Welcome to our UNITE Blog! Since you're here, we assume you've heard of us as a new RSO, or are maybe already a member! At our blog, we try to keep updates on UNITE's progress and work for our members and for those who don't know much about us. Which brings us to our biggest FAQ:
As a new organization to campus, the most frequently asked question asked of us is, “What is UNITE? What do you do?” Very simply, a look into the dictionary under our name can help answer that:
u·nite
[yoo-nahyt]
verb, u·nit·ed, u·nit·ing.
–verb (used with object)
1.
to join, combine, or incorporate so as to form a single whole or unit. (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/unite)
More specifically, we are a single unit of future educators. We are joining together to prepare ourselves to serve any student who walks through the classroom door. Don’t call us a club! We strive to create a dedicated and cohesive network of future and current urban professionals who will have a positive and lasting impact on our ailing city public school systems and the students they serve.
By now you may be thinking that UNITE is only for students hoping to work in inner cities, but nothing could be less true.
Yes, we have many members from and returning to cities to work in the most high-needs areas. And yes, our focus is upon issues that tend to flourish in these areas. But these social problems and their classroom manifestations, like poverty, poor classroom attendance, neighborhood violence, and lack of tolerance for diversity, can occur in virtually every and any school. We as UNITE members recognize this, and hope to be able to provide and explore resources to combat these issues together. That’s part of the reason why 1) we have no attendance requirement. You are a professional and adult, and your desire to learn more about special education inclusion, LGBT issues in classrooms, and the greater community needs of East St. Louis should be the reason you are involved with UNITE. We believe the knowledge we will construct together will be what is important to you and your career, not the ‘points’ necessary to be a member.
So, our goal to create a cohesive network of urban professionals who build knowledge together seems like a pretty tall order, right? So how do we do this?
We do this in many different ways, but the common thread is that UNITE is member-owned. We attend enough lectures at Illinois during the day, and hardly need more from our organizations in the evening.
Meetings: Instead, we strive to craft meaningful meetings based around member interaction and engagement. We alternate meeting type by week. We have table-talks (Mondays @ 5:30), where we tackle our own concerns head on and plan for future events, and speaker-weeks (Wednesdays @ 7:00), where we invite a knowledgeable professional or faculty member to help expand our awareness, debunk stereotypes, and create our own knowledge in an interactive workshop.
Professional Development Workshops: Hosted in the city of Chicago by our national headquarters, these give us the opportunity to work alongside in-service teachers and administrators to tackle issues like Classroom Management (Sept 17th), Collaborative Resource Sharing Fairs (Oct 15th), Grant-Writing (TBA), and Preventing Teacher Burnout (Nov 12th). They are FREE for all UNITE members!!
Service-Trips: In addition to small trips in the Midwest, UNITE-ers help plan and fundraise for our major Alternative Spring Break trip to an urban center in the US. Our sister chapter at ISU has ventured from Washington DC to Los Angeles to New Orleans in the past, and we are aiming just as high!
If you’d like to take part, big or small, in preparing yourself for teaching, come check out UNITE! After all, we won’t force you to earn points, but you may find that you’ve walked away with at least a kernel of professional experience from what you’ve decided to take part in.
Want to contact us with questions about UNITE or our meeting times? Please email:
Sarah Strom: sdstrom097@gmail.com
If you're looking for a bit more info, check out:
UNITE Nationals Homepage: http://www.urbanneeds.org/Home.html
UNITE University Chapters Page: http://www.urbanneeds.org/University_Chapters.html
A Sample of a UNITE Chapter, ISU's Homepage: http://www.urbanneeds.org/IllinoisState.html
UNITE Programs Page: http://www.urbanneeds.org/Programming.html