UPdate from the UP for Learning Team
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Dear UP Partners and Friends,
The UP team sees the tremendous value in safely mobilizing our youth, now no longer constrained by a school building or the conventional structures of the school day, to explore their curiosities, develop real-world skills, contribute to solving real-world problems, and connect young people with rich networks of adults in their community and beyond. This moment provides an unprecedented opportunity for young adults to educate and be educated, connect and be connected to the community - learning, growing, and exploring a world they’ve helped create.
Our personal resiliency is being called upon to help us adapt, manage stress, and handle emerging challenges. At UP we know this reality will likely expose and provide a sharp contrast to the inequities present in our schools.
We also believe that generosity has the power to unite and heal communities in good times and bad. A global threat like COVID-19 touches every person on the planet, and it presents an opportunity to come together as a global community.
On Tuesday, May 5th, we hope you will consider supporting UP for Learning during #GivingTuesdayNow.
#GivingTuesdayNow
is designed to drive an influx of grassroots generosity, citizen engagement, business and philanthropy activation, and support for communities and nonprofits around the world. It’s a day when we can all come together and give back in all ways, no matter who or where we are – no amount is too little and nonprofits need your support.
A generous supporter of UP for Learning is offering a match gift to ensure our work continues unabated. We must put financial measures in place today, so we can support
all
schools during this uncertain time, and be ready to support them in new ways when school buildings reopen in September.
Donate today, or on
#GivingTuesdayNow,
to help ensure all young people know, without question, they have voice, agency, and the skills to shape their world for the better.
When you do, your donation will be doubled, thanks to a generous $25,000 “resiliency” match to UP.
This pandemic is calling on us to reimagine the educational system together, giving tools to youth and adults alike to forge a system with new platforms and new technologies, but with the same foundation of values, beliefs, and practices. Please help us continue this work through the academic year and into the next.
UP for Learning is uniquely well-positioned to ensure that Vermont’s youth are empowered to take control of their lives and their learning. We are nimble and have always been responsive to our school teams in reimagining education and empowering students and teachers. We are guided by the belief that at the heart of every human is a deep desire to belong and contribute good in the world, a desire made more visible by the coronavirus pandemic and its disruption to our daily lives, the economy, our healthcare system, and every level of our education system.
Our mission work has prepared the youth and adult teams for this very moment. Now, we want to make sure every school is also prepared for this moment. More than ever, UP is supporting this new educational ecosystem for all. All gifts will help UP offer our programs across all schools in Vermont, regardless of ability to pay.
Donate here.
With gratitude,
Lindsey
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2020 Power 2 Summit:
Youth & Adults Transforming Schools Together
May 15, 2020,
9 am-12 pm (Virtual Zoom Event)
In our current learning environment, it is more important than ever to experience and highlight the impact of youth voice and youth-adult partnership in education. The P2 youth/adult planning committee is designing a unique experience for everyone to see, hear, and feel the power of youth voice and youth-adult partnership in learning and decision-making.
Connect, Share and Inspire:
Learn about tools and strategies that can be used in our homes, communities, schools, and organizations to make learning meaningful and create change!
Register NOW for this FREE event and join us on May 15th!
We will send out a Zoom link, agenda, and session details the week before the Summit.
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Reserve your spot today!
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Remote Learning and the Brain
UP's Webinar Series
To help meet the needs of our evolving educational landscape, UP for Learning is hosting a series of professional learning webinars that focus on the impact of stress on learning, the power of positive self-talk, and how the brain learns. Following each webinar, educators will be provided with a lesson and resources they can immediately implement with students to help them become more effective learners during these unprecedented times.
The live webinars will be held
every Thursday during May from 3:00-4:00 pm.
If you are unable to attend at this time, you can register and a recording of the webinar will be sent to your email. A professional learning hours certificate will be provided by UP for Learning upon completion of each webinar.
Schedule:
Thursday, May 7th: How Stress and Emotions Impact Learning & Strategies to Reduce Stress
Thursday, May 14th: The Power of a Positive Mindset, Self-Talk, and Response to Errors
Thursday, May 21st: Understanding and Influencing How the Brain Processes Information
Thursday, May 28th: Strategies for Effective Remote Teaching & Learning
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Helpful Resources for Youth and Adults:
UP Resources:
- UP's Youth Advisory Council has received an incredible response to the Connecting VT Youth survey. They hope that this survey will reach all parts of VT. Please continue to share widely. The YAC members are currently making connections and would love to make even more!
- Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability: UP and Shelburne Farms are excited to share a new resource for personalized project-based learning and connections to the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals. This resource was created in response to our Cultivating Pathway's to Sustainability partners' need to continue this powerful learning while at home.
Community Resources:
- Quaranteen Time: Join youth and adults from UP for Learning/Shelburne Farms's Cultivating Pathways to Sustainability this Wednesday, May 5th for Topic: How to Get Involved in Environmental Change. Register here.
- Young Writers Project Social Distancing Journal: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE WORLD STOPS? Young Writers Project and YWP alumna Adelle Brunstad are working together to document the COVID-19 pandemic through the eyes of YWPers. We are collecting your candid reflections of the strangest period of our lives in words, photos, and art. Share your observations, moments, realizations, frustrations, laughter, sadness, fears, hopes -- whatever you're thinking, feeling, seeing.
Reads:
- Why the Coronavirus Hits Teenagers Particularly Hard: Teenagers are hungry for exploration, social connection, and independence–the kinds of developmental drives that have become directly threatened by the same measures that are absolutely essential for public health.
- How the Education System Can Take Advantage of its Newfound Flexibilities During COVID-19 and Beyond Lindsy Ogawa, the Director of Community Engagement for Education Reimagined writes, “There is reason to believe the majority of schools will, in fact, go back to some kind of “normal” come fall, but for those who see this moment as the moment to transform, we can move ever closer to the tipping point where a high-quality, learner-centered education becomes truly available for every single child and family who wants it. Are you ready to create a new normal in your community?”
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