From Student to Trainer
Posted on March 29, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
By Cesar Ramirez, Construction Trainer
When I came to YouthBuild Providence as a student, it was because I felt it was my last chance to get my GED. I was tired of working warehouse jobs and wanted something better for myself. Joining YouthBuild, I realized that it was more than just a school, we’re a family.
Meet Lucia Cipriano
Posted on March 29, 2017 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
Lucia Cipriano, a Student and Vice President of the Student Council at YouthBuild Providence pursuing her high school diploma with the hopes of becoming a police officer.
After graduation, Lucia plans to join the police Academy in hopes of working in narcotics. Currently, she works full-time at Memorial Hospital as a security officer while attending YouthBuild but maintains a 95% attendance record and a 3.85-grade point average.
Lucia recently went to Washington DC to represent YouthBuild Providence at the COYL. Because of her experience, she plans to join 1000 leaders network to be part of the conference of young leaders.
Making a Difference to Underachievers
Posted on October 9, 2015 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
In today’s educational landscape, it is quite common to see students categorized as ‘intelligent’, ‘average’, ‘unintelligent’, ‘underperformers’ and so on. The view that students have a pre-determined, pre-set ‘level’ of intelligence and ability to learn is quite prevalent and this is a widely accepted view as well. Academicians and educators across the country, even the world, really believe that not all students can achieve the same academic goals because of the differential intelligence levels that they are endowed with. This gives credence to the belief that intellect or intelligence is an inborn ‘skill’, with each person being gifted with a specific limit of it. This also means that there are only a select few who can truly excel even when the best teachers are employed and they are leveraging the most modern, most effective teaching techniques to impart knowledge.
This view is flawed in more than one way because there is reason to believe that the so called ‘underperforming’ student does not have the same intelligence or ability to grasp complex academic concepts as the so- called ‘intelligent’ student. Further, there is no scientific basis for the assumption that everyone is born with different intelligence levels, which cannot be enhanced or drawn out in any way as they progress through life and through different educational experiences. As Nobel Prize nominee, clinical, developmental and cognitive psychologist Ruevin Feurestein explained, ‘intelligence is not fixed but modifiable’. It is the responsibility of the teacher or academician to devise a teaching system or strategy that helps every student achieve higher levels of intelligence by drawing upon his or her own hidden reserves.
An overview of the Feuerstein Method
After fleeing the Nazi invasion, Feurestein leveraged his psychology degree to teach young survivors of the Holocaust in his new home in Palestine. The needs of these children prompted him to take up a career that would address both psychological and educational needs of refugee children. In the 1950s, Feurestein was involved in working with children from Moroccan, Berber and Jewish families and he found that those who initially scored low on IQ tests showed remarkable improvement when they were given special psychological and academic attention.
This encouraged him to start viewing intelligence as a modifiable characteristics rather than a fixed one, as the traditional view point held. He started researching various ways in which too ‘teach’ intelligence even as he expounded the theory that the students who excelled and who were believed to be intelligent were actually leveraging their ability to learn more effectively than others.
The prevailing means and tools for measuring intelligence were flawed and inadequate, in his view, because they failed to indicate that all students could be elevated to the same level of intelligence provided they were taught how to do it. As a new, more effective and more accurate method of evaluation, Feurestein came up with the dynamic assessment method, as it is known today. His focus was on identifying and evaluating the inherent cognitive flexibility in the child that represents the ability to learn. Once this evaluation is done, teaching methodologies can be tweaked so that these abilities are used optimally. This view was dramatically different from what was commonly accepted then and it transformed the way people looked at ‘intelligence’ and its impact on academic performance.
Taking his study further, Feurestein began to devise methodologies to help children who were not performing well academically and work on their weaknesses, putting them on track for dramatic improvements. ‘Mediated relationship’, he discovered, lay at the foundation of meaningful teaching strategies. These methodologies have brought a ray of hope into the lives of not just poorly performing children but also children with special needs such as those affected by Down’s Syndrome, palsy, stroke or other conditions.
The journey from ‘poor performer’ to ‘gifted’ status
Feuerstien’s methods can be used with amazing success in every academic field to teach and engage urban students most effectively. The success of the methods hinge on our ability to understand and accept that intelligence is limitless. Most urban schools tend to look at students as deficits; they believe that the students can only advance so far. However, this is far from the truth that Feuerstien has proven beyond doubt. In my personal experience, wherever I have implemented Feuerstien’s method, the results have been simply dramatic and uniformly impressive. I have taught several boys and young men of color with these tools and witnessed the improved academic performance from close quarters.
One important contributing factor for this impressive change is that a growth oriented mindset is essential. A tremendous amount of growth is possible when this correct approach is adopted to take a low performing student and turn them into a “gifted” student. This growth mind set is often lacking in academic environments where ‘underachievement’ is the expected outcome. Sadly, this is true of many schools where children of color are automatically tagged with the ‘underperformer’ label. The teachers may, inadvertently, believe that these students are incapable of improving their academic excellence and thus feel that investing more attention or time on them will not yield results. In reality, it is the opposite that is true.
The teacher has to actively believe that the students can excel and this belief should be evident every single day in the teaching strategy, technique and tools utilized. This positive mindset, that the underperforming student is no different from their academically proficient peers, is the foundation block on which the students builds their new skills to learn more effectively and efficiently.
Another critical understanding for both teacher and student is that learning and intelligence are not two different aspects. Intelligence is the knowledge of identifying where knowledge can and should be applied, i.e.: a meta knowledge of sorts. This knowledge comes when the learner is actively involved in the learning process- understanding why they are studying something and where they might apply it. When the students make these connections, they can apply the knowledge intelligently to various situations. This is not all- they can also learn more advanced concepts easily because the grounding of knowing why they need it and how to use it is already present in them. This is how the transformation from poor performers to exceptional students takes place with the right teaching methodologies being implemented.
Fall Issue of the YouthBuild Times
Posted on November 3, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
The Warriors Scholars along with Mr. MacWilliams proudly present the inaugural issue of YouthBuild Times.
[gview file=”http://youthbuildprov.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/20141103091012598.pdf”]
Family Night 2014!
Posted on October 22, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
At YouthBuild Providence, it’s all about family & friends. What a night to remember. Houses shared their talents and good food.
PHOTOS: Harumbi 2014!
Posted on October 22, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
Photos from Opening Ceremony are in! Come check out what everyone has been talking about.
Opening Ceremony. A Huge Success!
Posted on September 24, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
Video and
Photos coming soon!
CapstoneProjects underway!
Posted on June 11, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
The staff and students of YouthBuild Providence are excited about its partnership with RISD and Saint-Gobain. The architecture students from RISD are
completing their Techsyle Haus design for an international competition but still found the time to work with our students. The RISD crew offered assistance in helping students think through their sustainable house designs and building their architectural models for their Sustainable Communities Capstone Project. In addition, we are extremely grateful for the enormous amount of architectural supplies they donated to the program.
5/19/2014 Photo of the week
Posted on May 22, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments
YouthBuildProv makes super boys into supermen!
Mural printed
by Matt Dean(Muralist / Illustrator)
Check out his other work at : www.RubyEyeStudio.com.
YBP Photo of the Week
Posted on May 8, 2014 by Anthony Hubbard - No Comments