10 WEEK PROGRAM SAMPLE CURRICULUM

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B.S.D.R.T  Curriculum: Introductory (10 weeks)

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The purpose of this ten-week curriculum including two weeks minicamp is to develop concepts and methods of study needed to understand teenage relationships, social issues and problems. Also, to enforce the importance of education, recreation, and service so that teens can engage in decision-making and participate in activities, which improve the quality of life and human welfare.

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Week #1: Getting acquainted: Orientation & overview of program adult (facilitators)

 

Meeting 1: Discuss basic procedures and program expectations to participants. Lay groundwork for the next 6 weeks including personalize notebooks activities, who am I, Discuss who we are; who students are; set tone for class w/ vigor and enthusiasm; discuss what will be happening over the course of the coming weeks; establish a good rapport base, which links to subsequent meetings; (e.g., rules, behavior, etc.); question and answer session to close.

 

Meeting 2,3,4 &5: Continue open discussion, further discussing motto and aspects of the program (i.e., ”If you want to be somebody, if you want to go somewhere, you got to wake up and pay attention”, respect, excellence, attitude, leadership, education, recreation, and service). The focus will be on those aspects and their meaning and relevance to the daily life of program.

Individual journals will also be distributed to teens for daily thoughts and weekly responses. The journals are designed to get to know minor things about the thoughts and ideas teens experience in the program (e.g., favorite activities, speakers, workshops, etc.) teen will have the opportunity to volunteer to read their journals openly.

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Educational Objective: Students will be exposed to whole group discussions related respect, morals and values, character and team building. The desire is to start building rapport and closeness within the group. Reflection will also be a point in which teens perceive the ways the three core values and eight keys of excellent points relate to their daily lives.

Materials Needed: Journals, notebooks, game/activities materials, and work sheets. 

Teen will volunteer their time to the NET youth during the summer learning the Park activity, teamwork in sports camp, teen music festival and swim lessons.

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Week #2: Lessoning, communication, & trust activity at the YMCA. Explore elements of group and team building, earning respect, perceptions of reality according to the law and judicial system.

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Meeting 1: Career exploration – Attorney Adam Trabrugg court room proceedings questions and answers. Reality Check camp Xrayed Write and briefly discuss, “Being prepared.” Respect for each other should be shown throughout each response. Hopefully teens will intermittently bring to light the various perceptions learned from information shared. Continue team building by breaking teens into small focus groups (e.g., a group responsible re: bullying, re: gang violence, etc.)

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Written exercise: teens will be asked to write their responses to the following 3 questions: 1) Have you ever been bullied? 2) Have you ever experienced stereotypes? and 3) Have you ever been wrongly accused? self-esteem, character building, eight keys of excellent and expectation of S.L.I.P.

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Meeting 2, 3, 4, &5: teens will be asked to read their written responses to the questions how did it make them feel and to elaborate.

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Educational Objective: Analyzing and identifying ways in which current events affect individuals and groups.

 

Materials Needed: video camera, notebook, iPod etc.

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(Library Computer lab time) - Computer lab time allows student groups to search the web for sites, articles and other publications re: the aforementioned focus group topics.

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Week 3#: Community service and sports Camp.

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Meeting 1: Briefly discuss, “There is no unity without community.” Whole group discussions will center on how this information affects teens in a local context. Group ideas and opinions related to this culminating event (The Community Forum) will be discussed here.

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Materials Needed: DRC Sport Camp and S.L.I.P.

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Written exercise: teens are to respond in their journals to the following assignment:

1) One thing you liked about DRC’s sport camp and community service.

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Meeting 2, 3, 4, & 5: Volunteer students and/or mentors will read their homework writings. While the teens encounter new and exciting experiences enables them to pursue various topics in a unique combination of challenges and social interaction. through team building and leadership skills while working together in a series events and  What is it that makes you proud to be who you are (ethnicity) and what makes you ashamed or uncomfortable to be that person?

 

The objective here is three fold:

1) to help students reflect on and reveal personal information about themselves, which, in turn

2) continues to create a safe and honest environment where feelings and individual voices will not be ignored

3) discuss stereotypes of cultures found in neighborhoods, on television and other places. One-on-one conversations will last about 15-20 minutes where upon pairs convene back into the larger class for whole group discussion. Students, with the prompt from mentors, are to relate these issues to various perceptions of reality and how these perceptions affect our judgments of and actions toward others. With the remaining time, a video on gang life will be shown. Student groups are to take note from the video where they see their group topic as relevant.

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Educational Objective: Students will identify as process the importance of research and findings. Students will also probe into areas of intellectual thought that may or may not be familiar or similar to their own, exposing them to other ideas and narratives. Students will demonstrate competency in organizing and integrating information to formulate questions and solve problems related to investigation and research. Finally, students will identify the process of text interpretation.

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Materials Needed: Television, VCR, and videotape.

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Homework: Students will be asked to read 1 pre-selected article related to either racial profiling and/or youth incarceration. Students are to summarize the articles and write (no less than 2 paragraphs) their personal reactions to them.

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Week #4: Exploring, developing, and exemplifying ways of resolving conflict.

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Meeting 1: Write the phrase of the week on the board and briefly discuss, “As we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.” --Nelson Mandela. After discussion, whole-group dialogue will take place re: the homework assignment. Students will be asked to read their reactions to the posed article. Afterwards, students and mentors will be asked to relate the readings to personal life and ways of dealing with those issues. To that end, if there is time, students will be separated into their focus groups and given a topic-related conflict that requires a resolution. Students and mentors will be asked to develop alternative, but realistic, responses to resolving the conflict. Groups will perform the wrong way first and then exemplify an alternative solution(s). Whole group dialogue will ensue after each group performance, hypothesizing, evaluating, and critiquing each scenario and its resolution.

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Meeting 2: Continue conflict resolution skits on focus-group areas of interest; reflect on the reality of such situations and the likelihood of the presented resolutions actually occurring.

 

Afterward, a free-writing exercise on the following:

1) Name a difficulty that you had to face

2) What gave you the impulse to act

3) What obstacles did you encounter 

4) How did you face (surmount or crumble) the difficulties?

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Educational Objective: Students will be involved in hypothesizing, improvisation, role-playing, and demonstrating resolutions to conflict from creating and team-building with classmates.

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Materials Needed: 3.5 x 5-index cards and cassette/radio player.

Homework: Students are to finish the free-writing exercise. In addition, students are to explore library resources, namely using the computer lab to bring in more materials related to their focus groups.

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Meeting 3: (Computer lab time) Research and inquiry.

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Week #5: Comparisons with and attributes of yourself, your school, your community, your home, and your culture.

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Meeting 1: Write the phrase of the week on the board and briefly discuss, “Be a path maker and set an example.” Students and mentors are to open a whole group dialogue surrounding the free-writing activity; reactions and commentary take place. Afterward, students break into focus groups and discuss what materials and information they have to share. Afterward, a video related to domestic violence will be shown. Following the video, students will break into groups of 3-4 and develop lists related to the rights of a woman and the rights of a man. Afterward, students will reconvene back into the larger group and discuss the results. The class will be asked how domestic violence is linked to all focus group interests.

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Meeting 2: Students and mentors will have an invited guest speaker dialogue with the class on issues of domestic violence. Students are to take notes on the lecture.

Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate competency in organizing and synthesizing information into daily life as well as relating that information to the lives of others (via role-playing or visual).

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Materials Needed: TV, VCR, videotape, chop block paper, big black markers, and transparent tape.

 

Homework: Students are to make a list of topics and the responsibility they see themselves taking on (e.g., orator, commentator, co-organizer of the event, etc.) in the formation of the community forum.

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Week # 6: Continuation of domestic violence segment and initiating section on escaping the intense grip of drugs and alcohol.

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Meeting 1: Write the phrase of the week on the board and briefly discuss,” It is far better to be free to govern yourself than to be ruled by anything or anybody else.”

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In a whole group forum, the class will review the previous meeting’s subject matter. Afterward, students will be engaged in an activity called, “Go or Stay.” This exercise asks students, “To what degree do you stay or go in a relationship that is increasingly becoming about power and control?” After the activity, a discussion on the community forum will close out the period.

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Meeting 2: Class will revisit the phrase of the week. After that discussion, students and mentors will have the opportunity to engage a guest speaker on issues of drugs and alcohol as well as participate in activities.

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Homework: Students are to write their ideas, opinions, and perceptions of the day’s talk. Their responses can be written in the form of a poem, rap piece, song or drawn in any creative style. Students are also to bring to the next class meeting any writings, drawings, audio/video presentation ideas they would like to contribute to the community forum.

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Meeting 3: Use of library or computer lab.

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Educational Objective: Students are involved in using their writings, combined with publications and other sources, ways to communicate their ideas to an audience. Students also explore the fundamental nature of relationships between humans and how social dynamics play an integral role in these relationships.

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Materials Needed: audiocassette player and guest speaker.

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Week #7: Introduction to the elements of (formal) speech and interviewing.

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Meeting 1: Write the phrase of the week on the board and briefly discuss, “As soon as healing takes place, go out and heal somebody else.” -- Maya Angelou. Students and mentors will review the previous homework assignment in whole group format. Students are then to break into their focus groups and extract three main sub-categories in their topic that they feel need to be addressed at the community forum. Students who are interested in putting together an audio/video production will be able to dialogue about such ideas with an audio engineer and video facilitator. Discussions surrounding the community forum continue. The roles students play will be defined and the overall “who does what” will take place. Also, issues such as format invited guests, and food will be on the agenda.

 

Meeting 2: Students will present their artistic expression (e.g., monologues) and/or role for the culminating event. These presentations will be audio/videotaped for review. Students will engage in constructive and critical feedback of peers.

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Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate competency in organizing and integrating information to formulate questions and solve problems related to investigation and research.

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Week #8: Preparation for the culminating event and/or performances.

Development of presentation and interviews/monologues.

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Educational Objectives: Students will demonstrate an understanding of how art and its many expressions work in creating and performing. There may be two groups (i.e., artists and student event directors).

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Materials Needed: Video camera and audio equipment.

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Week #9: Practice for the culminating event and/or performances.

Rehearse format, placements and roles for event.

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Educational Objective: Students will demonstrate arts production and organizational skills.

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Materials Needed: Video camera and audio equipment.

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Week #10: Culminating event: The Community Forum on the Over-Incarceration of Youth.

Materials Needed: Video camera, audio equipment, podium, food and drinks.

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