A quote that you find inspirational regarding the role that advocacy can have in the lives of young children and their families. Then, post responses to the following:
"I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!" David Vitter, U.S. senator What inspires and excites you most about your advocacy plan and being an advocate?
I think I get most excited about knowing that I could potentially make a difference in a child’s education. It would inspire me to know that I am meeting the educational needs of all children. I feel that being able to find out the student’s progress after being monitored by my action plan would be an inspiration to me. This way I could know if my action plan helped those who are struggling students to improve their academic skills and behaviors.
What challenges and/or anxieties do you feel related to engaging in the advocacy efforts you have targeted?
An anxiety that I have is that my RTI action plan won’t help the struggling students improve in their performance and academic progress. I am worried that I won’t cover all the areas that are needed for that child to succeed and things could become a larger issue if not seen in the beginning. A challenge that I am having is making sure that I am collaborating with the correct people to make my action plan effective. I am still having issues getting certain people to work with me. I am worried that the schools won’t have the right amount of help to make sure that these children are getting more one-on-one time with teachers to ensure a better education in learning and the children will be placed in a learning disability category when it might not be needed.
What do you believe will be most effective in helping you overcome any challenging emotions you may be feeling with regard to presenting and implementing your Advocacy Action Plan?
I think for me I just have to remind myself that I am trying to do a positive action for all struggling children and try to remember that and stay calm. I want to focus on the fact that I know the teachers that I am working with. I am confident that they will be on my side in making changes because they feel that the RTI program needs some help. I want to gear my presentation to them because the outcome will help the children in their classes the most. I think that this process will help me understand RTI a little more and I will be more confident because of my studies and research. I feel that knowing my information will help me overcome my fears of speaking in front of people I don’t really know that well.
How can you encourage others in their advocacy efforts, and how can others encourage you?
I can encourage others by talking about the positives that will come from a better high quality intervention for struggling children. I want them to see that I am passionate about making a difference and confident in my message. I want others to know that if everyone is on the same page it can help with mentoring and collaboration to provide consistency in reinforcing the child’s skills. I want others to encourage me to finding out other ways that I can help children that are in the lowest tier. I would like for others to work cooperatively and collaboratively with me in planning a program that meets the diverse population of learners. They can encourage me on providing essential leadership in my action plan effectiveness. I want to encourage the teachers at this school to get parents more involved in the RTI process. I feel that the parents should be aware of what is going on in their child’s education.
- Natalie Furzland
