Council-Sponsored Grant Activities:
Self Advocacy – Ambassadors for Respect Anti-Bullying Campaign
Training sessions are now continuing. Presentations have also been scheduled at three additional schools on the White Bear Lake and Roseville School Districts with commitments from three other elementary schools in the North St. Paul School District.
The first training session was held at Otter Lake Elementary School on March 22, 2019 with four teachers and 110 students participating. A sample of student and teacher comments from Otter Lake included:
From students:
"I like to hear you telling your stories. My brother has EOE."
"I think you did good and I liked the star thing."
"Like best how we know how people can have many disabilities."
"I liked shredding the bad words.
From teachers:
"Stories are personal and students connect."
"Important information, especially 'people first'."
"Shows students to respect everyone."
On April 5, 2019, a training session was held at Vadnais Heights Elementary School with 76 students and three teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"Speak up if someone is being mean."
"Give praise to those who do good."
"Smile at them when they are sad."
Training session evaluation results (scale of 1 to 5; 5 = highest):
Knowledge gained = 4.2 Usefulness = 4.4 Quality of presentations = 4.7
On April 12, 2019, a training session was held at Willow Lane Elementary School with 67 students and three teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"Include others no matter what they look like."
"Play with different kids every day."
"Standing up to bullies."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.6 Usefulness = 4.6 Quality of presentations = 4.7
On April 18, 2019, a training session was held at Little Canada Elementary School with 150 students and three teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"Not call others names."
"Be nice to others."
"Say be quiet instead of shut up."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.3 Usefulness = 4.4 Quality of presentations = 4.5
On April 22, 2019, a training session was held at Castle Elementary School with 24 students and one teacher participating. Student comments included the following:
"Thank you for doing this presentation. People sometimes need help so thank you for doing this presentation."
"You did great job. This was also very fun. I used to have anxiety. [Our] guys are very kind and respectful."
"I like how you ask questions."
"Thanks for being so strong. Great job today."
"I like the part where we got to shred the mean word we got said to us."
"I really enjoy your story. I hope you will make the world great and kind again."
"I promise to be an advocate."
"I think how nice things will make things better and other people have feelings."
"I will use kind words."
"You are a great person. You are beautiful the way you are."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.7 Usefulness = 4.7 Quality of presentations = 4.7
On April 23, 2019, a second training session was held at Castle Elementary School with 24 students and one teacher participating. Student comments included the following:
"You did great job."
"I like your outfit."
"Include people."
"Stand up for myself."
"Thank you for teaching me to stand up for others and myself."
"I will stand up."
Training session evaluation results (scale of 1 to 5; 5 = highest):
Knowledge gained = 4.5 Usefulness = 4.3 Quality of presentations = 5.0
On April 24, 2019, a third training session was held at Castle Elementary School with 23 students and one teacher participating. Student comments included the following:
"Help others."
"Stand up and be heard."
"Include someone who's excluded."
"Be cooperative and show empathy."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.5 Usefulness = 4.3 Quality of presentations = 4.9
On April 29, 2019, a training session was held at Richardson Elementary School with 29 students and one teacher participating. Student comments included the following:
"Be an upstander and stop bullying."
"Stand up for others that need help, don't be a bully!"
"I promise to be a good boy! And to help stop bullying. Good to know that bullying is coming to an end! Let's end bullying together!"
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.3 Usefulness = 4.3 Quality of presentations = 4.9
On May 6, 2019, a training session was held at Richardson Elementary School with 28 students and 1 teacher participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"Thank you for being here today!!!"
The stories were really powerful."
"I liked how we talked about how words matter. It connects to what we have talked about in the classroom."
Training session evaluation results (scale of 1 to 5; 5 = highest):
Knowledge gained = 3.8 Usefulness = 3.9 Quality of presentations = 4.2
On May 9, 2019, a training session was held at Weaver Elementary School with 45 students and 2 teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"It was amazing and good and cool!!"
"Whatever you are going through, it's going to be alright! People around you are standing up for you!"
"You taught us not to be afraid of being different."
The speakers were great and helped me to feel better about myself."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.7 Usefulness = 4.5 Quality of presentations = 4.9
On May 13, 2019, a training session was held at Cowern Elementary School with 24 students and 1 teacher participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"Be kind to other people! And respect people!"
"I will be kind to others."
"My students were very engaged. I love seeing them write nice notes to each other and me!"
"It's an all around amazing lesson every year!"
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.5 Usefulness = 4.4 Quality of presentations = 4.9
On May 13, 2019, a second training session was held at Cowern Elementary School with 48 students and 1 teacher participating. Student comments included the following:
"I'm happy that I learned something new and happy that they (the Ambassadors) come."
"The speakers were so kind and they do an amazing job. I was truly inspired to be kind and make a difference. So awesome!"
"The speakers did a great job teaching us about resp[ect] and they inspired me to be kind to others."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.7 Usefulness = 4.8 Quality of presentations = 5.0
On May 2, 2019, a training session was held at Dowling Elementary School with 23 students and teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"I liked the enthusiasm at the end and shredding the mean words. I do not know anything they did wrong."
"That we got to talk with Ahmed and that he was very sweet to us and really kind."
"I like how they seemed very precise. They could have spoken louder."
"I like how you made me feel better."
"That you can notice that not everyone has a perfect life."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.3 Usefulness = 4.0 Quality of presentations = 4.0
On May 7, 2019, a training session was held at Northrup Elementary School with 49 students and 10 teachers participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"I like how we wrote down ideas on stars."
"I've never heard of people first language."
"I liked all of it, but don't think you have to do better because it was awesome."
"This was a great reinforcer of our school's cultural goals."
"Students were allowed to share their ideas and contribute allowing for a great discussion for the entire class."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 3.9 Usefulness = 3.6 Quality of presentations = 4.8
On May 9, 2019, a second training session was held at Northrup Elementary School with 53 students and 3 teachers participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"Help people get up if they fall. Talk to someone new at school. Be respectful."
You can show kindness to other[s] by helping them. You can help people and animals."
"I think Charlie feels sad and discluded and wants someone to pay attention to him even though he is different."
"They did a great job of presenting and leading the small groups."
On May 14, 2019, a training session was held at Hale Elementary School with 24 students and teachers participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"I saw different people with different needs."
"I liked communicating to my discussion leader. I liked all of it. It made me feel good."
"What I liked most was meeting the people."
"Lots of useful things and lots of cool experiments."
"I think the Ambassadors did a very nice job leading their groups."
"I really liked that each table had an Ambassador to lead the group."
"It as an awesome experience for our kids and myself."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.4 Usefulness = 4.2 Quality of presentations = 4.3
On May 16, 2019, a second training session was held at Hale Elementary School with 44 students and teachers participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"I like how you made everybody feel equal."
" I liked the activities the most."
"I liked the questions the table person asked."
"The people with disabilities should be treated how we want to be treated and not differently.'
"I can help people to gain their self love if they don't have any like me."
"It's an important message that kids need to hear over and over again."
"The presentation was very well organized. Easy to understand."
"The small group discussion gave all kids a chance to speak."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.0 Usefulness = 3.8 Quality of presentations = 4.6
On May 23, 2019, a third training session was held at Hale Elementary School with 47 students and 5 teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"I will help out around the house."
"Stand up for people with disabilities. Be kind. Give food to poor people."
"Stop the bullying. Ask someone to play with you. Try to make them your friend. Don't make fun of anyone. Be kind. Stand up for them. Try to keep them happy."
"Not to be rude, but I liked that we skipped part of Literacy class for this."
"The Ambassadors were engaging and the students liked working with them."
"Engaging, real-world, great pace, important message."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.2 Usefulness = 4.0 Quality of presentations = 4.4
On May 21, 2019, a training session was held at Lyndale Elementary School with 22 students and 5 teachers participating. Student comments included the following:
"I liked the stories (stories are always interesting)."
"I liked the most from our discussion today was when we talk about being kind."
"I like when you guys showed the video."
"Teaching people to be kind. Teaching people to be strong."
"The shredding activity was very powerful."
"Great for community building, self awareness, an open forum for feelings about school behaviors."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 3.9 Usefulness = 3.8 Quality of presentations = 4.4
On May 28, 2019, a training session was held at Fowell Elementary School with 22 students and 1 teacher participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"I like that the people were nice and helpful."
"My favorite part was shredding the words that were hurtful to me."
"Well you did very well so I think you did good and maybe more people can read about their life story too."
"[The Ambassadors] knew the info/content very well. Able to step in and support."
"I would like to continue to expand our partnership with the Transition Plus/PeaceMaker Minnesota program."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.5 Usefulness = 4.5 Quality of presentations = 4.0
On May 30, 2019, a training session was held at Kenwood Elementary School with 25 students and 1 teacher participating. Student and teacher comments included the following:
"I thought the presentation was super good and very helpful. Nice job."
"I like the activities but there could be more."
"I like how everyone was enthusiastic about this."
"I learned that people get hurt because of bad words. I would start to include others."
"They were confident and well prepared."
"It is important for children to meet an interact with older students who are advocating for positive interaction with everyone."
Training session evaluation results:
Knowledge gained = 4.3 Usefulness = 4.2 Quality of presentations = 4.6
