What Do You Do Before High School Graduation??

What Do You Do Before High School Graduation?
William Jackson, M.Ed.
Edward Waters College
@wmjackson #MyQuestToTeach

Dynamic scholarship information
at your finger tips.
https://twitter.com/prepforcollege
@prepforcollege (Twitter) #CollegeChat,

These suggestions are to help parents, grandparents
and guardians as graduation for their children
becomes a reality for high school seniors.
Graduation is a great accomplishment and
the end to an educational journey from Day Care
to High School. Before this momentous occasion
parents need to make sure all the i’s are dotted
and t’s crossed to make a smooth closure to a
continuing journey. These are just a few suggestions
from my experiences as a parent and teacher in
elementary education and higher education.

1. Make sure you obtain the most recent high
school “official” transcript(s) to mail to colleges
or potential employers. Many organizations and
schools require a transcript to see if
academically students are “qualified” to be
eligible. If an “official” one is not ready ask for
an “unofficial” transcript until the “official”
one can be sent.

2. Make sure you have current and up to date
medical and dental records. Even after graduating
from high school students are still dependent
on their parents for certain medical information.
Parents must understand “their” graduate is not
an adult yet, they are still maturing, learning
and growing. There is some information and
documentation only parents can obtain until
children are 21.

3. Make sure there are boundaries and expectations
on behaviors, actions, and even chores in the
home for the soon to be graduates. There should
be mutual understanding on everyone’s duties and
responsibilities and always respect. Stop telling
your child they are “grown” until they are out
of your house.

4. Talk to your child’s teacher(s) about consistent
communication so projects, homework and assignments
are kept current and get completed. Do not take the
words, “I got this,” as being responsible and accountable
by your child. Remember your personal urgency and
priority is not a priority for everyone else if you miss
deadlines and due dates.

5. Make any hair, nail or beauty appointments
months ahead to avoid the rush and chaos.
Have your monies available and get receipts
for all services and jobs.

6. Remind your child of the two institutions that
want their attendance:
Correctional (Prison) and Instructional (Higher
Education) and to make wise decisions.

7. Check your child’s academic (Cumulative) folder
for items that may delay graduation or entrance
into college, trade school or the military. You
have a right to see their records and ask questions
and if not provided seek an attorney for help as a
last resort.
Check for discipline referrals, changed grades,
teacher notes, etc. All documentation is important.

8. Make sure all deposits and fees are paid in
full before graduation. Check for lost books, needed
forms and other items that should be completed.
Do not trust your child unless they show they
are responsible and then consider the source!!!

9. Know what your child’s GPA is, weighted or
unweighted and if they have all their credits.

10. Make sure your child takes the SAT and the ACT
several times. Many schools only require one, but
better safe than sorry. If your child is attending
and HBCU check about further tests they will
have to take the week before school starts.

11. Check on Bright Futures scholarship information.
This can contribute to monies for school

12. Many HBCU’s accept ACT scores and SAT. Use whichever
gives you a better chance of getting into college
and this may affect monies.

13. Work on your child’s Marketable skills to
help them network and build their Brand.

14. Set Academic, Professional, Monetary and Career
goals now so your child will have a flexible plan.

15. Have your child volunteer consistently, stay
involved in your community, and church. Volunteer
hours can still help with networking and build
marketable skills to use later.

16. Search online and inquire with local
businesses about summer internships paid and
unpaid. Your time is valuable so unpaid is
important also.

17. Join local business organizations like
Chamber of Commerce to gain
marketable skills and get a jump on career goals.

18. Participate in church events and activities
helps build your resume or CV curriculum vitae.

19. Take college tours over the summer, visiting
schools to make sure you are familiar
with college or even the military.

20. Social Media entries; post positive content,
pictures, text and video. Your
e-Reputation and e-Personalities tell a story
about you. Social Media content will define you
and may be your first representation of you
to others.

21. Register with LinkedIn to start networking
and connecting. There is an NEW LinkedIn for
students. https://students.linkedin.com/

22. Continue to research educational options
and inquire even now about Masters and
Doctorial programs.

23. Make sure you and your child understand
what type of diploma they will have. It is
painful to expect a High School Diploma and
receive a Certificate of Attendance,
an ESE Diploma or others.

24. On Social Media unfriend and even block
those that are openly using drugs, weapons
and involved in criminal actions.
You may be “guilty by association” with them.

25. Have a “real” Social Security card, and
Birth Certificate, and if necessary a
Visa to travel abroad.

26. Check with your local police department
to make sure there are no records of
mistaken criminal activity from someone
impersonating you or looks like you.

27. Financial Aid and Scholarship
Information can be found online.
https://twitter.com/prepforcollege
@prepforcollege (Twitter) #CollegeChat,

27. Google and Hashtag yourself to
“see” what is online about yourself to be
prepared for questions.

Be careful with unprotected sex, illegal
drugs and last minute booty calls,
drug binges and other stuff that can
cost you a scholarship or your life.
There are too many young people that
almost “made it” and have died or
been arrested by bad decisions at the
last minute.

30 Books for Parents Raising a Black Male/Female Child

30 Books for Parents Raising a Black Male/Female Child

There are a great deal of resources to help parents
“teach” their children the necessary academic skills
in order to be successful in school. One of the programs
is “The Raising Him Alone Campaign” and its list of 30
Books for Parents raising a Black Male Child.

The books selected inspire, challenge, confuse and
stimulate the minds and hearts of parents raising
boys/girls in a “challenging” society.
The campaign realizes that raising a Black male/female
child can be both rewarding and difficult, there is help.

These are some resources that I shared months ago,
with summer here parents and their children can use
their time wisely, if encouraged and read this summer.
Looking at the “Adventures of Moxie Girl,” The Black
Superheroes and other local works, it is important
that children need to read more, and make
reading fun and enjoyable.

The third grade reading scores of our babies shows
a need for books in their hands and to be encouraged,
inspired and praised to motivate them.

Please share this list with other parents;
“If the village does not embrace learning and wisdom
what does that say about the future of the children?”
William Jackson – Edward Waters College
#EducationalTechnology #EWCTIGERS
For more information check the public library in your
community or city.

Group SuperHeroes – Readers Theater

A Black Parent’s Handbook to
Educating Your Children
(Outside of the Classroom) by Baruti K. Kafele
1. A Hand to Guide Me by Denzel Washington
2. Beating the Odds: Raising Academically Successful
African American Males by Freeman A. Hrabowski,
Kenneth I. Maton, and Geoffrey L. Greif
3. Cooked: From the Streets to the Stove, from Cocaine
to Foie Gras by Jeff Henderson
4. How to Get Out of Debt: Get an a Credit Rating for
Free Using the System I’ve Used Successfully With
Thousands of Clients by Harrine Freeman
5. Kill Them Before They Grow: Misdiagnosis of African
American Boys in American Classrooms by Michael Porter
6. Letters to Young Brothers by Hill Harper
7. Morning by Morning: How We Home-Schooled Our
African-American Sons to the Ivy League by
Paula Penn-Nabrit
8. Keeping Black Boys Out of Special Education
by Jawanza Kunjufu
9. Raising Black Boys by Jawanza Kunjufu
10. Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life
of Boys by Dan Kindlon and Michael Thompson

Taylor Richardson “An Agent of STEAM”

11. Real Boys: Rescuing Our Sons from the Myths
of Boyhood by William Pollack and Mary Pipher
12. Saving Our Sons by Marita Golden
13. Single Mamahood: Advice and Wisdom for the
African-American Single Mother by Kelly Williams
14. Stickin’ To, Watchin’ Over, and Gettin’ With:
An African American Parent’s Guide to Discipline
by Howard Stevenson, Gwendolyn Davis &
Saburah Abdul-Kabir
15. Strength for Their Journey: 5 Essential Disciplines
African-American Parents Must Teach Their Children and
Teens by Robert L. Johnson & Paulette Stanford
16. Tapping the Power Within: A Path to
Self-Empowerment for Women by Iyanla Vanzant
17. The Black Male Handbook: A Blueprint for Life
by Kevin Powell
18. The Bond: Three Young Men Learn to Forgive and
Reconnect with Their Fathers by Sampson Davis,
Rameck Hunt & George Jenkins
19. The Pact: Three Young Men Make a Promise and
Fulfill a Dream by Sampson Davis, George Jenkins,
Rameck Hunt, and Remeck Hunt
20. The Pursuit of Happyness by Chris Gardner

Natalie #AdventuresofMoxieGirl

21. The Single Mom’s Little Book of Wisdom
by Cassandra Mack
22. The Warrior Method: A Parents’ Guide to Rearing
Healthy Black Boys by Raymond Winbush
23. Yesterday, I Cried: Celebrating the Lessons of
Living and Loving by Iyanla Vanzant
24. Being a Black Man: At the Corner of Progress
and Peril by Kevin Merida
25. Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We’re Not Hurting
by Terrie Williams
26. Boys Adrift: The Five Factors Driving the Growing
Epidemic of Unmotivated Boys and Underachieving Young
Men by Leonard Sax
27. Boys into Men: Raising Our African American Teenage
Sons by Nancy Boyd-Franklin, Pamela A. Toussaint, and
A. J. Franklin
28. 101 Things Every Boy/Young Man of Color Should Know
by LaMarr Darnell Shields
29. Come On People: On the Path from Victims to Victors
by Bill Cosby

Black Fathers are the “Gap in the Bookshelf”

Black Fathers are the “Gap in the Bookshelf”
by William Jackson, Prof. Edward Waters College

The importance of reading and comprehension can never be
diminished, the power of independent thought, imagination and
vision is a powerful quality of personal growth and development.
The memories of sacrifices from beatings, torture and even
death has vanished from the minds of too many Blacks that through
generations are lead in the wrong direction by and of assimilation
and association that are literally killing generations of Black youth.

The “Bookshelf of Life” is important because Black children need to
learn who they are, their great potential, and where they come from
to guide where they are going.
The importance of Black fathers to teach this is so valuable that each
generation that does not have a connection with their fathers is being
lost in a world of assimilation and association that is leading Black
children to places they should not go. Fathers are the “Gap in the
Bookshelf” for their children when fathers are not present.
Fathers fill a gap that only a father can.

The words of Chinua Achebe ring true in 2015 stated, “adults and
children are forgetting the continuity of the generations remember the
past sacrifices so you can grow beyond just surviving.”
Black parents must teach their children and their grandchildren
the power of education, this education must come from home first if
Black children are too respect learning and the architects which are
the teachers of schools.
Blacks must understand as was stated by Achebe; “Blacks cannot
put themselves in white’s shoes and live their lives. There will be no
change unless Blacks put themselves in positions to learn and gain
education that allows them to compete even on an uneven playing field.”
Chinua Achebe is a Nigerian author that was known and honored as the
foundation of Nigerian literature from his books, poems and diverse
writings. As a parent, educator, and Black man I see many of the similarities
that Blacks have and are experiencing that have happened in Nigeria,
South Africa and other areas of Africa from colonization and Apartied.

Blacks that deny the cultural heritage and acceptance of African ancestry
are destroying their foundation as a people and are slowly being assimilated
into a culture that is still racist and refuses in many ways to truly accept people
of color. Yes there is a Black President, look at the attacks he faces from those
who do not even honor the position of President of the United States of America.

“Every generation must recognize and embrace the task it is peculiarly
designed by history and by providence to perform.” Chinua Achebe

Black homes should be cradling and setting their homes on a foundation
of reading and comprehension. Not the accumulation of things that diminish
in time and have no value after several months. These commodities are
temporary and will be used and destroyed or replaced over time by the newest
model that is put on the shelves of stores. Black homes should be filled with
books and Black children as Achebe states “children should be fascinated by
books.” Even Malcolm X as controversial as he still is exclaimed the value of
learning, reading and cultural respect and understanding.

The power of reading allows children to see themselves as human beings and
not the fodder of violence, hopelessness and self-destruction that the media
and entertainment industry project them as. There are two ways that Blacks
can change their direction in life from my opinion; living in this multicultural
society change will only come when Blacks accept education as the foundation
of cultural growth in this society. Sharing the successes of past and current
Blacks; Black communities should sit down with each other first to solve their
cultural and community problems. Achebe having lived through colonization and
the fight for independence through wars and upheaval wisely states that
“we should not carry the baggage of race and racism into the 21^st century.”

The issue of race and racism is rampant in the Black community itself, it is
being denied and ignored, termed “Colorism.” These feelings and self destructive
actions must stop because it will continue to destroy Blacks from within,
like a cancer that festers and grows to a point where even surgery will not save
a people. Just as there are in life many types of cancers the same applies to the
ills of Blacks. Blacks must change their thinking on a wide scale, not allowing
jealousy and fear to aid in the growth of cultural hate. Parents in Black
communities must understand that they are the foundation for their Black
children so must examine their foundations and change them in order to help
their children to be better than they are.

Blacks cannot wait for a President to make changes for them, they cannot
wait for the government to make changes and they cannot wait for churches
to make changes. The change must be a priority through the value of learning,
growth and unity. Too many Black children believe they are not important and
feel they are intellectually inferior. One reason is because they lack the
knowledge of past successes of Blacks throughout history. Achebe has stated
in a quote that when people control what you think they control who you are
and what you may become.
Chinua Achebe “…mediocrity destroys the very fabric of a country as surely
as a war — ushering in all sorts of banality, ineptitude, corruption and debauchery,”
and Black parents in this age of technology and learning cannot accept mediocrity
in their children. What story will be told of their lives and their children, will it be
of academic success or societal dependence on welfare, EBT cards and food
handouts and how many times our Black boys and men have been in jail.

Achebe states: “Storytellers are a threat. They threaten all champions of control,
they frighten usurpers of the right-to-freedom of the human spirit — in state,
in church or mosque, in party congress, in the university or wherever.”
There need to be more Black bloggers especially men to tell their stories
and share their experiences.

Parents must provide an atmosphere of greatness, high self-esteem and
self worth. Who else can on a daily mission tell their beautiful and intelligent
children that they are important, they are intelligent and can be successful!!
As an educator having struggled myself with reading at a young age, I now
embrace books, I try to share the empowerment of learning and the importance
of reading with all my students both in elementary and the college environment.
Parents need to look carefully at the stories; content their children are reading
and exposed too. Encourage literature that ignites a fire to learn in their babies.
Black children’s minds are like blank parchments or blank paper waiting for
the colors, texts, photos that guide their thinking and even influence their
feelings to be placed on the paper of memories. Poverty has and continues to
embrace Black communities, not because there are no jobs, but because Blacks
are not prepared for new jobs in areas like STEAM / STEM Science Technology
Engineering Arts Mathematics this must change in the Black community.

Assimilation and association cannot be continued because those being assimilated
loose their attempt to be something they are not. Black fathers are a foundation,
they are role models, they should be held accountable. Blacks must learn other
cultures cannot put value on their lives or their children’s lives. So Blacks must
empower themselves to grow out of poverty, oppression, political weakness and
economic despair.
Blacks must be able to learn from the society they live in, but cannot afford to lose
their cultural traditions that engage reading and comprehension. Many will
disagree with me, but truth be told #BlackLivesMatter and education makes
Black Lives Matter More…..

The power of literature:
Toni Morrison Reads “English and the African Writer” by Chinua Achebe
http://72.10.54.216/viewmedia.php/prmMID/2598/prmID/1984

Books Black Children Should Read
This is a growing picture listing of books that I find in libraries,
book stores, and other places that I travel. I hope you find some
titles that will inspire your children no matter what color or culture
they are………..
Slide Show
http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/williamdjackson/slideshow/Books

Story
http://s1211.photobucket.com/user/williamdjackson/Books/story

Blacks in Technology – The Influence of One Spark and Ed Spark

Blacks in Technology – The Influence of One Spark and Ed Spark
by William Jackson

Computers Science Technology Reading Engineering Arts Mathematics
“The development of content, creation of Apps, software development,
and the integration of technology for reading, science, engineering, math
and other areas of academia for African Americans is only part of the battle
to create an employable high tech workforce.”
William Jackson, Edward Waters College, Educational Technology Instructor

It has been months since the successful One Spark and Ed Spark Crowd
Funding event. The eyes of the nation were on Jacksonville as those with
dreams, ideas, goals, personal and business agendas were involved in
earning votes for the opportunity to have their respective projects funded
to move to the next level of implementation.

The presentations of the African American participants (each year it grows)
in One Spark and Ed Spark ranged from educational software by:
A Day In The Real World (Ronnie King), to reading initiatives by Readers
Theater (Tangela Floyd and Emanuel Washington and), the implementation
of robotics by GEERS, a focus on the growing academic initiative of
STEM/STEAM that has matured into STREAM and other areas of science,
art, business and academia.
The encouraging trend is more participants are African American’s, showing
that even in Crowd Funding African Americans have viable and competitive
projects.

One of the highlights of One Spark and Ed Spark that is still being
celebrated on a national scale, the winner of the Educational Division
“The Adventures of Moxie Girl,” whose comic book concept is an inspiration
to African American girls in the very sensitive subject of hair and self-esteem.
Hair, which is so un-simplistic, men will never understand, but it’s texture, the
ability to conform to styles or even a natural “look” that Is comfortable to
the female wearer.
Natalie the young developer and her mom Angela designed “The
Adventures of Moxie Girl” comic book to address issues that many African
American girls and even women can relate too.

Literacy, comprehension, imagination and reading are vital for Blacks to
be competitive in a world that has embraced technological advances.
Too many African American children are struggling in a nation that is
still leading globally in technological evolution. One Spark and Ed Spark
have shown that African Americans have to be able to build Apps, write
with power and imagination, involved in project management, STEAM
initiatives on a grass roots basis like Arlene Cameron-Lloyd she provides
an opportunity to enhance the future life of children through STEAM workshops.
Inspiring them to dream and imagine their future careers.

In a BET survey (2010) African Americans spent about 39 billion
dollars that went towards purchasing technology. The purchase of
computers, cell phones, tablets, watches and other digital equipment
shows that African Americans are connected and plugged in when
purchasing, but what about the economic development from concept
to development?

Technology is here to stay, African American children must be taught how
to be developers, programmers and even teachers of tech not just consumers.
African American children, youth, teens and young adults need to transition
to producers, developers, researchers and they need role models and mentors.
In order for this to happen Education is the best investment to re-invest in the
Human Capital of African American children. To encourage the building
a foundation for re-investment to build children of color into future developers.
STEAM, STREAM, STEM, CSTEAM are based on the integration of Computers
Science Technology Reading Engineering Arts Mathematics (R = Reading &
C = Computers) there will be other modifications, the premise is that “applied
knowledge is power” (Anthony Butler, E3 Business Group). AA youth need
the power of education, literacy, comprehension and reading to compete.
African American children need the foundation in education to apply their
intellectual power to be involved in the growing technological changes
happening today. These changes will influence business, finance, commerce,
higher education, medicine, science, government and areas not even conceived yet.

One Spark and Ed Spark have shown that African Americans in
Jacksonville, Florida and across the nation cannot afford to be left out
and left behind in opportunities like SPARK and other Crowd Funding and
even technology conferences. The potential financial prospects are
unimaginable and have an economic potential to influence other youth,
teens, and young adults that have dreams and aspirations in fields like STEAM.

Parents need to consider the realities do they want their children involved in
STEM / STREAM or the potential of being left underemployed or unemployable.
This is a decision that African American families are making as they see
unemployment rise for Blacks, not because they cannot do the tech work it is
because they are not qualified, skilled have degrees or certifications.
Being under-employed, unemployable, too many children are close to being
un-educated because parents are not active and involved in schools to ask
questions, work with guidance counselors and industry leaders.

African Americans must increase their involvement in the creative
aspects of technology learning to code, and dynamically create content that
truthfully tells a story or shares an idea on an intellectual level.
Those involved in One Spark and Ed Spark will serve as role models, mentors,
and inspirations to others in 2016 that African Americans can compete and are
have ideas, dreams and goals that can compete not just locally, but on a
national and international scale.

Resources:
Day In The Real World
https://www.linkedin.com/company/day-in-the-real-world
One Spark
https://www.onespark.com/festival/2015/projects/day-in-the-real-world-mobile-app
Day in the Real World” is a software-based workshop designed to give
students a glimpse into life as an adult.

GEERS
https://www.onespark.com/festival/2015/projects/g-e-e-r-s-afterschool-program
GEERS is about making a difference by providing robotics education to
under-privileged communities.

Readers Theater
https://onespark.com/festival/2014/projects/before-email-reader-theater-literacy-program
The mission of “Before Email” is to connect both children and adults to the intimate life held
within the written and spoken word.
Google +
https://plus.google.com/115571142077233053987/posts/LZmikGFy1Hm

Introduction of Readers Theater by Lisa Buggs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mxILfeNaNE

The Black Superheroes
https://myquesttoteach.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/do-you-believe-in-black-superheroes/
“The Adventures of Moxie Girl”
Instagram
https://instagram.com/adventuresofmoxiegirl/

Facebook Page of The Adventures of Moxie Girl
https://www.facebook.com/theadventuresofmoxiegirl
ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/video/adventures-moxie-girl-30521125
One Spark
https://onespark.com/festival/2015/projects/natalie-mcgriff