| Dear Arizona Promising Practices
Subscriber,
Welcome to another online addition of the Arizona
Promising Practices forum. For those new to this service, each issue, which
will now be sent to you on a regular basis, will focus on: (1) Recommended
National Educational Websites; (2) A Local or Arizona Website/Practice of
Importance; and (3) One promising practice article in condensed form. We
welcome your recommendations for improvement to this forum or suggestions on
future topics (these will be wide ranging to if nothing in this update interests you, hold on for future editions!) The Arizona Promising Practices
Forum and website, www.azpromisingpractices.com
is a FREE resource of the Arizona Department of Education. Mary Urich, ACPE Director murich@mail1.ade.state.az.us In this issue we focus on
Promising Practice Research aimed at Improving Services and Delivery to
Homeless Students. Courtesy of the National Center for Homeless
Education, this group of students may take on many forms, but the needed
end result is a high quality education and environment to help improve the
lives of these individuals. The tips may also be used across the classroom and
especially with students with unique learning needs and challenges. But first: National Website focusing on Promising
Practice - In working with homeless education
issues, you are not alone. Each state supplies resources to assist you in this
effort. Check out the National Center for Homeless Education State Resource
Site to find the coordinator who can be of additional assistance to you - http://www.serve.org/nche/stateres.htm
Arizona Website of Importance - Need
more information about Charter Schools in the Grand Canyon State? Check out
the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools at their website - http://www.asbcs.state.az.us/
Promising Practice
Research and Tips
What do teachers need to know about students experiencing homelessness? They need to: · Understand the life circumstances and needs of homeless, highly-mobile, and poor students. · Develop a comprehensive health, social, and educational profile of each child to assess his/her readiness to learn. · Have knowledge and skills about weaving life-skills development throughout the academic curriculum and modifying instruction into small units with meaningful content that can measure short-term rate gains. Tips for
Classroom Teacher Providing Instruction
* Provide a stable environment.
* Provide structure.
* Allow personal possessions or space.
* Expect and unobtrusively monitor regressions.
* Assign projects that can be broken into small components to ensure at
least some successes.
* Allow students to express fears.
* Don't assume that students know how to play; they may have to be
taught to do so.
* Make professional help quickly available
(e.g., an informed school counselor).
* Be open to the students' needs to talk about experiences without
prying.
* Give students opportunities to see some of their experiences as
positive.
Tips for Schools and
Teachers
* Make students feel welcome.
* Select a student to be their "buddy" on the first day of
class.
* Refer to on-site tutoring program for educational assistance if
needed and available.
* Coordinate educational plan with school counselor.
* Give the student a clipboard to take home as a portable desk to work
on.
* Offer tools to complete any required task.
* Supplies may not be readily available for the child.
* Keep a supply of nutritional snacks in your room.
* Help students make plans for transportation for after-school
activities or other special events.
* Have necessary toiletry items on hand to assure proper hygiene at
school.
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