Students in LAUSD (Los Angeles Unified School District) have the tangible resources needed to succeed—textbooks, qualified teachers, and computers. They lack the intangibles—hope, motivation, and dreams.  Any administrator could create a wish list of additional resources that they need; however, a significantly higher investment in more “things” will only bring a marginal increase in students’ achievement. When students have these intangibles they will overcome many of the obstacles facing them and they will learn and achieve. The Find A Tree program has a track record of transforming underachieving students. This document outlines how the Find A Tree program works and how it can help SLCs - (Small Learning Communities) and LAUSD reverse the dropout rate and increase student achievement.

What’s Your Dream?

If you ask many students why they go to school, the most common response will be, “My mother makes me,” or “Because I have to.” A student forced to attend will not be motivated to excel.

Motivating Students to Achieve

Here is what currently happens.  We tell a 14-year-old ninth grade student to go home, turn off the television and video games, and study hard every night for four years in high school, then go on to college and study hard for four more years. Then, after eight years, you assure the student, that he will receive a benefit for all of that hard work and sacrifice. Try telling working professionals that they will be paid in eight years, and just see how many continue to work. Students need tangible benefits now. The Find A Tree program provides students with immediate tangible benefits that motivate them and give them hope.

Current Small Learning Communities

Pre-determined themes for SLCs force a student to fit into an SLC with which he may not identify.  If a student has a passion for space travel or zoology, yet there are no SLCs related to this topic, then the student will remain unmotivated and will feel, once again, forced to do something that does not interest him.

Consequently, the SLCs are doomed to fail.

SLCs’ Impact on Students’ Lives

I have asked students currently in an SLC, “How is our SLC impacting your life?” The responses I have heard most often are, “I don’t even know what SLC I am in,” or they feel that nothing abut their school experience has changed.

Students must feel a connection between their dream, their school, and their SLC. Students must see that their academic work, particularly within their SLC, is putting them on the pathway to their dream. Without this connection, SLCs will become a purely administrative classification of students, but will not produce the changes in students’ performance the district seeks.

The Find A Tree Process

Students are asked to list 20 of their talents and interests. Most have never thought about this. After struggling to make their list, they are surprised that they can list 20. The Find A Tree workbook helps them look within themselves to find their passion.

From the list of talents and interests, students determine a dream. Students must understand that the realization of their dream is why they are in school and that each teacher and SLC are there to help them pursue their dream. This understanding changes the student-teacher relationship and gives the students motivation to learn and remain in school.  The dream is the seed that the school and the SLC, specifically, must nurture and help the student pursue. In order to bear fruit (higher test scores), a seed (their dream) must first be planted.

3. Link Academic Subjects to Dream

A high school student once told me her dream was to be a screenwriter. When I asked her to describe the relationship between her dream and her English class, this student told me she saw no connection. Teachers must bridge the gap between students’ dreams and academic subjects. Students must understand how mastering math, for example, will help them achieve their dream. Teachers should assign reading related to students’ dreams, and then students will have a self-interest in achieving their dream.

4. Connect the Role of Higher Education to Dreams

After students have identified their dream, they must be given a road map that will help them get there. They must be shown the connection between education and achieving their dream.

5. Knowledge

Students will often have goal, but will not know anything about the field. I often ask students who want to be a doctor, for example, about the function of a body organ. Invariably, they shrug their shoulders indicating that they do not know. I advise them to go to the library, get a book about the body, and read it.  This exercise makes learning relevant to students. Many students seemingly for the first time recognize the role of reading and reaching their dream.

6. Service Projects

In the Find A Tree program, students are encouraged to not only find their dream, but to get started immediately. This is done through service projects.

While many schools incorporate service projects into their curriculum, these projects often hold little interest to the students. Through Find A Tree, students develop projects related to their dream. This personal connection translates into motivation.

Students write a Find A Tree plan of action, which focuses on immediate steps they can take with their current resources. The Find A Tree book helps students write their plan.

7. Life Skills

Students learn the Find A Tree Principles (life and leadership skills) through the implementation of their service projects.  As a result of student engagement and enthusiasm for their service projects, students’ behavior, attitude, and academics can be addressed in a way that they will be receptive to.

8. Mentors and Community Outreach

Students who take initiative to research their dream and work on their service projects need immediate tangible benefits.  For these students—Pioneers—meetings are arranged with someone who works in the area of their dream.

9. Pioneers, Watchers and Rebels

“Pioneers” are students who are eager to find their tree and get started. Pioneers carry out steps 1 – 5 in the Find A Tree process, including implementing a plan to raise their grades in all of their classes. After doing a research paper on their dream, Pioneers work on their dream-related service project. Whenever possible, Pioneers should meet professionals who work in the area of their dream. The hands-on experience provided by the service project and the opportunity to meet professionals are examples of tangible benefits that motivate students to succeed. A teacher can begin to turn an entire class around through one Pioneer who receives a tangible benefit for her efforts.

“Watchers” are students who are waiting to see if there are any benefits from taking action—researching their dream and working on a service projects.  Once they learn of the tangible benefits Pioneers are receiving, Watchers begin asking how they can get started as well.

“Rebels”— the name says it all. No matter what you say, they will not cooperate. Once a wave of motion begins with the Pioneers and then the Watchers, Rebels do not want to be left out. They ultimately will take steps to find their tree as well. With this wave of motion, a culture shift takes place in a classroom and a school. Achievement becomes cool.

10. Life Stories

I walked into one of my classes at Roosevelt High School and looked at the students who looked sad and dispirited. I asked, “What happened?” I put my lesson plan aside and asked that they each talk about a key person or event in their life.  In each of my classes students were in tears within minutes of starting this exercise.  One spoke of how her father calls her a “failure.”  Another recalled when his cousins were murdered in front of him.  Others shared the pain of their parents’ divorce, domestic violence, a father in prison, or of drug use.  Students are hurting and need a supportive environment where they feel comfortable to talk. This process does not require a psychologist, just an adult whom they trust. Once all students had shared, they told me that it felt good to get bad experiences off their chest. I told them that they had two options: wallow in the hurt and pain or move forward. Students recognized that they had to move forward.

Academics are unimportant to students when they are upset by these experiences. To reverse the drop-out rate, the human element must be addressed.

Personalization

The SLC experience must be personalized to help students pursue their dream.

To impact students’ lives and to motivate them to take ownership of their education, SLCs must become the birthplace for their dreams. This begins by empowering students to determine their dream and then shape the SLC around their dreams.

An SLC should be made up of students with a common interest.  Within the SLC students would work in Dream Teams. A Dream Team would be composed of 3- 5 students.  Dream Team members would collaborate on their service project.  As team members bond, they would be encouraged to form study groups as well. Teachers with an interest or background in the same area would work with students in that SLC. Teachers will explain to students the Find A Tree Principles and their application while students implemented their service projects.

 Conclusion

In order for SLCs to succeed, students must feel that their SLC is personalized to meet their individual goals and aspirations.  This will cause them to find the meaning of their education, take ownership of it, and to do what is necessary to succeed.  As a result of this transformation, the student drop out rate will decrease, and student scores will increase.