SANTOS UNIVERSITY - VISION & BIG GOALS
Students, in Santos University will leave my class career and/or college-bound and be on the trail to long-term success, in and out of the classroom, by investing themselves academically and personally and by embodying the five TRAIL pillars of teamwork, resourcefulness, attitude, integrity, and leadership.
ACADEMIC GOALS
According to ACT.org, fewer than 40% of high school graduates complete four or more math classes in high school. Research indicates that students who leave high school with different highest levels of math classes completed and passed will have varying rates of success in college, later affecting employment and professional opportunities. Students who leave high school having passed Geometry (Math II equivalent) only have a 17% chance of earning a Bachelor’s degree and students completing Algebra II (Math III equivalent) have a 39% chance. Comparatively, students who complete Pre-Calculus increase to 75% chance of earning a Bachelor’s degree, while Calculus students have an 83% chance of graduating with at least one degree. Students in Santos University will be more likely to hold a successful career if they are college bound. For students to increase their chances for future success, they must eliminate any gaps in their math education and enroll in Math III and Pre-Calculus in sequential semesters. In order for my students to be career and/or college-bound, my students must pass my class with a high mastery level, meet their individual growth goals, and graduate from high school having passed at least four math classes, including Pre-Calculus. To reach that level of being career and/or college bound, students in my classroom will work hard every day to achieve the following academic goals:
--Every unit, we will raise our class goal in increments until we hit that 80%.
PERSONAL GROWTH
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.[...]They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
Majority of my students have, at one or more times in their lives, been labeled as a crazy one, a misfit, a rebel, or a troublemaker. They have been told multiple times by multiple people that they do not belong somewhere or they aren’t good enough to make this team or be in this class or go to college. Many of my students have been labeled their whole lives. In Santos University, they will be challenged to embrace those labels and realize that the ones who are crazy or who “do not belong” are the ones who belong somewhere bigger and better and have the potential to make the most difference in the world. In order for my students to realize their potential to make a great difference in the world, they must build their moral character to a level that invites success. To do this, students in Santos University will make a conscious effort to behave daily at a professional and collegiate level.
To be professional and collegiate in Santos University, students must embody the five TRAIL pillars of success:
These five pillars will help my students become professional and collegiate and put them on the TRAIL to success. To remind them of the TRAILs they can take in my classroom to become career and/or college bound, they will be exposed to at least one visual, audio, or written example of at least one TRAIL pillar per week. This tangible representation can be, but is not limited to, a slide on the daily flipchart, a 1-3 minute video clip, a TED talk or other inspirational speech, written reflection, or embodiment by teacher or classmate. When students are seen publicly embodying a TRAIL pillar, they will be awarded a “College Credit” which is recorded on the tracker displayed on the back wall of the classroom. Students will also have the opportunity to recognize their peers embodying one or more of the TRAIL pillars by nominating a classmate for a Random Act of Kindness “RAK” every Friday. By embodying these five TRAIL pillars and being publicly recognized and rewarded for it, students in Santos University will realize that they are career and/or college bound.
ACCESS & SOCIAL, CULTURAL, & POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Santos University students have the unique opportunity to realize their potentials by increasing their social awareness and taking advantage of and creating their own pathways to success. To accomplish these feats, students will engage in a pen pal partnership program with either Dallas, TX public elementary math students, Chicago, IL public middle school science students, and/or University of Illinois undergraduate students. At the end of every unit or partial unit celebration (test), students will be able to write to their pen pal. The only requirement is they must write about one topic they learned in the preceding unit and discuss how it is important for their future, if writing to college student, or how their 4th grade or 7th grade math classes helped prepare them to learn the topic, if writing to an elementary or middle school student. Through these partnerships, students will be able to build and realize the connections of their past, present, and future mathematical abilities as well as the different opportunities and challenges that can and have shaped their successes. To raise social, cultural, and political consciousness, my students will investigate various social, cultural, and political issues through word problems, webquests, and projects. In Unit 2, my students will collaborate in small groups on a school beautification project using linear programming, and in Unit 8, my students will analyze data regarding gang violence, teen pregnancy, and college graduation rates by race, socioeconomic status, and other critical factors.
MISSION STATEMENT
Students, both who have juvenile justice involvement and who have perfect legal records, in Santos University will be on the trail to long-term success, in and out of the classroom, by embodying the five TRAIL pillars of teamwork, resourcefulness, attitude, integrity, and leadership.
Students, in Santos University will leave my class career and/or college-bound and be on the trail to long-term success, in and out of the classroom, by investing themselves academically and personally and by embodying the five TRAIL pillars of teamwork, resourcefulness, attitude, integrity, and leadership.
ACADEMIC GOALS
According to ACT.org, fewer than 40% of high school graduates complete four or more math classes in high school. Research indicates that students who leave high school with different highest levels of math classes completed and passed will have varying rates of success in college, later affecting employment and professional opportunities. Students who leave high school having passed Geometry (Math II equivalent) only have a 17% chance of earning a Bachelor’s degree and students completing Algebra II (Math III equivalent) have a 39% chance. Comparatively, students who complete Pre-Calculus increase to 75% chance of earning a Bachelor’s degree, while Calculus students have an 83% chance of graduating with at least one degree. Students in Santos University will be more likely to hold a successful career if they are college bound. For students to increase their chances for future success, they must eliminate any gaps in their math education and enroll in Math III and Pre-Calculus in sequential semesters. In order for my students to be career and/or college-bound, my students must pass my class with a high mastery level, meet their individual growth goals, and graduate from high school having passed at least four math classes, including Pre-Calculus. To reach that level of being career and/or college bound, students in my classroom will work hard every day to achieve the following academic goals:
- All of my students will meet their individual growth goals per unit and increase by at least 20% from their Unit 1 celebration to the final celebration of knowledge (NC Final Exam).
- All of my students will pass the NC Final Exam with an 80% or better.
- All of my students will pass Math II with a C or higher and enroll in Math III the following semester.
- 100% of students will achieve 80% overall mastery or higher by the end of the course.
--Every unit, we will raise our class goal in increments until we hit that 80%.
PERSONAL GROWTH
“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes.[...]They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who do.” – Steve Jobs
Majority of my students have, at one or more times in their lives, been labeled as a crazy one, a misfit, a rebel, or a troublemaker. They have been told multiple times by multiple people that they do not belong somewhere or they aren’t good enough to make this team or be in this class or go to college. Many of my students have been labeled their whole lives. In Santos University, they will be challenged to embrace those labels and realize that the ones who are crazy or who “do not belong” are the ones who belong somewhere bigger and better and have the potential to make the most difference in the world. In order for my students to realize their potential to make a great difference in the world, they must build their moral character to a level that invites success. To do this, students in Santos University will make a conscious effort to behave daily at a professional and collegiate level.
To be professional and collegiate in Santos University, students must embody the five TRAIL pillars of success:
- Teamwork – learning to balance compromise and competition in order to advance and contribute to the entire community·
- Resourcefulness – persevering in the face of challenges, both personal and academic through self-advocacy and grit; maintaining an organized and neat Interactive Student Notebook
- Attitude – having an open and positive mindset, welcoming challenges with the mindset that they will succeed and celebrating their knowledge
- Integrity – being respectful and accountable, taking responsibility and accountability, being fully present and engaged every day, and being proud of all actions and statements
- Leadership – having the stewardship and courage to stand up for beliefs and being vulnerable enough to make and learn from mistakes
These five pillars will help my students become professional and collegiate and put them on the TRAIL to success. To remind them of the TRAILs they can take in my classroom to become career and/or college bound, they will be exposed to at least one visual, audio, or written example of at least one TRAIL pillar per week. This tangible representation can be, but is not limited to, a slide on the daily flipchart, a 1-3 minute video clip, a TED talk or other inspirational speech, written reflection, or embodiment by teacher or classmate. When students are seen publicly embodying a TRAIL pillar, they will be awarded a “College Credit” which is recorded on the tracker displayed on the back wall of the classroom. Students will also have the opportunity to recognize their peers embodying one or more of the TRAIL pillars by nominating a classmate for a Random Act of Kindness “RAK” every Friday. By embodying these five TRAIL pillars and being publicly recognized and rewarded for it, students in Santos University will realize that they are career and/or college bound.
ACCESS & SOCIAL, CULTURAL, & POLITICAL CONSCIOUSNESS
Santos University students have the unique opportunity to realize their potentials by increasing their social awareness and taking advantage of and creating their own pathways to success. To accomplish these feats, students will engage in a pen pal partnership program with either Dallas, TX public elementary math students, Chicago, IL public middle school science students, and/or University of Illinois undergraduate students. At the end of every unit or partial unit celebration (test), students will be able to write to their pen pal. The only requirement is they must write about one topic they learned in the preceding unit and discuss how it is important for their future, if writing to college student, or how their 4th grade or 7th grade math classes helped prepare them to learn the topic, if writing to an elementary or middle school student. Through these partnerships, students will be able to build and realize the connections of their past, present, and future mathematical abilities as well as the different opportunities and challenges that can and have shaped their successes. To raise social, cultural, and political consciousness, my students will investigate various social, cultural, and political issues through word problems, webquests, and projects. In Unit 2, my students will collaborate in small groups on a school beautification project using linear programming, and in Unit 8, my students will analyze data regarding gang violence, teen pregnancy, and college graduation rates by race, socioeconomic status, and other critical factors.
MISSION STATEMENT
Students, both who have juvenile justice involvement and who have perfect legal records, in Santos University will be on the trail to long-term success, in and out of the classroom, by embodying the five TRAIL pillars of teamwork, resourcefulness, attitude, integrity, and leadership.