I just came back from visiting family in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where a relative informed me that her eighteen year old daughter has been taking an elective called “Initiative Ed” at her public high school. Her eldest son had taken it when he was a senior and recommended it to his sister as one of his favorite classes. Homework and essay writing is kept to a minimum, which I suspect adds to the Read more…
The short answer: have your students set their own rules, codify and display them on a piece of poster board, and hold them to those rules. No matter how rude and rowdy they seem, once they get to a certain age, students know how they should be behaving. If you have them come up with their own rules, they will feel more inclined (and obliged) to follow them. “Listen to whoever is speaking” and “Only Read more…
I’m still tossing around some ideas on how to conduct a sex, dating, and relationship workshop. I found a “Sexual Pressures” curriculum aimed at middle schoolers that had a nice list of discussion questions to get students thinking deeply about sex and relationships: What is the difference between love and sex? What are some ways to express love without sex? What are some things to think about before you decide to have sex? What are Read more…
Although I’ve experienced the impact of No Child Left Behind on my students’ approach to learning, I haven’t spent any time writing about it because the criticisms leveled against it are widely known even to the general public and I didn’t want to rehearse tired catch-phrases like “teaching to the test.” But a recent Op-Ed piece by Professor Helen F. Ladd and Edward B. Fiske (yes, that Fiske) caught my eye because it brought pressure Read more…
If you’ve been reading my blog regularly, you know that I have an interest in community centers that cater to the educational and developmental needs of the city’s youth. Yesterday I learned about yet another one. The New York Times recently had an article on how the children of Mexican immigrants in New York City have significantly lower educational outcomes than the general student population. Problems of lagging grades and test scores and high drop-out Read more…
In “Blame it on the brain” I touched on how emerging research on the “teen brain” should make us reevaluate how we address the problem of risky behavior among youth. One especially sensitive area is sex ed. My interest, however, lies not in discussing various forms of contraception or the responsibilities of teen parenthood, but in getting young people to think deeply about emotional intimacy and healthy relationships. This aspect of teen sexuality is often overlooked, and this oversight leaves young people without any guidance on how to develop meaningful, intimate bonds even beyond their teens and early twenties. (more…)
I just finished reading William Bridges‘s Creating You & Co. for my own personal purposes, but it ended up being useful for my Finding Your Calling workshop because the author’s description of how to work effectively in an increasingly “dejobbed” world resonates surprisingly well with the premise of my Coming of Age program. Bridges’s book was uncannily prescient back when it was conceived in the 80s and published in the 90s, and it continues to Read more…
I’ve been doing some research on the teenage brain lately. Frontline’s program on the teen brain is a particularly informative and entertaining look at why teenagers behave in ways that are maddening to the adults around them and confounding even to themselves. So what’s the scientific explanation for the mood swings, risk-taking, and increased need for sleep in our youth? In layman’s terms, teens act the way they do because the part of the brain Read more…
One of the most exciting aspects of working in the field of youth development is running across some really innovative ideas on how to help at-risk youth start their adult lives on solid footing. More than Words bookstore—employing, advising, and training teenagers in foster care—is one such venture. It began as an on-line store in 2004, but has since opened up a brick-and-mortar storefront in Waltham, MA, complete with a Starbucks café. What began as Read more…
My previous post gave an overview of two community centers that cater to at-risk youth, the Next Generation Center and the Academy. I really should have also mentioned The Door, which has welcomed New York City’s youth (ages of 12 to 21) to take advantage of its comprehensive services since 1972. They offer everything from academic help to legal services and health care, as well as recreational activities and counseling. You do not have to Read more…