What's New with Student Chapters
ASCD has recently introduced an online social networking site on Ning for student chapter members. This network will enable members to hold discussion forums, view and post content to share with other preservice teachers and future administrators, and link to other online networks. Promoting connections among student chapter members is especially important, given the fact that chapters are geographically widespread: There are 53 ASCD student chapters across the United States, three chapters in Canada, and one in Jamaica. Student chapter members can log on to the online network athttp://ascdstudentchapters.ning.com.
Student chapter members also meet face-to-face at the ASCD Annual Conference. Last month, at the 2009 Annual Conference held in Orlando, Florida, 34 students and advisors from six student chapters worked with Orlando Habitat for Humanity to build a townhome for the local community.
Spreading the Word
In two months, ASCD has collected thousands of signatures on the whole child petition, which asks state boards of education to support policies and practices that ensure each student is healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged.
New York, California, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, Arizona, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington are well on their way to getting the 1,000 signatures needed for ASCD to deliver the petition to their state board of education: To sign the petition or find up-to-date results on the number of signatures your state has gathered, go to www.wholechildeducation.org.
On the Right Road at "the Ridge"
Iroquois Ridge High School in Oakville, Ontario—or "the Ridge," as students and staff call it—engages students in their local and global communities through such activities as conducting a book drive for a neighboring elementary school to actually building a school in Kenya. The Ridge is one of ASCD's Healthy School Communities.
A single shared lunch hour for students and staff provides time to coordinate and plan the myriad activities and stay connected across grades and departments. This coordination has resulted in such schoolwide efforts as last October's Think Pink theme for breast cancer awareness. The football team wore pink socks to raise awareness; the business marketing, communication technology, and family science classes integrated the theme into classroom work; and the school raised $20,000 with a neighboring school district, all with minimal staff supervision.
For more information about ASCD's Healthy School Communities, visitwww.healthyschoolcommunities.org.
