essential components:

event, everyone participates and writes, and everyone is a learner and has something

• A prompt to stimulate writing

of value to say.

• Time to write • A chance to share what you have written In a typical ABL writing event, after everyone is gathered and pen and paper distributed, the leader will offer a prompt. A prompt is derived from music or literature and is designed to evoke the writer’s thoughts, beliefs, or feelings. For example, a prompt might ask a young group of students what they “wish” or what they “dream” or “like to smell, eat and do in summertime,” or “who is your favorite superhero.” But a prompt also can be a suggestive statement, such as “that’s the blues” or “what I see

27

Once the prompt is given, there is no prescription for how long writing time should last.

Depending on the setting and the participants, writing time can be short — 10 minutes — or last for a half hour or more. While the emphasis for those new to the process is to make writing a “natural” activity, not all writing is completed after an initial writing session. In some instances students (or teachers) are encouraged to select writing that they wish to refine for publication and/or during the summer sessions, the final open mic (sharing) performance. During the summer, for example, writing leaders work with small groups

with my third eye.” Sometimes writers prefer a past prompt to the one offered in a par-

of students daily to revise their writing. These sessions can focus on the mechanics

ticular session, or sometimes they just prefer to write without a prompt at all. When this

of writing or on content. The result is writing that is ready for publication, or for

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

performance to audiences beyond those that are participating in a particular activity.

The sharing time then is not only about providing voice to individual experience, but is also about identifying shared experience among participants.

The third component of an ABL event after the prompt and writing is public sharing. All ABL sessions have an open mic at their conclusion. Not everyone shares, but everyone

The ABL writing process reflects the ideas of democratic education and the theory of

is encouraged to share what they have written, and are given support and enthusiasm

learning described in Chapter 1. Prompts are selected that allow participants to write

for their insights and experiences. Students, educators, and writing leaders share, and

from their experience, and which recognize the value of their culture and language.

sometimes parents and/or grandparents share. Writing leaders describe how students

With the help of ABL educators and especially the example set by writing leaders, they

who are initially “shy” or “bashful” end up lining up and wanting to share. As one

reach toward their zone of proximal development, building on what they know and

writing leader explained, because there are is no “wrong” writing, students become

developing new insight. The new insight can be of a personal nature, but public

eager to share.

sharing also frequently makes it about a shared collective experience.

…it doesn’t matter how they’re writing as long as they’re getting their point across and they’re able to go up to the mic and perform their piece, which is completely different then just writing it down and just sitting there. These kids are eager to go up because there are no limitations. There’s nobody telling them hey, you’re doing this wrong.

“

I was listening to what people felt, what people wanted us to hear, what people

”

wanted to change and I was listening to similar feelings, to things we had in common so my attention was there because I was feeling the same things they were.

Another writing leader came to see the sharing time as one in which mutual learning is happening. “So what I learned is…there’s like a 30 minute period everyday that we get to share as a big group, we learn from each other because we’re all writing different things.” Another writing leader echoed the idea of mutual learning, but also emphasized the empathy and sense of collectivity that sharing can engender.

Like I was able to listen because I wanted to, because I was interested in what these people have to say… it’s a democratic classroom so we got to teach each other and I wasn’t really listening to instructions, I was listening to what people felt, what people wanted us to hear, what people wanted to change and I was listening to similar feelings, to things we had in common so my attention was there because I was feeling the same things they were.

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

STRATEGY #2:

CONNECTING TO COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS Initially, ABL focused its professional development on teachers and administrators with the goal of transforming Lawrence schools. But nearly a decade ago ABL began seeing its gains lose traction with the churn of changing administrative priorities, state takeover, and ultimately, implementation of the core curriculum. In response, ABL altered its strategy from one that focused almost exclusively on teachers and schooland district-based change, to a site-based strategy, in which it elicited relationships with a wide-range of community-based organizations. ABL directors reflected on this more expansive strategy noting that they had made “sites” the unit of ABL efforts rather than “a school system.” In 2014/2015 ABL had connected with 10 schools and 6 community-based organizations in Lawrence.13 This density of school and community connections made one long-time ABL educator from a locale other than Lawrence reflect, “Lawrence is the bedrock, heartbeat of ABL. Where it happens everyday.”

Figure A illustrates the connections ABL had in 2014/2015 with schools and community non-profits.

The community settings in which ABL is situated in Lawrence vary somewhat from year to year, as schools and non-profit priorities become subject to different pressures and/or staff changes. Nonetheless, the density of Lawrence organizations and schools that identify with ABL and have adopted ABL principles means that children as well as adults have many different opportunities to participate in ABL.

13

Personal communication with Lou Bernieri

Figure A: Map of ABL In Lawrence

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

ABL PROGRAMS

Slice, which is held at the Boys and Girls Club, and in summer 2015 a retired

The summer programs are the core of ABL. Twenty-nine years ago ABL established its

Rising Loaves by the inaugural class. The middle school program is held at the

two and a-half week teacher summer institute at its home institution, Phillips Academy

Lawrence Historical Society with an explicit social justice mission — to rediscover the

Andover. In that time, Gorham and Bernieri estimate that 200 of the institute

history of Lawrence, and reimagine and rewrite the current negative narrative about

participants were Lawrence teachers, 50 of whom are still active in Lawrence schools.

the town. With the addition of the middle years program, Lawrence youth can attend

Many have retired or moved to other school systems since the state receivership. In

an ABL summer program continuously throughout their public school years. Figure C

addition to Lawrence teachers and community leaders, teachers from New York City,

shows the ABL summer programs.

Lawrence Bread Loaf teacher initiated a program for middle school children, named

New Orleans, Springfield, Lowell, Lynn and other Massachusetts’ locales have participated in the ABL teacher workshop, as well as teachers from Haiti, India, South

ABL also runs three conferences a year. Conferences can be half day or several day

Africa, Pakistan, Kenya, and El Salvador. Figure B shows ABL nodes in the U.S. and

events in which students and/or teachers take part in a participatory writing workshop.

worldwide.

The day might also include a guest artist or performance and can be organized around a specific theme. For example, a Superhero Saturday conference was held in Lawrence for students in grades 2-5 in March 2015. Participants included 100 students along with 30 adults and high school writing leaders. The Lawrence Guerilla Society kicked off the conference with a performance of poetry about the superhero within everyone, and the powers of loving and caring. The children then wrote from prompts and shared.

Lawrence conferences are often hosted in community organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club or Movement City, an organization that does after-school programs focused on media production. Conferences not only take place in Lawrence; they also have been held in New Orleans, Haiti, Nairobi and Karachi. Conferences are planned for New York City and El Salvador in 2016 and 2017.

Participants

Program

Location

Teachers and Community Educators

Summer Institute

Phillips Andover campus

The three-week summer program for high school students runs parallel to the teacher

High School Students

Summer Program

Phillips Andover campus

institute, and is also on the Phillips Academy Andover campus. In addition to its writing

Middle School Students

Rising Loaves

Lawrence Historical Society

activities, the high school summer program offers arts programs. More recently, the

Elemntary Students

Slice

Boys & Girls Club

Figure B: Map of ABL in the U.S. and Worldwide

summer program has expanded to include a program for elementary age children,

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Figure C: ABL Summer Programs in Lawrence

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

ABL AND SCHOOLS

El Taller is a center of literacy activities. It is the home base of Common Sage, an adult

In addition to these extramural activities, ABL is actively involved with Lawrence schools.

performance group, and the Lawrence Bread Loaf Network, as well as hosting an open

Gorham estimates that in the 2014-15 school year, ABL was very active in nearly half of Lawrence’s 20 schools. Involvement might be leading teacher professional development, or coming into a classroom and doing a writing workshop. Another form of engagement with the schools was a year-long Friday writing workshop ABL led at the Boys and Girls Club where third graders from Guilmette Elementary School came for their enrichment period. In addition to working with Lawrence teachers and students, ABL also hosted Family Literacy Nights at 10 schools attended by 1210 family members in the 2014/15 school year.14 Family Literacy Nights bring parents, grandparents and other caregivers, as well as students and their siblings into schools for an evening of eating, writing and sharing. Teachers might distribute free books or free clothes at these events.

ABL AND COMMUNITY-BASED YOUTH DEVELOPMENT GROUPS

writing group, a Saturday family writing group, Guerilla Society, a Spoken Word mic every third Thursday of the month that draws in young people and adults to read their writing.

Further deepening ABL’s community reach are its partnerships with a host of community-based non-profits and cultural institutions that run after-school and other youth programs and sometimes school programs in visual and communication arts, video production, dance, and more. In 2014/2015, ABL was actively involved with six non-profit and cultural groups. Leaders of these non-profits ascribe to the ABL mission of making education a vehicle of self-expression and social justice, and adapt using self-expressive writing to their own work. ABL teachers and writing leaders work with these groups, bringing with them ABL values and approaches to learning. As one associate ABL director explained, Yeah. We define ‘educator’ broadly, and so some of our people work for

Congruent with its site-based strategy, ABL has spawned partnerships with community

community organizations, some of our people work for the public schools,

venues. El Taller, for instance, is a café located on Lawrence’s main street started by a

and in some cases there’s people who cross over. So, several public school

retired ABL teacher. El Taller is, in her words “all Bread Loaf,” meaning its purpose is to

teachers, for example, do workshops or volunteer work at either Movement

support literacy, learning and social justice. Another ABL educator commented,

City, the Boys & Girls Club, or the YMCA, or at El Taller, at the café.

El Taller - amazing. The neighborhood café/coffee shop that you’d see in a TV show or something. [It is an] ABL hub, for writing leaders, for community organizers. People go there to plan, to strategize, to write for hours. El Taller goes well beyond just being a place to come and meet for coffee.

One writing leader described how she transported her ABL-learned literacy approach to her Spoken Word class, offered this past year as part of her work with a local non-profit.

“We all use the same structure that happens in Bread Loaf. So in my Spoken Word class I use the same exact structure. We give a prompt — so it’s a prompt, they write, they share, prompt, write, share.”

14

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Participation numbers in Family Literacy Nights reported by Cynthia Greene.

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

“

We define ‘educator’ broadly, and so some of our people work for community

”

organizations, some of our people work for the public schools, and in some cases there’s people who cross over.

ABL has expanded its work through multiple partnerships to multiple organizations in Lawrence. The density of its presence in Lawrence provides many access points for Lawrence children and adults to the ABL experience. With this dense collection of local settings, ABL in Lawrence is growing a model for education being a “community enterprise” where literacy, learning, voice and social justice are being connected.15

STRATEGY #3:

BUILDING A NETWORK All educator participants in ABL are network members, which is both a physical and virtual setting for participation. As Dixie Goswami explained to a new group of ABL summer 2015 participants “You don’t have to sign up to join [BreadNet, the Bread Loaf network], we’ve already made you a member.” Dixie’s declaration captures the spirit of the network: The network is all-inclusive, with no screening, no trial, no prerequisites other than participation in ABL — or other Bread Loaf activity. Members of the network meet together in the summer, at conferences, or through other activities. The online community allows the many far flung members to stay connected and collaborate. Lawrence also has a local network, a hub of the Bread Loaf network, for teachers

With this dense collection of local settings, ABL in Lawrence is growing a model for education being a “community enterprise” where literacy, learning, voice and social justice are being connected.

and community educators in Lawrence (or closely associated with Lawrence) called the Lawrence Bread Loaf Teacher Network.

The network is a source of connection and relationships. One network member describes the relational nature of the network this way.

The network — I feel it is all about people. It is less about organizations and more about people…It is an organization that links all of us together, but it has more to do with the people, who have a bond together…”

Another network member explains how the relational nature of the network is a support for her teaching.

Some of my dearest friends are people I met because of ABL. Most of my exchanges are with teachers I met, inspired by teaching and projects I was exposed to at ABL. I wouldn’t do three quarters of the things I do now if I

15

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An associate ABL director referred to ABL as making education a “community enterprise.” It is also a term used by Clarence Stone, a scholar of civic capacity. Stone, C.N. (2005) Civic Capacity: What, Why, and From Whence? In S. Fuhrman & M. Lazerson. (Eds.). The Institutions of American Democracy: The Public Schools. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Ch. 9, Pp. 209-233.

hadn’t participated in Bread Loaf.

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CHAPTER 2: PLACE-BASED SOCIAL ACTION STRATEGIES

The functioning of the network is to keep people connected, to help educators generate

Here we have described in detail the activities of ABL as a set of “place-based social

and sustain ideas for teaching, and to be a vehicle for digital education. In summer

action” strategies: participatory educator and youth development, connecting to com-

2015, when ABL brought its summer program participants to Bread Loaf VT, there was

munity organizations, and building a network. We have shown how the activities reflect

a workshop for them on the process for generating a digital narrative. The group also

ABL’s guiding principles. The strategies work dynamically, as an integrated whole. Taken

explored pursuing a common project with their students: exploring how their local

together, they drive change at two levels: for individuals who participate in ABL activities

communities used water, and linking this exploration to the larger theme of climate

and for the community — both those who live and work in Lawrence and across sites

change.

in the larger ABL community. In the next section, we discuss the kinds of changes that ABL brings about at the two levels.

In Lawrence, as well as keeping people connected, the network is the vehicle through which ABL activities — local conferences, writing workshops, and other events — are planned. It keeps teachers, community educators, parents, and others in communication with each other across their institutional boundaries.

On the network are stories about what is going on in different Bread Loaf sites, projects of Bread Loaf teachers, publication of teacher and youth writing, and stories of teachers, writing leaders, and community leaders’ accomplishments. (Appendix D has a partial list of journal articles and book chapters by ABL and BLTN participants.) Through the Bread Loaf network, the reach of ABL stretches afar. School and community educators from Haiti, Pakistan, India, New Orleans, New York City and more are staying connected with Lawrence and Bread Loaf, working together to enrich and expand educational opportunities for young people in schools and local communities.

“

more about people…It is an organization that links all of us together.

39

”

The network – I feel it is all about people. It is less about organizations and

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CHAPTER 3: DUAL LEVEL CHANGE

In Chapter 2 we examined ABL’s three interrelated social action strategies — participatory educator and youth development, connecting to community-based organizations, and building a network. These strategies set in motion a chain of change processes: individual participants gain confidence and a strengthened sense of self, and they identify as members of a community building a sense of collectivity. Inherent to the strategies and the change process is ABL’s social action agenda: young people and adults become the authors of their lives and, collectively, of their communities. In this section of the

CHAPTER 3:

report, we explore the changes that result from ABL participation at both the individual

DUAL LEVEL CHANGE Individual Change

and collective levels.

42-60

• Cultural Identity

42-43

• Aspirations

43-46

> College Going for Youth > Advanced Education for Teachers

44-45 46

• Sense of Agency

47-52

• Social Awareness

53-56

• Democratic Educational Practice

56-60

Collective Change

61-66

• Reframe the Narrative of Lawrence

61-63

• Community Infrastructure

63-64

• The Network

65-66

INDIVIDUAL CHANGE Teachers, community leaders, and youth alike described the dramatic changes in themselves and their teaching practice as a result of their participation in ABL. Many gained new opportunities for growth that they could not have previously imagined.

Below we identify and provide evidence for five types of individual change that ABL participation results in.

CULTURAL IDENTITY The emphasis on using participants’ own background, language, and experience in writing and other forms of self-expression in ABL activities results in participants strengthened sense of and pride in their cultural identities. Writing leaders related, for example, how Bernieri’s unbounded enthusiasm for their work had given them a fresh sense of themselves and confidence in what they had to say. One of them explained, Lou was like, ‘… that is about the most brilliant thing that I’ve heard about all day.’ He would just get so excited about every little thing that all the students did. And it makes you feel good because we didn’t get that a lot. We didn’t get

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the ‘wow, great job, great job, you’re doing a great job, I love this. That writing is unbelievable; you’re going to change the world.’ It was that little motivation and every time Lou would pop in and tell us about that we were all just like, wow.

ABL embraces participants’ “funds of knowledge” with enthusiasm and encouragement, an experience that youth and adults alike identify as “empowering.”16 In line with the

As youth and adults write and share, they begin the process of reversing negative images of immigrants, their culture and communities prevalent in the media.

ASPIRATIONS

ABL principle of self-expression, ABL facilitators encourage youth and adults to write in the language in which they feel most comfortable. Permission to write and share in languages

For young people and adults who aspire to advance academically, ABL can open and

other than English affirms one of the basic components of cultural identity, the language

support new academic possibilities. Participation in ABL provides students with a sense

in which participants can best and most meaningfully express themselves. This practice

of their own ability and inspires many of them, even though they are not top academic

also communicates the legitimacy of languages other than English, which reinforces a

achievers, to want to advance academically. This sets a path to college going for many,

positive sense of cultural identity through the public recognition of “home” languages.

and in some cases ABL assists a young person who desires to attend a private or charter high school. ABL continues to mentor young people into college and graduate school,

Evidence of the positive effect this embrace of participants’ language and culture has

and often afterwards as they begin careers.

is the excitement at Family Literacy Nights — where youth, parents, even grandparents come to the mic to read what they have written about their dreams, their communities,

The summer ABL teacher workshop introduces new cohorts every summer to the ABL

or what gives them “the blues.” As we observed, once the sharing begins, it is hard to

principles and approach. They get a taste of the new ways of thinking about teaching

stop!

and learning, which they then have the opportunity to deepen if they choose to continue through the Bread Loaf Masters in English program. They are often inspired

As youth and adults write and share, they begin the process of reversing negative images

by a vision of new ways they could be helping their students and gain a renewed sense

of immigrants, their culture and communities prevalent in the media. In addition, their

of themselves as professionals. A degree from the rigorous Bread Loaf Masters program

participation in writing and sharing about their experiences dispels the deficit messages so

potentially is path to professional advancement as well. ABL teachers continue to be

common in schools, which too often focus on shortcomings of low-income, minority

supported by ABL staff and peers as they work to attain an advanced degree.

and/or immigrant communities rather than on their capabilities and assets.

16

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Gonzales, N., Moll, L.C. & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms. London, England: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

College Going For Youth The rate of college going for Lawrence youth is dismal; in fact, approximately onethird of entering ninth graders in Lawrence fail to graduate from high school in four

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or five years. In contrast, ABL staff point out that nearly all the writing leaders graduate from high school and go on to college. To help Lawrence youth academically advance, ABL provides a wide array of supports. For example, one writing leader who graduated from Lawrence High School talked about ABL arranging for her to take a “gap year” at Phillips Academy Andover, in order to better prepare her for college, while another Lawrence High School graduate talked about ABL staff offering to read and comment on her papers for college courses. As this writing leader explained, after she faltered in college and left, ABL was ready to back her up when she felt ready to return. ABL helps to keep doors open, rather than letting them snap shut when someone enters a new culture and struggles. “I feel ready to go back [to college]. I have a team to back me up, Lou is like, ‘we’ll support you, we’ll back you up. We’ll read all your essays.’ I’m like, ‘Great. I have a team and I have a family that’s super supportive.’” Without this kind of intensive support through high school and continuing into college, the outcomes for writing leaders might look very different. Some youth are supported earlier in the process when they express a desire to attend a high school other than Lawrence High School. ABL staff have written recommendations and helped youth who want to attend Phillips Academy Andover, Phillips Exeter Academy, or other independent or charter high schools compose essays.

Regardless of where they attend high school or college, writing leaders often return to Lawrence to assist with the summer workshops, maintaining their connection with ABL and their relationships with other writing leaders and the ABL directors. This continuing contact nurtures them even after they return to their college or graduate school campuses. It helps them feel connected as they strive to obtain a college or graduate degree. It also provides Lawrence middle and high school students with positive role models of young people like themselves who have continued their academic careers and are succeeding.

Advanced Education for Teachers Teachers who participate in the ABL summer program make a visit to Bread Loaf VT every summer, where they are introduced to the Bread Loaf Masters Degree program.

They are oriented to the Masters program by past ABL participants who now attend Bread Loaf, and are encouraged to consider attending Bread Loaf’s five-year summer degree program. Most participants do not enroll in the Masters program, but Goswami said their hope is that every year about five ABL participants will decide to deepen their involvement and become new Masters students at Bread Loaf. Goswami and others raise dedicated funds so that public school teachers, like those at ABL, can have the opportunity to be part of the Bread Loaf Masters degree program. An ABL Masters graduate from Bread Loaf reflected on the close interconnection for her between being a student in the Masters program and being a Lawrence teacher. The network was a vehicle through which she could connect her local ABL work with her Masters program.

“In terms of the Teacher Network — I would present work I was doing through ABL in Lawrence, academic work, work from my classroom, work I did on campus — bringing together my world as a student and as a teacher, in Vermont.”

Since the inception of ABL, more than 35 ABL teachers have enrolled in the Bread Loaf Masters program, including one from Haiti, one from South Africa, one from El Salvador, one from Pakistan, one from India, and two from Kenya.17 Exposure to opportunities for further education and to Bread Loaf role models, along with support and encouragement from ABL staff and network members helps to raise the aspirations of participating youth and teachers for educational and professional advancement. This appears to be especially true for writing leaders, who are graduating high school at a significantly higher rate than their peers.

17

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Personal communication with Lou Bernieri

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CHAPTER 3: DUAL LEVEL CHANGE

SENSE OF AGENCY are college students who come on recommendation of a professor.

There is evidence that participation in ABL activities increases individuals’ belief in

Regardless, the ABL structure makes it possible for writing leaders to

themselves and in their ability to be leaders, in ABL activities, in their schools, and in

grow and assume increasingly responsible leadership positions. Many

their communities. We refer to this as gaining a sense of agency. One writing leader

writing leaders begin as junior writing leaders, a role in which they are

explained how his self-image — and ultimately his sense of agency — changed over time.

still a “student” but provide assistance to the writing leader. One writing

I didn’t think I was a good writer in high school [or] in college, because folks would tell me I wasn’t a great writer. And I think through my time here, eventually

leader, who was a Lawrence student, explained how encouragement in ABL gave him the confidence to grow into leadership.

my confidence was built up… I sort of owned my voice, and I believed in my

I took that encouragement that Lou gave me [for my writing…

voice. And that’s what happens with all the participants.

And I became … a junior writing leader, in the 8th grade. I got a little more responsibility … and then freshman year

With new confidence and sense of agency, this writing leader has been able to become

I became an official writing leader.

an ABL summer program director and a community organizer. As he points out, the experience of growing into leadership is not unique to him, but one that is common to

For many youth, being a writing leader is an incredible, and unexpected

writing leaders.

opportunity.

“

And I think through my time here, eventually my confidence was built up…

When I was asked to be a writing leader, I was like wow...

I sort of owned my voice, and I believed in my voice. And that’s what happens with

I didn’t have much opportunities given to me or asked if I

all the participants.

wanted them and I had it at Bread Loaf… It was the best

”

Youth Leadership Trajectory: Writing Leaders Writing leaders come from various places. Some are youth who have participated in ABL, some are youth that an English teacher has recommended, some are students at Phillips Academy Andover, and others

47

decision ever because it’s forever and it’s my life.

As this writing leader explains, the experience of getting an opportunity to develop as a leader can have life-long benefits. One veteran writing leader, now a school leader, observed that the benefits are not only individual, but as young people gain a sense of confidence and agency, there are community benefits as well.

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In 2000-2001 I became part of the staff of the summer program. The first year And it’s nuts to see that these kids are taking what they’re learning [at ABL] and doing after school programs. Bread Loaf really builds that leadership, builds that character in them…

They’re really using writing as a way to build these leadership skills in people, help them realize the need in their community,… make them whatever kind of teacher so they can stay

I was a visitor, then a guest artist, then co-director. It is two and a half weeks every summer. I run workshops and serve as a dorm “mom.”

As this teacher and others like her have gained a sense of agency they have become the spine of ABL, supporting the many facets of the program and providing it with the educator leadership needed to help sustain it.

within the community.

The trajectory that ABL has developed for youth provides a new form of youth development, especially for immigrant and low-income youth for whom opportunities to advance and be leaders in their schools and communities are usually scant. ABL, recognizing the value of these youth to their community has created Teach Lawrence, an effort to mentor Lawrence youth to become a new generation of Lawrence teachers committed to “turning around” education and the city. With support, Bernieri estimates ABL could generate 5-10 new teachers a year for Lawrence schools, providing a more stable teacher base there of individuals committed to Lawrence and sensitive to the educational needs of an immigrant community.

Teacher Trajectory Teachers learn about ABL through word of mouth. As an associate director explained, once they meet an extraordinary teacher in a locale, that teacher recommends others. The idea is that any site can eventually accrue a critical mass of educators involved with ABL, who will gain a sense of agency and be able to exert influence on educational opportunities and approach in that locale. Teachers come to the summer session from all over New England, other U.S. cities, and foreign countries.

Teachers can earn continuing education credits by participating in ABL. While it is open to them for only one year, in a few instances an ABL participant has returned to the program with “visitor” status. Participating in the summer program, however, and becoming part of the network

Adult educators, like writing leaders, gain a sense of agency through participation in ABL. Teachers, too, find that ABL fosters their sense of leadership. One described how ABL provided her with an opportunity to grow into a leader.

49

opens up other possibilities. ABL teachers often publish in BLTN on-line and print publications. And some begin to get involved in out-of-school learning settings, becoming leaders in workshops and programs in community-based and cultural organizations in their own locales. Some

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enterprises. For example, an ABL teacher established a city-wide youth writing conference even initiate new endeavors, for example, opening El Taller in Lawrence, or a Writing Center in Karachi. Almost all recruit new ABL participants from their locale and work to develop a support group for teachers — especially those who want to use ABL-like methods — in their schools.

Any teacher who attends ABL also can obtain a Masters degree through the Bread Loaf School of English Masters program. Many remain classroom teachers but, once earning their Masters degrees, some advance within the education hierarchy becoming department chairs, assistant principals, and principals. Those who deepen their involvement in ABL through the Bread Loaf Masters program often become ABL directors.

The ABL Lawrence executive director and co-directors are Bread Loaf Masters degree graduates, and many of the summer program directors are as well. Many, but not all of the teacher educators working to build ABL nodes in other locales, including abroad, are graduates of both ABL and the Masters program.

in New Orleans in 2015, while, in El Salvador, ABL is embedded in a country-wide teacher professional development organization. An ABL teacher initiated and runs a writing center in Karachi, Pakistan. One ABL educator describes how he, as a leader and advocate, moves in and out of his own and ABL settings.

Rich Gorham and I regularly have offered some webinars. He and I co-facilitate at conferences here in Karachi… [In 2010] I went to Lawrence during the ABL [summer] workshop, just visiting, but I did a couple of sessions. Last year I was one of the directors at ABL. I worked with the whole group and was there for 14 days.

In summer 2015, this educator was back at Bread Loaf VT, from which he had graduated with a Masters degree, to refresh his connection with both ABL and Bread Loaf. He had opportunities to present his work in Karachi, where the ABL approach to writing is a radical departure from the usual way of teaching writing.

ABL is deliberate in providing opportunities for youth and teachers to play leadership roles. The impetus for developing as leaders comes from participants seeing others like themselves acting in leadership roles, from getting to practice leading in ABL writing

ABL teachers and writing leaders, however, do not only become leaders within

activities and workshops, and from the support that comes from being a part of the

ABL. Many also take on leadership in other settings, such as in their schools, communi-

Bread Loaf network. With this as a base, ABL youth and adult participants often carry

ty-based non-profits, colleges and work places. They might assume a role as initiator

their new knowledge and skills to new settings — in the community, to other cities and

or innovator in their high school or college group, such as one writing leader who

even countries. Their descriptions of feeling empowered is evidence for the impact of

became active in student council and the Yearbook, as well as emcee of the student

ABL on building an individual’s sense of agency.

talent show, or another who, noting the lack of representation of immigrants, started a multi-cultural group at her college. Teachers who attend ABL summer program often transport the ABL approach to other cities and countries, where they become advocates for the transformation of their schools and initiate other local educational

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SOCIAL AWARENESS Regardless of age, ethnicity or race, or gender, ABL participants often discover that they experience feelings of reduced isolation. Recognition that one’s experience is a shared one occurs when participants read their writing and hear the writing of others.

Fingers are snapped in the audience when ideas or experiences resonate, indicating recognition of a shared occurrence. This can be transforming, as participants identify their own experience as connected to a broader phenomenon. An ABL educator who has become a school administrator explained how sharing writing builds relationships through recognition of similar experiences, which he discovered helped him look at his experiences differently.

Bread Loaf has definitely shaped much more than my educational philosophy.

It’s really helped me to understand the power of writing and literacy but also to understand that literacy can be used as a way to connect with people and develop strong relationships and to express things that we’ve experienced or are going through and share it out with the world and also to receive things that others are experiencing or going through that may help us to look at things differently, that may challenge us, that may encourage us.

This participant, like many others, has come to see that writing can be a pathway to broadening one’s point of view and therefore one’s sense of belonging and obligation

eye-opener for her and her daughter.

Just being exposed to the Phillips campus, too, it’s like, coming from a little school that’s 50-70 years old and little classrooms, and obviously this big, beautiful campus, the big halls, and the big theaters, and it’s like, “Wow. There’s a whole ’nother world out there.

This mother went on to relate how her daughter now saw the world as potentially offering more opportunities than she had previously imagined.

The benefits of broader exposure are not just for Lawrence students. Phillips Academy Andover students also are affected by their exposure to Lawrence and Lawrence students.

As they participate in classroom workshops and conferences, they can not only appreciate their own privileged education, but also that talent, originality, and courage to express ones feelings are just as present and real among those with much less than they have.

The willingness of Phillips Academy Andover students to be part of the ABL Advisory Board, to contribute to ABL financially, and give of their expertise are evidence of the effect participation in ABL is having for them too.

For teachers and community leaders in the ABL summer program, increased social

to others.

awareness often occurs from exposure to professionals from other U.S. cities and from

Feelings of isolation can result not only from particular social experiences, but also

about realities in other locales through each other’s writing, as well as group and informal

because one’s physical world is constrained. The ABL high school summer program is conducted on the Phillips Academy Andover campus. For many Lawrence High School students this is the first time they have experienced an expansive educational environment. The experience can broaden their view of what an educational setting can be, and increase motivation to make their world inclusive of such experiences. One

53

mother of an ABL participant described how seeing Phillips Academy Andover was an

countries other than the United States. U.S. teachers and teachers from abroad hear discussions. Teachers describe learning about shared concerns, but also recognizing starkly different realities.

Some ABL participants visit teachers in other cities and countries, thus expanding their worlds beyond their local setting. Some visit as friends, but more commonly visits are

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connected to assisting with conferences and workshops. One writing leader describes

Finally, the language diversity of participants in ABL forces English speakers to confront

how a visit to one site has increased his interest in going to and learning from doing

their own deficit assumptions. When writing is shared in a language other than English,

work in other sites.

it is the nuance of voice and tone that conveys its emotional message, rather than

So in 2010 we got to go to New Orleans and work with students who were affected by Katrina…I was Bread Loaf for about four or five years at the time and I literally ran the program…And then a couple of years [later] I went to India, I did a writing workshop there. Currently, I’m trying to figure out — they want me to go to Haiti too.

Connections among teachers from different locales can have a profound impact, especially when this contact touches on issues of race, culture, and stereotypes that are in part created and then perpetuated through mass media. A teacher described the mutual learning and raised awareness that occurs as a result of connections she is making with teachers from other places. This learning extends to her students as well.

I am getting to know teachers from all over the world. We are exploring our shared experiences. When something happens in the news in Pakistan, I can call [Karachi] and say, ‘Did that really happen?’ I can grieve with him when these atrocities happen in his homeland. I can correspond with teachers and my students can correspond with students to see what we have in common and what’s different in our lives…[I have also learned that] for them to meet me has dispelled myths they had about Black Americans. It didn’t occur to me they would be holding on to those myths. That my counterparts in urban centers in different parts of Africa [would hold these myths] based on what they saw in the news, in movies.

“

of their students in writing in their classrooms, and to regard these home languages as assets. This new social awareness can result in personal transformation, explicitly challenging the dominance of English.

DEMOCRATIC EDUCATIONAL PRACTICE ABL teachers and community leaders described how ABL reinvigorates them personally.

They found the summer program revitalizing and leading them to re-engagement when they had felt “burned out,” overwhelmed, and exhausted. But ABL not only renews commitment to teaching, it also affects the practice of teaching. ABL stimulates self-reflective and democratic practices that transform teachers’ classrooms. We heard about how ABL changed teaching practice from new and veteran teachers, teachers who thought they were leaving the classroom but decided to recommit after their summer experience, and from community educators involved in theater and the arts.

In describing how ABL affected them personally, 2015 ABL summer participants echoed each other saying that ABL nourished renewed commitment. They said it “refreshed me,” that “it was rejuvenating, enlightening, challenging.” Others described it as opening them up to new ways of teaching, saying it was “intense and eye opening,” “it opened my mind.” Many reflected that through ABL they “regained passion.” As one Lawrence educator explained, I had taught for about four years, and I was burnt out…and ready to quit. This

”

I am getting to know teachers from all over the world. We are exploring our

shared experiences.

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translation. This experience challenges teachers to incorporate the “home” languages

job was way too hard. I felt isolated, not supported. I felt like I was not doing the right things. I didn’t know what I should do…and I really felt like I was done with the profession. And then I found Andover Bread Loaf.

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The educators also talked about how important it was to them to be in a setting where their work was valued, and how inspiring it is “to write what you are feeling.”

Educators gave concrete examples of how ABL would affect their classroom practice.

The ABL summer participants were returning to their classrooms and community settings in the fall with fresh energy and a fresh look at teaching and learning.

They had prompts in hand, and had learned the power of sharing writing. They

Much of what they described are democratizing influences. For example, they

also knew they had a community of fellow ABL educators they could turn to

described changing the teacher role from authority to facilitator of learning and seeing

for advice and support as they took risks and tried new approaches in their

themselves as co-learners with their students. One participant said that ABL was giving

classrooms.

her the experience of “taking risks, like I ask my students to do,” sensitizing her to what it feels like to be a student again. A teacher said that through her writing at ABL she felt her “close association to community” would be strengthened: “I am one of them,” she declared. She believed that she would now be better able to lower the barriers between herself as a professional and her students’ families. Participants also talked about how they wanted to transport ABL qualities of being “accepting,” “honest,” and “making no judgments,” to their own classrooms, so their students would be able to write what they feel, just like they were able to do at ABL. Some described learning new techniques such as theater prompts that they would use in their classrooms. Maybe most importantly, many talked about their own fears of writing and of poetry in particular, and how after the ABL experience they have come to embrace poetry and creative writing, and see them as a vehicle not only of self-expression but as a route to social awareness as well. Many of the teachers referenced, in particular, the high school students attending a parallel ABL summer program, and commented that witnessing their “sharing” had shown them what their own students experience and are really

Story of a Lawrence Teacher A teacher, who grew up in Lawrence and returned to Lawrence as a teacher, explained how participation in the ABL summer professional development affected her practice. Her story illustrates how she changed what she did in the classroom to reflect democratic principles and how she came to see her students and their capacities differently when she changed her behaviors. The changes not only affected her relationship to her students and their expressive writing, but she also saw how these changes raised her expectations for her students and helped her and her students better fulfill district academic requirements.

capable of achieving.

Even though I was an ELA teacher, I never wrote…I guess

The ABL summer participants were returning to their classrooms and community

started writing [in ABL], a lot of the things that were coming out

settings in the fall with fresh energy and a fresh look at teaching and learning. They had prompts in hand, and had learned the power of sharing writing. They also knew they

we’ll call it, what, free write, or narrative writing? But when I were regarding my own experience… So that was impactful for me, because I’m like, oh, that’s how I feel about things.

had a community of fellow ABL educators they could turn to for advice and support as they took risks and tried new approaches in their classrooms.

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And then ABL helped us start documenting ourselves as

sentence: evidence. Third sentence: explain evidence. Fourth

teachers. And the goal of it was, if you take it back to your

sentence: Transitional.’ You know what I’m saying? It was very

classroom, how would a lesson now look different?

proscribed…

If you truly think that education is a democratic right, the top-

And it’s also forced me to be tougher on them. It’s no

down approach no longer works. And to be honest, that’s the

longer about, ‘oh, number three’s wrong — go back to it.’ It’s

kind of teacher I was… I’m the boss; you’re the kid. That’s it…

about, you know, ‘you didn’t make your case. This is where you didn’t make your case. Go back and argue it. Go through

So I started sitting with my kids [and] something changed

your notes, go through what we discussed.’ So even my feed-

in the dynamics, where children opened up more to me…

back has gotten more real.

I wasn’t standing in the front, I wasn’t sitting on my desk, I wasn’t walking around — I was sitting with the kids. …They [the school district] want to see more kids writing.

Well, what I learned is when I started doing a lot more narrative writing, for lack of a better word, but real writing, about their own life... Their fingers loosened.

So when I asked them to write academically, it wasn’t such a pain anymore. And I didn’t have to say ‘use details,’ because I did that through the personal writing, and it was easy for them to use details in their personal writing. So when I said that academically, it wasn’t divorced. And I feel the opposite way when I was doing just academic writing; it was very divorced. Like it was, ‘First sentence: topic sentence. Second

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COLLECTIVE CHANGE

Family Literacy Nights not only provide families with joint writing and pub-

REFRAME THE NARRATIVE OF LAWRENCE

strengths and capabilities of the community.

lic sharing experiences, but they also provide a window for teachers into the

In Lawrence, the collective project is building awareness of the city’s positive heritage as a gateway immigrant city, and with this recognition, the capacity for civic engagement that can revitalize education and renew the city.

Lawrence schools have been in state receivership since 2011, and have been in thrall to the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System and the core curriculum. This top-down control over education has limited, if not shut out, teacher and community engagement. ABL is building the knowledge and infrastructure to challenge this topdown authority with genuine teacher and community engagement.

ABL has built a core of teachers in the Lawrence schools; established a range of opportunities for engagement, complemented by its community-based partnerships, and its network of community leaders. By making education a “community enterprise” ABL has built a platform for Lawrence residents and teachers to work from in making the schools reflective of the culture, aspirations and needs of the Lawrence community.

The Family Literacy Nights, which bring parents and grandparents and other caregivers into the school, are an important part of this effort. Family Literacy Nights not only provide families with joint writing and public sharing experiences, but they also provide a window for teachers into the strengths and capabilities of the community. Transforming the schools, however, is a long-term project, as the education system has become less and less permeable. In addition, the hemorrhaging of ABL and Latino teachers from the system, at least in part because they have felt disenfranchised in the context of top-down governance and the imposition of standards and the core curriculum, has made the task of transforming the schools an even more difficult one.

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The recognition of the difficulties of transforming the school system contributed to ABL’s strategy of seeking community venues and engaging a range of community organization leaders. This strategy of blurring the line between community and schools brings teachers closer to the community, and the community closer to the schools. In that way, ABL creates a comprehensive social change project intended to alter the negative narrative that has characterized representations of Lawrence. For example, in summer 2015, an ABL teacher who had left the system worked with the non-profit Lawrence History Center to design a summer program for middle school students. She built upon an afterschool program she had led in which middle schoolers were investigating the history of Lawrence. During the summer, the teacher, along with another who had left the system, worked with 35 middle school students to explore Lawrence’s past, visiting sites in Lawrence important to its history and writing, drawing, and sharing what they learned. The purpose, in part, was to undercut negative characterizations of Lawrence like that which had appeared in Boston Magazine. By revisiting its past, these middle school students were gaining personal confidence, fostering pride in their community, and creating potential for reframing the narrative about Lawrence.

Another Lawrence teacher described how her participation in ABL also led to greater community involvement, and how she is involving her students as well. This teacher is pointing out a new dynamic ABL is setting in motion between those inside schools and the local community. She now sees herself as not only a teacher but as connected to others in a broader community:

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I’ve become more involved in my community…I started doing a lot more

ABL has built up a significant number of allied community-based groups. In 2014/2015

service…volunteering. I started bringing my kids to volunteer. ABL is blurring

there were a total of six active partnerships. The heart of these partnerships is El Taller,

the boundaries between school and community, bringing teachers into the

located in the center of Lawrence. Radiating out from El Taller are others, such as the

community, and is creating a set of community and school leaders who can

Addison Gallery, which provides arts enrichment to schools, and the Boys and Girls

advocate for Lawrence and its residents, and restore the city and its reputation

Club, Elevated Thought, and Movement City, which provide school-time, after school,

to one of a hard-working and culturally rich immigrant community.

weekend, and/or summer time programming. Teachers and/or other adults who attend the ABL summer program staff these programs, or they are led by community leaders

Her involvement, along with that of others is evidence of ABL’s success in making teachers,

whose philosophy and approach align with Bread Loaf, and who also see themselves

youth and community leaders advocates for the city, working to change the narrative

with a larger social justice mission. Often, youth who have been part of ABL are also part

that has labeled Lawrence as a failure. It is also evidence of an emergent synergistic

of these organizations, and become leaders in both. This community infrastructure is

school-community relationship.

providing support for youth, opportunities for civic engagement, and potential for long-

COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE The schools and community-based groups that collaborate with ABL might vary somewhat from year-to-year, depending on the vagaries of leadership and pressures of funding, but nonetheless, ABL has steadily built up a significant community presence.

ABL is present in the schools through both ABL-trained teachers and ABL programs. As mentioned previously, there are about 50 ABL teachers currently in Lawrence schools.

These teachers introduce students to ABL’s approach, recommend students to the summer program, and in many cases have become involved in the local community as well. At

term change in Lawrence.

As noted by the teacher quoted earlier, the increasingly dense community infrastructure that ABL has built over time in Lawrence has begun to blur the boundaries between schools and community as sites of learning. Adults and youth move in and out of these settings, in which a similar approach to using writing as a means of self-expression and empowerment are reinforced. This has given a collective push to ABL, creating a set of inside and outside structures all pulling in the same direction — one that recognizes the value of what every individual has to say, and is committed to creating a broadly defined educational enterprise that is committed to social action.

Lawrence High School, an associate director of ABL is the English department chair, which means he brings ABL principles and approach to bear on the entire English department, as appropriate. Through these teachers and other school leaders ABL staff was invited to nine schools in 2014/2015 to do one of a variety of activities: professional development; family literacy nights; and/or bring in writing leaders to classrooms for a series of

the increasingly dense community infrastructure that ABL has built over time in Lawrence has begun to blur the boundaries between schools and community as sites of learning.

student writing workshops. Even though ABL is not working at the “system” level, it has a significant presence in the Lawrence schools, and influence on writing practices in many classrooms.

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THE NETWORK

As this quote illustrates, in Lawrence, the formal and informal network mechanisms are

Involvement in ABL results in participants becoming part of a larger community of people

and in communication. Teachers, community leaders, parents and others want to be a

who share their experience and lasts well beyond their summer involvement. All ABL

part of the network because it provides a sense of community. Network members often

participants automatically become members of the BLTN, and teachers, administrators,

refer to the network as “family” or its members as “my best friends.” But the network is

and community leaders in Lawrence participate in the Lawrence Bread Loaf Teacher Network,

more than just a collection of individuals sustaining each other. The network is the means

a hub of BLTN. The networks sustain themselves by operating online, but include face-

through which ABL is able to harness the energy of its diverse body of individuals and

to-face meetings as well. The Lawrence Bread Loaf Teacher Network, for example, has

organizations, and to construct and realize plans for collective action that align with a

a formal monthly meeting at El Taller and many ad hoc meetings in-between, where

shared mission to mobilize to revitalize education, and renew Lawrence.

a means through which the various entities that identify with ABL stay closely connected

conferences, workshops and other events are discussed, as well as what is happening in Lawrence and the schools. These networks are a means for sharing information, and also

The network does not stop with Lawrence. BLTN includes students who are part of the

allow teachers and community leaders to seek peer assistance with issues they confront.

Bread Loaf VT Masters program, and therefore from rural and urban areas across the

As one leader of a community-based group explained:

United States. It also includes ABL and Bread Loaf Masters students from South Africa, El Salvador, Kenya, Pakistan, India and Haiti. The network has succeeded in creating global

I try to attend the network meetings… I think going there is a way to first, hear

connections among teachers and students. It is a means through which students and

what’s going on in the school system, connect with teachers — it’s a reunion of

teachers around the world learn from each other, share their beliefs and traditions, and

sorts where I get to see colleagues that I don’t always get to spend time with.

address issues of global consequence through mutual investigations and shared writing.

But also to share the great things that…we’re doing.

The BLTN and Lawrence BLTN have indeed made the world a smaller place — one in which teachers and students can use writing to reach across boundaries and communicate

The network, although it has formal online and face-to-face meetings, has an informal

in new ways.

dimension as well. For example, El Taller is a space where network members come and find each other. As a leader from a community group put it, And I guess a very informal way that the network is connected is, honestly, the space [El Taller] that we’re sitting in right now. I feel like whenever I come here, whether it’s just to eat, or to have another meeting, I run into so many other Bread Loaf people...this has been a space where students can come to, and it’s a place to hang out, write, share, read, and there’s so many events…

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In this chapter we have explored the different kinds of changes that participation in ABL can lead to for individuals and for the “sites” in which ABL is embedded, such as Lawrence. We have shown that the implications of ABL go even wider, having potential for affecting other cities and even an international community. In the last chapter we will look at the capacity ABL is creating for civic engagement, with the long-term goal of building a more equitable and just educational environment and society.

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ABL’s long-term goal is to give voice to Lawrence residents through literacy practices that make them the authors of and participants in Lawrence’s future. In this way the ABL activities are, in effect, social change actions that set the stage for greater equity for Lawrence youth and adults. Social action that is collective and aimed at making change is the subject of research on social movements and on building civic capacity. Both involve forms of collective action. Social movements are generally organized around a political agenda or “cause” and seek to reframe an issue and change society’s values.

CHAPTER 4:

CAPACITY FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT FOR EQUITY Shared Social Action Agenda

68-70

Inclusive Membership Base

70-72

Mobilization of Resources

73-74

Spread of ABL Ideas

74-76

Potential to influence public policy

77-78

Civic capacity refers to the development of a shared agenda across civic actors for problem-solving and influencing city or system plans and policy. In this chapter we look at the potential ABL is creating for the residents of Lawrence to act collectively to address issues of importance in Lawrence. We draw on both social movement theory and on theory about civic capacity to frame this discussion. We also look at ABL beyond Lawrence, and how the ideas that are being developed in Lawrence are spreading.

SHARED SOCIAL ACTION AGENDA Civic engagement is often discussed as the actions of individuals, such as whether an individual volunteers or votes. However, when the purpose of engagement is to affect the broader community, diverse actors must work together through what can be termed “collective civic engagement” or the creation of a shared agenda for change.20

Horn, Jessica. (2013). Chapter 2: Engendering Social Movements: Evolution, debates, definitions and resources. Gender and Social Movements: Overview Report. Bridge Development, Institute of Development Studies, UK. Retrieved November 2015 (docs.bridge.ids.ac.uk/vfile/upload/4/document/1401/FULL REPORT.pdf); Sampson, Robert J.; McAdam, Doug; MacIndoe, Heather; & Weffer, Simon. (2005). Civic society reconsidered: The durable nature and community level organization of collective civic action.

American Journal of Sociology, 111(3). Pp. 673-714.

19 Stone, C. N. , Henig J.R., Jones, B. D., & Pierannunzi, C. (2001). Building Civic Capacity: The Politics of Reforming Urban Schools. Lawrence, Kansas: University Press of Kansas; Stone, C.N. (2005). Civic Capacity: What, Why, and From Whence? Fuhrman, S.& Lazerson, M. (Eds.). The Institutions of Amercan Democracy: The Public Schools. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Pp. 209-233.

20 Stone 2005; Sampson, et al. 2005.

18

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We have shown in earlier chapters that ABL’s work has contributed to creating an agenda

who ally with ABL but are not themselves ABL educators or participants, as well as from

for social action shared among a range of constituents in Lawrence.

our observations of ABL events and programs, we have presented evidence that ABL leaders embrace similar principles and that ABL is creating in Lawrence and beyond a

The principles introduced in Chapter 1 — a commitment to democratic education;

shared agenda around writing as a means to self-expression and social action. Leaders

giving voice to the lived experiences of participants; valuing the communities par-

of non-profits were able to explain how ABL enhanced and or complemented their work,

ticipants come from; creating a strong sense of community among participants; and

not distracted or displaced it. They had become eager adherents of ABL, even while

acting for social justice — form a set of common elements that shape efforts to bring

staying dedicated to their own organizational missions.

about change, whether in the schools or in the city’s image and direction.

Looking forward, ABL might want to continue to document whether its partners and parWe have pointed out in this report that ABL shifted its strategy from an “inside” one with

ticipants fully embrace the social action agenda it has established, or how, as ABL grows

a focus on educational professionals and system change to one in which it is working

and expands, the agenda evolves. ABL could explore the extent to which groups share

both inside and outside, making education a broad concern of community institutions.

the set of ideas or principles that make up the agenda through interview or survey

As the previous sections have illustrated, ABL’s ideas are spreading in Lawrence to youth

methods. ABL could assess whether its efforts are widening the commitment to a

and adults through its workshops, conferences, and partnerships with youth develop-

greater number of individuals, school-based personnel, and community leaders, and

ment community-based non-profits, through summer and school-based professional

how deeply the commitment runs within partner organizations. Interviewing can also

development for teachers and through Family Literacy Nights. ABL is creating a social

reveal dynamics and how a social action agenda is adapted over time and with new

action agenda shared community-wide through its promulgation of a common approach

partners. The willingness of a new corps of community-based organizations, higher

using literacy as vehicle of empowerment and means to social action and equity. It is also

education institutions, K-12 schools and/or districts to identify as ABL could also be an

building commitment to youth development in which immigrant and low-income youth

indicator of a widening group committed to a shared agenda.

become education and community leaders.

In the literature on civic capacity, the evidence of a shared social action agenda includes

INCLUSIVE MEMBERSHIP BASE

both a common discourse and the willingness to make the shared agenda a priority,

Literature on both social movements and civic capacity discusses the importance of

while not abandoning the distinctiveness of the work of different groups or individuals.21

sufficient and broad membership. For social movement theory, members include those

From interviews with a cross-section of adults and youth associated with ABL, and adults

who join on to further particular principles or goals. 22 The literature on building civic capacity, in contrast, discusses the importance of building an inclusive membership base.23

21

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Stone, C. N. (2004). Civic cooperation in El Paso. Providence, RI: Annenberg Institute, Brown University.

22 23

UNESCO 2006 Stone 2005

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When discussing inclusivity, this literature points out the importance of the base being

The expansion of the ABL base, and the engagement of the base in cross-generational

cross-sectoral, that is, including representatives of the business sector, government,

and cross-sectoral work is a key indicator of the potential ABL is creating for civic

non-profits, unions, and representation of low-income sectors. Civic involvement, they

capacity. As mentioned earlier, Greene has been keeping tabs on metrics related to

note, is often considered the domain of the civic elite, but low-income populations are

ABL’s base, and in Appendix B there is a summary of the growth of ABL participants,

critical to the membership base if the shared social action agenda and issues addressed

writing leaders, and Family Literacy nights over the past several years. This kind of program

through that agenda are going to reflect equity goals to positively impact low-income,

participation monitoring can help to demonstrate the growing strength of ABL’s base. In

often immigrant populations and people of color.24

addition, keeping a count of its partnerships with community-based organizations, and the schools it works with, as well as the programs spawned by participants, are other

The ABL membership base certainly meets what is required to build civic capacity within

ways that ABL can demonstrate its expanding base. Finally, keeping track of how many

the city of Lawrence. ABL has created an inclusive membership base, and is continuing

participate in the Network is another way to measure ABL’s base.

to broaden and deepen that base. Traditionally, teachers and other school leaders had been its base. They remain an important part of the base, but as this report indicates, ABL has tremendously expanded its base in the last 29 years. That base has been enlarged by the exponential growth of the number of writing leaders and by the addition of community-based arts and youth development organizations as partners in making education — and particularly the use of writing as a creative and empowering tool — a focus of work with youth. ABL’s work with adults has also expanded. El Taller has become a center for adult writing groups, family writing groups, and adult drama groups all who embrace ABL principles. These groups, along with El Taller’s monthly open mic bring together a mix of adults and youth from different social and economic sectors both as participants and audience. And ABL’s Family Literacy Nights, its most recent initiative, is expanding ABL’s reach to parents, grandparents and other child guardians, who are being introduced to its principles in multi-generational cross-sectoral settings that include teachers, writing leaders, youth and their families. Other ABL sites forming in Massachusetts create the potential for increasing the geographic scale of the base – creating the possibility of statewide social action.

24

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Henig, J. R., & Stone, C. N. (2007). Civic capacity and education reform: The case for school-community realignment. R. Rothman (Ed.), City schools: How districts and communities can create smart education

Looking forward, a study that examines the discourse and social action that results from cross-generational, cross-sectoral gatherings could be very important in showing the potential of an inclusive base for the development of civic capacity. Also important could be study of the pathway ABL has created for youth becoming writing leaders, a unique approach to youth development. Although there are many studies of the importance of networks for teacher professional identity and development, networks are not studied for their potential to build a social movement or civic group. Looking closely at who participates in the ABL network, both intensely and “lightly,” could yield important information on its base. A base that is inclusive has the potential for civic capacity, but this potential is realized only when diverse groups and individuals have had multiple opportunities to interact around a shared social action agenda, building trust and experience working together over time. The network provides one vehicle for this, and more study on the role of ABL events and activities in creating and sustaining networks could add additional indicators to how ABL builds civic capacity.

Although there are many studies of the importance of networks for teacher professional identity and development, networks are not studied for their potential to build a social movement or civic group.

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MOBILIZATION OF RESOURCES

conferences and other activities, and have helped with the work of bringing participants

One way of looking at the strength of a social movement is the way in which it mobilizes

Elevated Thought has created for Lawrence public spaces. Taken together, these are

resources for supporting and sustaining it and for forwarding its agenda. Likewise, where

all form of “in-kind” contributions to ABL’s efforts. Looking forward, a closer look at the

a civic group can deliver on its social action agenda also requires mobilization of

nature of the relationship between ABL and school administrators, and ABL and leaders

resources.25 ABL has successfully brought together elite institutions, higher education

of community-based groups might yield useful information for the broader education

institutions, community-based groups and teachers and other school district leaders. In

movement interested in forging a closer relationship between schools and communities.

total, these institutions and people have mobilized a range of types of resources.

A look at the success of its Teach Lawrence effort could also be an indicator of the strength

to events, and creating social action through their own venues, such as the artwork

of its success in forging a strong community identity. ABL could stand the usual model The ABL partnerships with the Bread Loaf School of English and Phillips Academy Andover

of school reform on its head, showing how the mobilization of community resources can

have been crucial in terms of mobilization of intellectual and financial resources. People

influence educational outcomes, especially when a synergy is created between schools

from both institutions contribute ideas, research and funds to support ABL. Both help to

and community-based organizations that share an educational and social action agenda.

make the work of ABL visible through their publications. In addition, Phillips Academy Andover provides space for the teacher and high school summer workshops. Bread Loaf hosts ABL teachers each year and finds funds for those who want to pursue a Masters

ABL could stand the usual model of school reform on its head, showing how

degree. Dixie Goswami provides inspiration and creative thinking to ABL directors, teacher

the mobilization of community resources can influence educational outcomes,

and writing leaders, and the ABL Advisory Group of Phillips Academy Andover alums

especially when a synergy is created between schools and community-based

provides funds, critical feedback, help with program monitoring and enthusiasm to the

organizations that share an educational and social action agenda.

ABL directors. Without the support of these partner institutions, the ABL model, with its part-time directors with one leg in teaching and the other in community education and organizing, would not be possible.

Mobilization of financial and intellectual resources, however, is not the only necessary resource. Mobilization of the grass roots to participate is also crucial and this occurs through ABL’s relationships with school personnel and with the leadership of communitybased organizations. These entities have provided time and space for ABL workshops,

SPREAD OF ABL IDEAS One measure of the strength of a social movement is the extent to which the ideas that animate it spread beyond the movement membership itself — affecting the discourse, action, and policy in the broader society. In the case of ABL, it is important to examine whether its ideas have spread not just among its close-in members, but also among others

25

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Stone 2004.

in Lawrence and beyond.

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CHAPTER 4: CAPACITY FOR CIVIC ENGAGEMENT FOR EQUITY

Throughout the report and this conclusion, we have pointed to ample evidence that

and New Orleans, as well as in other Massachusetts cities including Springfield, Lowell

ABL ideas are spreading and taking root in Lawrence through the many institutions and

and Lynn. Second, ABL teachers sometimes migrate out of Lawrence, but take with them

community organizations with which it works. As a result, there is evidence that some of

their ABL identities and the social action agenda of ABL. Third, writing leaders — especially

its ideas have spread to leaders in the city and schools who are not necessarily active ABL

those now in their early 30s — have migrated to new locales, but have stayed connected

participants. The embrace of programs such as the partnership between the Boys & Girls

to ABL. Like ABL teachers, they maintain their ABL identity, and take with them their

club and an elementary school for enrichment time suggests, for example, that the idea

commitment to the ABL social action agenda.

that literacy can be a vehicle for youth development, that community-based institutions can work closely and complement schools’ efforts, and that there is a need to respect the

As described earlier in this report, ABL has attracted teachers from a handful of other

culture and experience of immigrant families are beginning to be accepted by Lawrence

countries. These teachers are working in a variety of ways in their own contexts, drawing

educators and civic leaders. Further evidence of the acceptance of ABL ideas was the

on ABL principles. They are closely connected to the ABL community and to Bread Loaf

invitation in January 2015 to ABL members Bernieri, Gorham, retired ABL teacher Mary

as well. The network provides all these individuals with a vehicle for staying connected

Guerrera, and ABL parent Stacey Seward, to be members of the new mayor’s transition

and further developing their ideas and shared agenda. The network can also be a

team, helping to establish priorities in numerous areas for the city. That same year, Bernieri

vehicle for helping to spread ABL ideas, as new members join and through the network

and ABL co-director Jineyda Tapia were invited to sit on the mayor’s health advisory

become acclimated to ABL.

board, in order to assist the mayor in a health education campaign that would use ABL principles. And in 2015, The Board of Directors of the Lawrence History Center awarded

Looking forward it will be important to continue mapping the spread of ABL, both in the

Bernieri and Gorham the Eartha Dengler History Award at a public event. This award was

United States and abroad, and to learn the different iterations ABL takes, and how the

in recognition of the work ABL has done in Lawrence with educators, assisting them in

principles are interpreted and applied in widely different contexts. We also mentioned

helping young people to tell their stories through writing, and for all ABL has contributed

in this report that other elite schools similar to Phillips Academy Andover are interested

to the city. As ABL ideas and practice become more and more integrated into the

in learning about ABL and how they too can be part of a social action project in their

discourse in Lawrence, the community comes closer to the goal of recasting its image.

adjoining communities. Examination of whether and how such a consortium develops could also yield important information on not only the spread of ABL ideas, but also what

ABL ideas, however, have gone well beyond Lawrence, and as these ideas have spread

makes it possible to “scale up” a project deeply rooted in community and intended to

not only have new players brought intellectual energy to ABL with their array of experi-

mobilize to build broad-based civic capacity. 26

ences and languages, but they are also adapting ABL to new environments. The spread of ABL ideas happens in multiple ways. First, teachers who come to ABL come from other U.S. cities and from abroad. These teachers have helped ABL to establish itself — through their own work and with the support of ABL teachers and directors — in New York City

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26

See Appendix D for a preliminary estimate of the prerequisites for “scaling up,” tabulated by Cynthia Greene.

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POTENTIAL TO INFLUENCE PUBLIC POLICY

Duncan’s recognition of Gorham shows that ABL’s work has the attention of high-level

Social movements, as well as the building of civic capacity often have as their end point

out above in the section on the spread of ABL ideas, there are a growing number of indi-

the ability to affect public policy. Both literatures concur that the kind of capacity

cators that ABL is starting to have an influence on Lawrence civic leaders. ABL directors,

— resources, broad base, and resource mobilization — requires time. Sustainability is

teachers and parents were asked to participate in a variety of policy-making initiatives,

therefore a concern of each. Social movements, while they may have an agenda and

such as the mayor’s transition committee and the mayor’s health advisory board. These

extend over time, often are not sustained even if there are wins on particular issues. The

kinds of invitations are not only recognition of ABL’s value to the city, but could be

development of civic capacity, however, is measured by its sustainability — the ability of

entrees for ABL having a stronger influence on city practice and policy. Moving forward,

city leaders and residents to work effectively to address agreed upon issues over time,

ABL will want not only to keep a count of these kinds of activities and recognitions, but

and as problems are solved move to new issues and begin to solve those. Scholars of

also look at how their participation is moving an agenda for change that increases

civic capacity point to the importance of real infrastructure, as well as committed leader-

equity in Lawrence in the form of specific policy wins. Such policy wins might include

ship, as essential to sustaining civic capacity.27 Both the efforts of social movements and

legislation and state resources to support Teach Lawrence, such as is happening in

civic engagement need to find ways to translate ideals into policy and to get policies

Illinois with its Grow Your Own initiative.28

policy actors and opens possibilities for it to have a greater national influence. Pointed

enacted into official practice and/or law.

By its own admission, ABL is not yet at a point where it has focused on strategic efforts to forward public policy. While eventually ABL leaders might imagine, for example, a Lawrence school district which is locally controlled, and primarily responsive to the needs of its majority immigrant students and families, the directors of ABL believe that the ability to reclaim the schools from state receivership is still in the future. Nonetheless, there are early signs that ABL is starting to be an influential player in Lawrence. In May 2014, during Teacher Appreciation Week, Gorham received national attention for his ABL work. The U.S. Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, called him to congratulate him on his 13 years of tireless ABL work, including the inspiration he has been to Dominican students, some of whom have returned to Lawrence to teach. Duncan also was interested in Gorham’s project with Haiti and ABL’s global reach.

27

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Stone 2004; Henig and Stone 2007.

28

For more information on Grow Your Own Illinois, a program to recruit and retain diverse teachers from local communities which has been honored for its positive effect on Hispanic communities, see www.growyourownteachers.org

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CONCLUSION

CONCLUSION This report has documented the process through which ABL uses literacy learning to empower educators and youth alike. With a strong institutional foundation and guiding theory, ABL’s strategies of participatory teacher and youth development, partnering and collaborating with many community organizations, and fostering a learning network serve as the engine for change at both individual and collective levels. All in all, as the last chapter discusses, what distinguishes ABL is its potential for place-based transformation. Such a transformation is possible because the ABL process is building capacity for collective civic engagement and the potential for long-term educational and community change, especially in Lawrence. We indicate the kinds of evidence of change it will be important for ABL to collect in the future in order to continue documenting its reach and effects.

ABL is deeply invested in Lawrence, but its influence goes well beyond Lawrence. It now has “nodes” in other Massachusetts cities as well as New York City and New Orleans and in six developing nations. Its example can animate discussions of “school reform” bringing to it a fresh sense of what it means to make education an intrinsic part of a community, what it requires to build authentic school-community relations, and how teachers can invite into their classrooms the culture and knowledge of their students, and build on this base for academic achievement. With a newly approved federal act, U.S. and state school accountability policy is evolving, potentially opening up new possibilities for ABL’s efforts inside schools in the future. ABL, however, does not stop in the U.S.; it also is lighting a path to how to build global educational relationships for teachers and their students.

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REFERENCES

REFERENCES Atkinson, Jay. 2012. “City of the Damned.” Boston Magazine, March, 2012. Retrieved December, 2015 (www.bostonmagazine.com/2012/02/city-of-the-damned-LawrenceMassachusetts/).

Benson, Chris; Christian, Scott; Gooch, Walter; and Dixie Goswami (Eds.). (2002). Writing to Make a Difference: Classroom Projects for Community Change. New York City, NY: Teachers College Press.

Friere, P. (1968 – 1970 translation). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York City, NY: Bloomsbury.

Freire, Paulo and Donaldo Macedo. (1987). Literacy: Reading the Word and the World.

South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.

Gee, James. (1999). The new literacy studies and the “social turn.” Retrieved December 2015 (Files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED442118.pdf).

Gonzales, N., Moll, L.C. & Amanti, C. (Eds.). (2005). Funds of Knowledge: Theorizing Practices in Households, Communities, and Classrooms. London, England: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group.

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Horn, Jessica. (2013). Chapter 2: Engendering Social Movements: Evolution, debates, definitions and resources Gender and Social Movements: Overview Report. Bridge Development, Institute of Development Studies, UK. Retrieved November 2015 (docs. bridge.ids.ac.uk/vfile/upload/4/document/1401/FULL REPORT.pdf).

National Writing Project. (2006). Writing for Change: Boosting Literacy and Learning through Social Action. Berdan, Kristina; Boulton, Ian; Eldman-Aadahl, Elyse; Fleming, Jennie; Gardner, Launie: Rogers, Iana; & Solomon, Asali (Eds). New York City, NY: Jossey-Bass.

Sampson, Robert J.: McAdam, Doug; MacIndoe, Heather; & Weffer, Simon. (2005). Civic society reconsidered: The durable nature and community level organization of collective civic action. American Journal of Sociology, 111(3). Pp. 673-714.

Stone, C. N. (2004). Civic cooperation in El Paso. Providence, RI: Annenberg Institute, Brown University.

Stone, C.N. (2005) Civic Capacity: What, Why, and From Whence? In Fuhrman, S. & Lazerson, M. (Eds.). The Institutions of American Democracy: The Public Schools. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. Pp. 209-233.

Street, Brian. (2003). What’s new in the new literacy studies?: Critical approaches to literacy in theory and practice. Current Issues in Comparative Education Vol. 5(2). Pp. 77-91.

Heath, S. B. (1982). What no bedtime story means: Narrative skills at home and school.

Language in Society, 11, pp 49-76.

UNESCO (2006) UNESCO: Global Monitoring Report 2006: Education for All Literacy for Life, Ch. 6, Understandings of Literacy. Pp. 147-159. Retrieved November 2015 (Unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001416/141639e.pdf).

Henig, J. R., & Stone, C. N. (2007). Civic capacity and education reform: The case for school-community realignment. R. Rothman (Ed.). City Schools: How Districts And Communities Can Create Smart Education Systems. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. Pp. 117-136.

Vygotsky, L.S. (1978) Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Michael Cole, Vera John-Steiner, Sylvia Scribner, & Ellen Souberman, (Eds.).

Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press,.

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APPENDIX A

APPENDIX A:

QUALITATIVE DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS DATA COLLECTION Below is a compilation of the qualitative data collected for this study over the course of three 3-day site visits and one half-day visit. In addition to data collected during the site visits, four 1- to 1.5- hour phone interviews were conducted.

During the site visits interviews ranged from 1- to 1.5- hours each as well. Interviews with the ABL Executive Director and associate directors recurred during each of the site visits. The focus group was a 2-hour interview. All interviews were taped and transcribed.

In addition to these formal interviews, there were many informal conversations as well, over breakfast, lunch and dinner, and during transport from one event to the next, with the ABL executive director and associate directors, as well as with several of the summer directors, who were members of BLTN. These conversations were recorded as field notes. They also helped us understand ABL’s breadth and influence.

Observations occurred at each of the site visits and ranged from .5 hour to 2 hours.

Some included a brief overview of the project and tours of community spaces while others involved observing a project in process. Classroom observations were for full classroom periods. All observations were recorded as field notes.

In addition to the documents listed below, we also participated in an active email correspondence about ABL with Lou Bernieri, and Dixie Goswami. These emails were another informal but important sources of insight into the program.

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Interviews • ABL Directors: - 1 Executive Director of ABL, and 2 Associate Directors, all interviewed several times during multiple site visits • Parents: - 2 parents of ABL youth • Lawrence Public Schools: - 1 Lawrence public school administrator - 1 Lawrence public school principal - 1 retired ABL teacher, now a community educator • ABL Teachers not based in Lawrence: - 2 in US and 2 abroad, by phone • Community Leaders/Educators: - 5 community educators - 1 Lawrence based researcher • Summer Program Directors: - 2 Directors - Informal dinner conversation with 3 Directors.

• Focus Group: -1 with Lawrence Bread Loaf Teacher Network, 9 participants

Observations • School Programs: - 2 Lawrence public school classrooms, including a workshop with Phillips Academy Andover writing leaders - 1 Family Literacy Night - Tour of Lawrence High School

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APPENDIX A

• Community Events:

- A Thursday night open mic at El Taller - Visits to Elevated Thought, Movement City, and Lawrence Historical Society - 2 times, 3rd grade writing enrichment at the Boys & Girls Club

• Summer Program:

- 1.5 day Visit to Bread Loaf VT with ABL Summer teacher program, including: - Orientation and digital workshop - Writing Leaders summer open mic at El Taller - ABL Teacher summer institute open mic - High School student summer program open mic - Various workshops for teachers and high school students during summer programs - Closing program for the Rising Loaves program

Document Review • Interviews with 7 Writing leaders conducted by MaryEllen Farrell • Websites - Phillips Academy Andover - Bread Loaf Teacher Network - ABL website • ABL Reports - Report from Haiti - Superhero Saturday report - Participation report by Cynthia Greene - Survey report by Cynthia Greene • Newletters - Selected Phillips Andover, BLTN, and ABL newsletters • Media - Selected press reports about ABL and Lawrence - Boston Magazine article about Lawrence

DATA ANALYSIS

future visits, in January, March (which got changed to May), and July, 2015. Site visits were to coincide with ABL events, and each site visit was to include a feedback session on findings from the previous visit with the program directors, and in July, with the ABL Advisory Board.

Following each visit, the researchers reviewed the interviews and field notes and developed initial themes. These preliminary findings became the basis for feedback sessions with ABL stakeholders. Phone interviews were conducted in winter 2015, and findings for those were included with feedback provided in May 2015. Analysis, therefore, was iterative, and through discussion with the ABL directors important themes and issues were identified and refined.

After data collection was completed, the researchers reviewed and analyzed the entire corpus of data using the set of refined themes that emerged from initial analysis and feedback from ABL directors. Out of this process of data reduction, the researchers developed a theory of change that could explain how ABL worked, its outcomes, and how to connect outcomes to ideas and activities. An initial theory of change was shared with Bernieri, Gorham and Goswami, and was substantially revised with their feedback.

Once the theory of change was determined, the report was organized around the themes identified in it, and the data was used to illustrate how the theory of change worked and the outcomes of ABL. In describing ABL and its potential long-term effects, the directors and many network members used the language of “building a social movement” and increasing “civic engagement” in order to transform Lawrence and the schools. We looked to the literature on social movements and civic engagement, discerning from research in these fields the attributes necessary for building capacity

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The first site visit was a half day visit in October 2014, which included a discussion

for change. We then returned to the data and looked for how ABL was building capacity

with Lou Bernieri about the study, it purpose, audience and logistics, as well as an

in the areas the literature identified as critical and what its future potential was for trans-

observation of an ABL enrichment program at the Boys & Girls Club. Dates were set for

forming policy and practice.

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APPENDIX B

APPENDIX B:

PARTICIPATION AND ACTIVITIES METRICS IN LAWRENCE PREPARED BY CYNTHIA GREENE

87

88

APPENDIX B

Name of events/ program

Name of events/ program

Location

Frequency

# of WL

# of Total Students Hours

Student Workshops Spoken Word Workshop

Movement City

4 xs/wk

8

215

Poetry/ Mural Workshop

Guilmette

4-5 x/wk

15

148

Poetry Workshop

Guilmette

4 xs/wk

15

140

Guerilla Society

El Taller

6 x/mo

8-10

117

Poetry Workshop

Lahey School

1 x/wk

15

93

Poetry Workshop/ Parthum

Boys & Girls Club

1 x/wk

20-30

67

Poetry Workshop/ Guilmette

Boys & Girls Club

1 x/wk

20-30

60

College Essay

Boys & Girls Club

1-4 x/mo, 7 mos

8-10

51

College Essay

Movement City

2-4 x/mo, 6 mos

8-11

25

South Lawrence East

1 x/wk

150-165

25.5

Boys & Girls Club

3 x/wk, 1 mo

42

20

Guilmette/ Parthum

8 xs, 1 mo

60

16

Guilmette Middle

5 xs/wk, 3 wks

20

15

South Lawrence East

1 x/wk, 4 mos

105-110

12

2nd grade Pen Pals Poetry/ Dance Troupe Writing Workshop Gr 3 & 4 Writing Workshop 2nd grade Workshop “Big Workshops” Day of Poetry

Lawrence HS

1x

600

4

Writing Workshop

Lawrence HS

1x

500

1

City-wide Conference

Boys & Girls Club

1x

90

4

Conference: Eat a Poem

Boys & Girls Club

1x

80

4

Poetry Workshop

Boys & Girls Club

1x

30

2

Non Sibi Day

Boys & Girls Club

1x

30

3

PA

1x

10

1

Alianza Latina Meeting Writing Leader Training Writing Leader Training

El Taller

1x

5

3

Writing Leader Training

PA

3 xs

25

3

El Taller, PA

2 x/mo

0-3

34

ABL BLTN Meeting

89

Location

Frequency

# of # of # of Par- Total Teachers Families ticipants Hours

ABL BLTN Meeting

El Taller, PA

2 x/mo

7-10

46

Professional Development

Lawrence HS

1 x/mo

100

32

Professional Development

Northern Essex CC

2 xs

10

6

ALIVE PD Conference

El Taller

1x

50

3

PD/ Professor Paris

El Taller

1x

20

3

Webinar (Pakistan)

1x

12

2

FLN

Arlington School

1x

100

3

FLN

Community Day Charter

1x

80

2

FLN

Esperanza Academy

1x

80

2

FLN

Frost Middle

2 xs

80-110

4

FLN

Guilmette

1x

100

2

FLN

Oliver Elementary

1x

90-160

4

FLN

Parthum

1x

170

3

FLN

South Lawrence East

1x

100

2

FLN

Tenney Middle, Methuen

1x

50

2

FLN

Weatherbee School

1x

90

3

Common Sage

El Taller

2 grps, @ 1x/wk

10, 15-20

142

Mayor’s Youth Health Council

YMCA

1 x/wk

13-15

87

Open Mic

El Taller

1 x/mo

80-120

16

Revolutionary Book Club

El Taller

2 x/mo, 3 mos

10-12

12

Elevated Thought

3 xs

20

9

El Taller

2 xs

40

6

Lawrence HS

1x

150

4

1x

100

3

El Taller

1x

70

3

Elevated Thought

1x

40

3

Roundtable: Eva Gold

El Taller

1x

30

3

Border Lights Vigil/ Open Mic

El Taller

1x

30

2

Elevated Thought

1x

30

2

Professional Development

PD (Rich) Family Literacy Nights

Other

Video Production Ted Talk/ Community Arts and Culture Summit Dance Production WRITERS SERIES Poetry/ Mural Workshop

Open Mic

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APPENDIX B

continuing “2014-15 Lawrence Activity” TOTAL

Teachers

WLs

Students

Families

Other

Hours

2014-15

212

41

1,265

1,210

1,351

1,474.5

Last Year (2013-14)

246

57

421

2,160

1,400

873

% change from last year

-14%

-28%

200%

-44%

-61%

21%

Forecast

122

45

1,021

N/A

755

N/A

174%

91%

124%

N/A

73%

N/A

% of forecast

91

continuing “Hours of Training 2013/14 vs 2014/15”

92

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX C:

LAWRENCE ACTIVITY VS THE IDEAL FOR ENTERING A CITY PREPARED BY CYNTHIA GREENE Intensive Summer Workshops

General School

2 Schools

5 Schools - Lawrence Family Dev. Charter Elem. School - South Lawrence East Elementary - Frost Elementary - Front Middle - Lawrence High School (5 academies @600 student/academy)

Partnership w/ community organizations

2

- Boys & Girls Club - Movement City

ABL Site Coordinator Lou 50 % ABL Staff

2

None

Lou 100 %

5 Schools

8 (start w/ 4)

- Lawrence Family Dev. Charter Elem. School - South Lawrence East Elementary - Frost Elementary - Front Middle - Lawrence High School (5 academies @600 student/academy) - Oliver School Elementary - Parthum Elementary - Weatherbee Elementary - Weatherbee Middle School

4

Yes

- Boys & Girls Club - Movement City - YMCA - Essex Arts Center

Lou 70%

(50% in Lawrence, 50% overall)

Coordinator who is at least 50% time

None

None

2-3 trained ABL staff Admin assist - 50% time

300 students 5 programs

440 students 13 programs

As many as possible but at least one in each grade level

115 students 2 programs

140 students 3 programs

140 students 3 programs

At elementary, middle, and high school levels

50

85

105

25 school year 25 summer program

45 school year 40 summer program

55 school year 50 summer program

30-60 Writing Leaders per year minimum

Conferences and literacy events (same ones as for teachers)

3 conferences 3@100

4 conferences 3@100, 1@800 + open mics, etc.

4 conferences 3@80-100, 1@600 + open mics, etc.

3+ /year 100+ people per conference (teachers and students)

College counseling and essay writing programs (#s included above)

20

40

50

Yes

232 teachers

Year long, at least once a month in each targeted school (4-8 schools)

Writing Leader training

Programs for Teachers, Administrators, Youth Workers School year PDts

16 70 teachers teachers - 20 elementary

- 10 middle school - 40 high school

Program for Students School year and 220 vacation workshops students 2 programs

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Intensive summer Professional Development program

6 teachers from Lawrence, 2 weeks

- 100 elementary - 10 middle school - 100 high school - 10 Phillips Academy - 12 Community College

6-8 teachers from Lawrence, 2 weeks

20 teachers, 2-3 weeks long

94

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX D: Fellowships for graduate study

2 Lawrence teachers

4 new fellowships a year (4, 8, 12, 16, etc.)

Summer study preferred, which means 4-5 summers of study to earn degree

District-wide conferences

3 with 10-15 teachers

3 with 8 teachers 6 writing leaders

3+ /year 100+ people per conference (teachers and students)

Tech Support for telecommunications and other teach projects

Ad hoc

Ad hoc

Done by administrative assistant

Yes

Yes

Yes

Recruiting and support for teachers who come from the community BLTN meetings Families and the Community

Weekly 5-10 participants 16 70 teachers teachers - 20 elementary

- 10 middle school - 40 high school

Family Literacy Nights

Community Education Circles

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3 Lawrence teachers (+3 outside) full scholarships

1 school 400 students and parents

JOURNAL ARTICLES AND BOOK CHAPTERS AUTHORED BY ABL AND BLTN PARTICIPANTS Andover Bread Loaf 25th Anniversary, 1987-2012, 2011 Report <https://www.andover.edu/SummerSessionOutreach/ABWritingWorkshop/Documents/ ABLv10.pdf>.

Andover Bread Loaf newsletters, 1998-2015, (publications and resources) <http://www.andover.edu/breadloaf/>.

“Andover Bread Loaf Creates Family Literacy Night Video.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 5 (2015). Web. 31 October 2015. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2015/10/18/andover-bread-loaf-creates-family-literacynight-video/>.

“BLTN and Leadership.” Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 2 (2013). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2013/09/05/bltn-and-leadership/>.

“Teach Lawrence: Transforming Education, Transforming a City.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 1 (2012). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2012/11/11/tl2/>.

Weekly 5-10 participants

Equivalent of twice a month

232 teachers

Year long, at least once a month in each targeted school (4-8 schools)

“Why BLTN?: Members Weigh In on Connected Teaching.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 1 (2012). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2012/09/29/why-bltn-members-weigh-in-on-connected-teaching/>.

“Writing for a Better World: Bread Loaf Mumbai.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 5 (2015). Web. 31 October 2015. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2015/10/04/writing-for-a-better-world-bread-loafmumbai/>.

- 100 elementary - 10 middle school - 100 high school - 10 Phillips Academy - 12 Community College

2 schools (6 events) 1,000 students and parents

9 schools + 2 orgs (12+ events) 2,500-3,000 students and parents

3/ year at each school

25 people

20 people, 2 groups

If possible

Bartels, Emily C. “Reading the World.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 2 (2013). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2013/09/06/reading-the-world/>.

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APPENDIX D

Bernieri, Lou. “This is What Lawrence Youth Do on a Friday Night.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 3 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/05/14/this-is-what-lawrence-youth-do-on-a-fridaynight/>.

Bernieri, Lou. “A Year with Andover Bread Loaf.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 2 (2013). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2013/09/06/a-year-at-abl/>.

Coreas, Jennifer “Stories that Matter: Karachi-San Salvador.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/16/karachi-san-salvador/>.

Gorham, Rich. “Peace Literacy in Haiti.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/16/peace-literacy-in-haiti/>.

Goswami, Dixie. “Diplomacy in Action: ABL and BLTN International.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/16/bltn_international/>.

Goswami, Dixie. “Diplomacy in Action: ABL and BLTN International.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/16/bltn_international/>.

McKenna, Tom. “Navajo Kentuckians: Food Literacy as Landscapes of Home.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/16/navajo-kentuckians-at-ncte/>.

McKenna, Tom. “The Pedagogy of the Imagination: Professor Michael Armstrong.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 2 (2013). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2013/09/06/the-pedagogy-of-the-imagination-professor-michael-armstrong/>.

Tejani, Mohsin “‘Travelogues Karachi’ Holds Public Reading Event.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/16/travelogues-karachi-holds-public-reading-event/>.

Tejani, Mohsin, and Lorena German. “Karachi Connection: A Webinar on Teaching Writing.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 5 (2015). Web. 31 October 2015. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2015/10/03/the-karachi-connection-a-webinar-on-teaching-writing/>.

Wandera, David. “A View from Kenya.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/13/a-view-from-kenya-david-wandera/>.

Guerrero, Mary. “Many Faces of Lawrence.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 5 (2015). Web. 31 October 2015. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2015/10/31/many-faces-of-lawrence/>.

Lewis, Ceci. “The Bread Loaf Teacher Network: A Way of Life.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 2 (2013). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2013/09/04/the-bread-loaf-teacher-network-a-way-of-life/>.

McKenna, Tom. “BLTN International Sampler.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 4 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/12/13/bltn-international-sampler/>.

McKenna, Tom. “Imagination, Idealism, and Compassion: Lawrence Family Literacy Nights.”

Bread Loaf Teacher Network Journal 3 (2014). Web. <http://sites.middlebury.edu/bltnmag/2014/05/14/lawrence-family-literacy-nights/>.

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