AFTER-SCHOOL EXCELLENCE PROGRAM (ASEP) DETAILS
Tenacity’s After-School Excellence Program is an intensive three-year program that works to improve students’ literacy and tennis literacy skills, while simultaneously building character. ASEP partners with eight Boston Public Middle Schools and runs program 3-4 days a week at five sites around the city.
While at ASEP, students split their time evenly between Literacy Block and Tennis Block. In Literacy our full time Academic Coordinators facilitate lessons taken from Tenacity’s own curriculum. Perspectives for Peace, our literacy curriculum, uses literature to help students explore lessons of identity, relationships, community, and conflict resolution. Our program uses the progressive tennis approach designed to get students playing and enjoying the game of tennis quickly. Tenacity extends far beyond the classroom and courts, as well, from BankNorthGarden to cheer on the Celtics, to the bowling alley in Dorchester, to the top of a mountain in New Hampshire!
Tenacity is successful only by involving the many elements of our students’ worlds. We have a deep commitment to partnership with schools and communities, and most of all families. This relationship begins with a home visit at the beginning of sixth grade, and continues with at least two visits a year throughout a child’s three years in the program. Ongoing communication with families is complemented by work with our partner schools. Tenacity staff attend meetings, sit on committees, and even hang out in the cafeteria!
Tenacity is committed to measuring our work on the courts and in the classroom. We use a number of nationally normed measures, including the GRADE (Group Reading Assessment and Diagnostic Exam), the NJTRL tennis rating scale, and the Tenacity Resilience Assessment, based on the work of California Healthy Kids and created specifically for Tenacity to measure resiliency.
> Learn more about our measurement plan and results
OUR ACADEMIC CURRICULUMOur academic coordinators teach our Perspectives for Peace curriculum using a number of strategies, including whole group instruction, small group work, and one-on-one work. At the core of the Tenacity literacy block is the “literacy group.” Small groups of students work with a tutor, reading books, creating projects, and presenting to the rest of the class. Each of these groups creates its own sense of team; the strong relationships that students build with each other and the staff truly are at the crux of our program. Each Fall we focus on self identity, exploring questions such as: Who am I? Who do I want to be? What are my values? In the Spring we transition to thinking about community. Students both think about the multiple communities of which they are a part, and practice working as a community.
> Learn more about the literacy skills we teach
> Learn more about our literacy curriculum approach
> View our student's writing & projects!
OUR TENNIS CURRICULUMIn tennis we use a progressive approach to the game. The program is structure to have students quickly playing the game of tennis by using state of the art teaching philosophy and techniques. Using modified equipment beginners are introduced to the game and are competing within a month of first picking up the racquet! As in Literacy Block, the first half of the year centers around each student as an individual player. The second half focuses more on playing as a member of a team. Students from our five sites play against each other via Tenacity’s Team Tennis League, culminating in the Crane Cup tournament at the end of the Spring.
> Learn more about our tennis approach
> Program Schedule & Sites
> Program Partners
> Want to join ASEP?
> Interested in bringing Tenacity to your school?
> Volunteer with ASEP
> Frequently Asked Questions
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