Yekaterina Loseva SEC 527

Community Walk Project Reflection

Morton School of Excellence is frequently referred to in the AUSL community as a phoenix that has risen from its ashes transcending from one of the worst performing Chicago Public School to now being the best performing school in the AUSL network. Mortons history is rich and turbulent much like neighborhood where it is located West Garfield Park. From its inception in the 1800s, to the housing projects of the 1950s, and the race riots of the late 1960s, West Garfield Park has undergone tremendous changes quickly becoming the pillar for gentrification. While walking through the neighborhood it is not hard to notice the landmarks the Garfield Park Conservatory, the Marillac Social Center, and the Chicago Public Library. Although West Garfield Park many not have a plethora of resources the ones that they do have are fully functional and geared toward the kids of the community most of who attend Morton School of Excellence. Founded in the 1960s Morton School of Excellence has undergone tremendous changes, yet walking through the halls of Morton there is a tremendous sense of hope and community. From the teachers to the students when people come first walk into Morton there is an overwhelming that they are about to witness something great. No matter what maybe going on in the homes of the students, or what many of them face in the streets, when students walk into school they know that school is their constant and this is their time to shine. Although I do not have any kids, throughout this year I felt that I have become the surrogate parent of nearly forty

five students because of the classroom culture of learning and community that we have built. My kids come from all over the city despite the fact that most of them have neighborhood schools that are located closer; they choose to take that hour bus ride or train ride to come to Morton. Unlike most CPS schools, Morton has many resources that it offers the students and the community. For many of my boys and girls there was the YMCA which has had a very strong and influential presence at Morton offering enrichment activities, academic support, and male mentorship until it lost funding this year. Morton has also been very proactive about creating community organizations with in the school such as the mentorship program for young girls called Girls With A Vision, which is geared toward the empowerment of young women through service to the community. To add, many of the girls in G.W.A.V. act not only as leaders within their school community but also in the communities where they reside. The YMCA and G.W.A.V. are just two examples of organizations that have had a tremendous impact on the students and have truly contributed to the Morton community and the community of the students outside the school. Moll states that "Funds of knowledge represents a positive (and realistic) view of households as containing ample cultural and cognitive resources with great, potential utility for cultural instruction." (Moll 134) Mortons funds of knowledge is heavily founded on community philanthropy and are intertwined with music, art, and athleticism all of which brings a greater relevance of the world they live in for the students. Additionally in the Bryk article he focused primarily on the strengths and limitations with the school and although Morton has a wealth of resources for the community there are still resources that are unused, according to Bryk "Bonding social capital focuses on the density of supportive social ties within a neighborhood or community. The existence of such ties affords group solidarity that makes achieving goals much more likely" (Bryk et al. 2010)." Although

Morton does a great jobs with bringing resources into the school there is a major lack in counseling services offered and tutoring services offered to students. Morton could really benefit from outside social and emotional services because our students are highly in need, and unfortunately those needs are not being met. To add, Morton would greatly benefit from the YMCA organization coming back to the school because it was such a powerful and intricate part of the Morton and West Garfield community. Based on my knowledge of the community I strongly feel that my instructional practices need to be grounded on the idea of real world application. I have found that my students strongly response to mastering skills that they can go and use to improve their community. My students crave lessons that they can use in real life because many of my students lead lives with the responsibilities that are parallel to adults. Thus, they crave material that they can apply to their lives. Throughout my time at Morton and in West Garfield I have seen what a strong presence Morton has on the community because of many families represents a pillar of hope for their children, and for many students that attend the school, Morton represents the only sense of stability in an otherwise very unstable life.