A great fit for Hispanic Heritage month ... and beyond
Colorin Colorado offers great tools for potential outreach and much more

So you’re smack in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, wishing you had a chance to make full use of the occasion to reach out to parents. Relax, says Susan Lafond, an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher and AFT member from upstate New York. Great tips and materials are just a few clicks away. Just type www.ColorinColorado.org into your Web browser, and you’re halfway home.

Colorín Colorado is a partnership between the AFT and PBS affiliate WETA in Washington, D.C. It offers exciting new tools to help teachers make the most of their family-outreach efforts—not only during the Sept. 15-Oct. 15 commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month but throughout the year.

Lafond, who teaches at Guilderland High School in Guilderland, N.Y., plans to use Colorín Colorado’s guidance for holding workshops. The program covers a broad range of subjects, from an introduction to cognates for the parents of young readers to cultural differences that have a bearing on parental involvement in U.S. schools. This material, Lafond says, is just what she needs to help her district fine-tune activities at an October open house for ESL parents.

“They’re nice, short workshops with directions,” says Lafond. “It’s all very teacher friendly. Anyone can go to Colorín Colorado and be ready to go back and implement things in the classroom the next day.”

Lafond, who holds certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in Young Adulthood/English as a New Language, says she is particularly interested in the Colorín Colorado workshop that helps teachers explain the different cultural expectations of U.S. schools. In many other nations, she explains, it’s important for parents to be deferential to teachers. Asking questions, calling the school, or even getting involved in homework can be seen as rude, a challenge to the teacher’s authority. Colorín Colorado offers great strategies for explaining how active parent involvement not only is tolerated but encouraged in our public school systems.

And Colorín Colorado materials have a shelf life that extends well beyond Hispanic Heritage Month, Lafond stresses. There are tons of free, downloadable tips and columns—materials that she plans to use in a monthly newsletter for ESL parents in her school.

Special Olympian: Teachers are part of my story

When the AFT decided to adopt a charity, the Special Olympics seemed like the natural choice. “I knew that many AFT members in many states had been involved with Special Olympics as volunteers and coaches, and that many more might be interested in getting involved,” says AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese.

And as Special Olympian Denise Carriere points out, teachers are an important part of her “survivor” story. When she was just 5 days old, Carriere was struck with meningitis. “The famous doctors told my mom that I would not be able to talk, walk, see, hear or even think,” Carriere, a Special Olympic global messenger, told delegates to AFT’s national convention in July. “But I am a survivor and I can do everything. I am a survivor because I had the best doctors, the best family and the very best teachers.”

Carriere, who began competing in the games at the age of 8, has “a gazillion medals, mostly gold and mostly for swimming.” She’s been nominated for the Special Olympics Hall of Fame, and her dream is to be inducted.

Earlier this year, the Boston Celtics honored Carriere with its Heroes Among Us Award. “I received the award because I share my story of survival,” she told delegates. “Every teacher here, every Special Olympic coach and every Special Olympic volunteer is part of a survival story for a Special Olympic athlete.”

The AFT has partnered with the Special Olympics and is encouraging its members to support the program as coaches and volunteers. The union also has endorsed the Special Olympics’ “SO Get Into It” K-16 curriculum. Visit www.specialolympics.org for more information.

“Evidence and common sense tell us that healthy children are better learners. It is a moral imperative to ensure that all children have adequate healthcare coverage,” said AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese at the launch of the campaign this past summer.

The campaign will include activities over the next year to raise awareness, such as town hall meetings, a national essay contest for schoolchildren and a national lobby day in Washington, D.C.

The essay contest, “When an Apple a Day Isn’t Enough,” asks children ages 9-18 to explain how the ability to see a doctor or go to the hospital affects their lives and the lives of those around them. The contest deadline is Oct. 31, 2006.

The campaign also has established an online petition urging members of Congress and the president to begin work on legislation that will provide comprehensive, affordable, high-quality healthcare coverage for all children. The petition will be delivered to the president and Congress next spring just before reauthorization of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) is considered. To sign the petition or find out more about the essay contest, visit www.childrenshealthcampaign.org.

The Okun sisters, who enjoyed writing letters and sending care packages to the servicemen and women overseas, wanted to do even more for the troops and their families. The girls came up with the idea of funding scholarships for military families.

“They asked their parents if they could write a treasure hunt book, sell it, and use the proceeds for scholarships. Their parents loved the idea—so we decided to run with it,” says Ferek, who was Rachel’s third-grade teacher at Franklin Sherman Elementary School.

In May, ThanksUSA was featured on NBC’s “Today” show for the official kick-off of the project’s national “treasure hunt,” which is designed to raise awareness of the project and solicit funds for it.

Ferek, a member of the Fairfax County (Va.) Federation of Teachers, says
ThanksUSA, which is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization, hopes to fund the scholarships through a combination of federal, corporate and individual support.

“Scholarship recipients are selected on the basis of financial need, academic record, demonstrated leadership and participation in school and community activities,” Ferek explains.

“We’re excited to have given 1,000 scholarships this first year. How many we give away in the future will be determined by how much support we receive from contributors,” Ferek says. “We hope to increase the number of scholarships awarded every year. In five years, we would love to give 5,000 education scholarships away.”

To learn more about the project and to download the educational treasure hunt game, visit www.thanksusa.org.

Because Jason is just 5 feet 9 inches tall, because it was his first chance to play in a varsity game, because he worked selflessly all season as the team’s student manager, and most of all because he refuses to let his autism define his vision of who he is and what he can do—for all of those reasons, Jason was swept up triumphantly onto the shoulders of his teammates and friends that night last February.

Dozens of movie offers, professional team offers from as far away as Europe, TV appearances, a meeting with President Bush and  countless awards, rolled in.

Jason’s beleaguered family finally hired a talent agency to field all the calls and offers.

“I was stunned,” says Jason’s dad, New York State Public Employees Federation member Dave McElwain, a section head in the sales tax division of the state Department of Taxation and Finance in Rochester.

It wasn’t Jason’s performance that surprised McElwain. Rather, it’s the way the world responded that takes his father’s breath away.

In a shotgun e-mail response to more than 60 congratulatory messages he received from co-workers, McElwain wrote: “We just thought he was going to suit up and he might get to play. Who could have dreamed what would happen that night?

“The next day there was a short article in the paper on the game and Jason’s name was mentioned as scoring 20 points. I was overjoyed. I cut out the article and we had our basketball memory. I thought that was the end of it.

“The next day, I went to Albany for a meeting. While I was gone, the local stations came to school and interviewed him. The next thing I know he is on CNN, ESPN and the CBS Evening News....

“The kids on Jason’s team and the students in his school have been super. Their support for Jason was the true story and the reason this story has touched everyone.”