Introduction - Denver Academy Room 119

In any classroom, before any learning can take place, each student must learn what works and what does not. They must understand and capitalize on their strengths while developing strategies to manage their weaknesses. Each must understand his or her individual learning style, their unique form of intelligence, as well as what does not work for them. In many cases, traditional educational models have failed for these students and only reinforced a self image of failure and disappointment.

If a student’s learning style doesn’t align with traditional models of education they are quickly labeled as defiant, lazy and dumb. This can take its toll on our vast pool of brilliant young minds who might find it easier to give-up and throw in the towel; that is what may cause many of them to "act out". Eventually, any attention beats no attention.

It is my belief that teachers have a responsibility as educators, to find out how each student learns and differentiate their lessons to give the most to each learner. This is the teachers responsibility, not the kids; however if they can even meet half-way then all the better. Some of the greatest minds we know have been labeled at least once in their careers as hyper, non-traditional and, although it hasn’t been around for that long, ADD. This list includes such noted individuals as Winston Churchill, Bill Cosby, Leonardo da Vinci, Walt Disney, Albert Einstein, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Henry Ford, Galileo, Benjamin Franklin, Ernest Hemingway, John F. Kennedy, Michael Jordan, Abraham Lincoln, John Lennon, Isaac Newton, Nostradamus, Pablo Picasso, Socrates, and Steven Spielberg; the list goes on! (http://www.adhdrelief.com/)

I have always wondered what it would be like to have just one of these individuals in my class. And then again, maybe I already have! I always conclude that in a regular school they would have been outcast not only by students, but also by teachers. Galileo would have been the biggest headache and “Oh that little Albert Einstein is at it again… “Mr. Lennon, put down that guitar and do your fractions!” In some cases they were labeled as troublemakers, and brushed aside; or their parents were called in and they were reprimanded for not following the rules.

Our youth are different than us, they learn differently and they think differently. I think this book clearly proves this point. Some of the differences are about their generation; some are because of their individual learning styles. At very least, most would agree that today’s youth are exposed to different things than we were. They are doing different things, they feel they are entitled and they demand respect (although they might spell it something like ruspct). But, like that little punk Picasso, they have much to offer. They are brilliant, each in their own way! It is up to us, the teachers, parents and adults to avoid saying, “The kids these days have no respect! “ It is up to us to accept them, earn their respect and put in an extra effort to understand what it is like growing up in a world where they can attend school, play a competitive group game, interact with a group of friends, make a new friend in a foreign land and do their homework—all without ever leaving their bedroom. Imagine!

This new generation represents inevitable change. But are we, parents, teachers and adults up for the change? Indeed, why should we change at all? In our day kids were supposed to sit quietly and do their work. I have taught long enough to know that this approach will conclude with an abrupt career change-- and a collection of empty Advil bottles. Such an approach can be compared to ordering food in a foreign country thinking that if you yell and annunciate the English word “FRENCH FRIES” loudly and long enough the Spanish-speaking waiter will know you mean Papas Fritas!. Teachers and educational institutions must respond to its customers (the students and parents) and not be afraid of new ideas and alternative ways of thinking. We MUST change because “A society that gets rid of all its troublemakers goes downhill.”(Robert Heinlein). Every child has something great to offer, the hard part for adults is figuring out what it is, and nurturing it. (because it is probably not something we understand, appreciate, or embrace)

A one-size-fits-all, traditional educational model is proving less and less effective with this newest generation—the Millennials. In fact, the “schools as factories” model that dates back to the Industrial Revolution is failing miserably. I think everyone can remember what it felt like to receive a graded paper from a teacher that looked like a rodent had cut its little paw just above the title and proceeded to scurry across the page, line-byline, leaving bloody little red marks all the way to the bottom. If all we do is look for errors we miss the undeveloped possibilities of the individual. And if we do that, how can we ever nurture those possibilities, their potential? Is that even important? In my opinion, it is paramount because if we can find an individual’s potential, we can build on that and encourage it. The result is improved confidence. And, in my opinion there is absolutely nothing that contributes to success more than self-confidence. With self-confidence and optimism, a person can conquer nearly any obstacle.

Establishing genuine self-confidence is daunting for even the most insightful adult, let alone a teenager in a temporal world of fleeting images, instant media cycles, and planned obsolescence. Let’s remember that the message from Madison Avenue advertisers is that we (consumers) NEED certain products to feel ok about ourselves. Let there be no mistake that advertisements send a not so subtle message that without product X, Y or Z, we are lacking. How on earth, with messages like this, does a teenager build a sense of self in the world in which they live?
Most adults will remember, as I do, walking to school in two feet of snow, with holes in our shoes, up-hill both ways—man we had it tough! Not like these kids today. Right? Well while we are on memory lane, do you remember how the fads came and went when you were in school? Bell bottoms were before my time, but do you remember Mullet hair styles? They were cool. In fact, so cool only the coolest of the cool could pull it off. All summer I worked on mine, not that I was so cool, but like everyone else, I WANTED TO BE ... and when I arrived in class the next Fall, guess what. Mullets were oh, so last-year. The new year was the year of Duran-Duran and the “man-perm.” Ouch! Well the only perm I sported was a permanent label as “dork.”

 

I, like most of my classmates, were trapped; all of us were trying to fit in and be “cool.” From my observations, our Millennials seem to be so much wiser than us. Sure there are fads and dress codes. How did we live without hoodies? For the most part, our Millennials celebrate and embrace diversity. I am shocked every day, scratching my head, asking myself, “Did he just admit to his friend that he is ___”? But wait, did his buddy just say “right on man – that’s cool”? I thought I was supposed to teach them, and do an entire quarter of lesson plans, on tolerance and diversity. Hmmmmm. Am I teaching or learning? We are fortunate in our school, believing that such things as tolerance and acceptance need to be taught using hypothetical scenarios and role-playing? Many schools do not touch subjects like that with a ten-foot pole. Either way, I cannot help but think that these kids could teach all of us something about the subjects of tolerance, forgiveness and respect!

This is my epiphany: We must allow students to be as much our teachers as we are theirs. I strive to make my classroom flat; they help me hook up my new interactive touch screen white board and they need me to engage them in learning through innovative ways to focus their constantly wandering attention. The first thing I noticed about teaching millennials was how hard it is to impress them. Astounding, bizarre facts that used to impress just do not work anymore, they will always top what I tell them and prove it with a YouTube® clip. Okay, so there is where I must be open to what they can teach. They feel empowered, I learn a new fact—we both win.

When we both learn, we meet half-way. I assign them to select their coolest YouTube video and write a paper on the topic, or maybe a persuasive paper, or maybe a compare/contrast between an X-Box 360 and whatever the latest cyber-module is out on the market next week. Or better yet, let’s change the medium all together, build a model of the YouTube video and use physics principles to prove how it worked.

Some things do not change from generation to generation … a teenager’s world is still full of searching. It’s full of trying on different masks to try and fit in … some fit, some do not. Teenagers are still engaged in the process known as individuation—the natural separation from the nuclear family to a fully evolved sense of self. Oh, how painful that can be for both the teens and the parents. Along with that, their world is full of mixed messages telling them what is right and what is wrong. What is acceptable and what is not. The problem is most of the messages from parents, peers, teachers and the media conflict. There can be no doubt that finding one’s self and building self-confidence is more difficult now than it ever has been. When it comes to figuring out who they are, these kids are trudging through the metaphorical blizzard without shoes, up mountains both ways—it is a very hard road they walk even if they ride in mini-vans with individual DVD entertainment and built-in playstations!

So who are these millennials? To me, they are intriguing beyond words. They are open and exposed to so much more than generations past. In my observations, they are overall more tolerant and more flexible to change than any people I have ever been around. They are also just as open to finding out new things -- like how they learn. But, since they are dealing with their own introspective questions and trying to fit in, asking them to articulate how they learn is a usually futile endeavor. Some may not even have the time between texting, e-mailing, homework, soccer practice, dinner, TV etc., to stop and ask themselves these kind of questions.

I remember the most profound question I was ever asked. I was 13. I was certain I knew everything. I had it all under control and nobody was the boss over me! We were on the way to school. My father and I were arguing over the heavy metal radio station I punched up. He wanted to listen to some stupid talk radio show. “Talk, talk, talk, didn’t you just listen to the news during breakfast,” I said. With practice purpose and agility I swished my mullet around like I was rocking a guitar solo with Journey. I smirked, “Don’t you get it? This is Guns and Roses NEW album.”

He smiled in a loving but as I remember it, a slightly condescending way. He paused. Then he calmly asked, “Who do you want to be?”

I was stumped – “I already told you, I want to be a professional skier, or a rock star … or maybe a professional soccer player ... DUUUHHH.”

“I did not ask what you want to DO. I asked, WHO do you want to be?” he added quietly.

“I want to be the greatest skier EVER…Sheeshh”. I showed him because he said no more, and then we were at school. I slammed the door as a punctuation point and never looked back. But for some reason, I thought about it all day and to be honest, I still think about it to this day. Who do I WANT to be? Why did he ask me that? That question has dogged me for 20 years. Have I become the man I always wanted to be? I don’t know – will I ever even know? I do not know; maybe I will take the question to my grave. I would love to have an answer. But I am struck with the power of the question. It has become a central part of my moral compass. I now understand its power is in the question, not the answer.

Questions like this spark a teenager’s synapses as much, if not more than facts, figures, and dates. As teachers it is vital that we provoke conversations with powerful questions and be willing to avoid simple answers. We are more than facts and figures, and so are these youngsters. One of those questions is, “How Do You Learn?”

I am fortunate to work at Denver Academy, where the exploration of that question begins with a Meyers –Briggs® personality test. This gives the teacher a better understanding of how the student functions socially, organizationally and perceptively. Then out of the Meyers-Briggs we can assess their learning style – Answerer, Dancer, Relater or Debater. As you can guess, traditional educational models focus around the Answerer style of learning, i.e., what is the capitol of Colorado? (Raise hand, Denver – correct, good job Johnny). But the Dancers, Relaters and Debaters fall, all too often, through the cracks. Tests like this are simple and inexpensive, but have proven crucial to the success of our students. It’s the first step in understanding.

Finally, we’ve been told forever that intelligence is directly correlated with how much “stuff” you know. But this is changing. For example, some of the smartest people I know, or rather most intelligent, have been the most difficult people to carry on a stimulating conversation with. So, is social skill an actual intelligence? New theories, such as those of Howard Gardner, suggest not only social facilities are an intelligence, but there are multiple intelligences: body/kinesthetic, linguistic, inter/intrapersonal, spatial/sequential, naturalist and musical. We are at 8 and counting.

If you can chart each student’s strengths in each of these areas, then compare this with their learning style and personality results, you can get a good idea how to meet this individual student’s needs. It is possible to incorporate all learning styles into a 40-minute lesson plan. Every teacher can attest to the empty feeling of sitting in front of a class regurgitating facts, asking for answers and trying to ignore the three in the back of the room snoozing on their desks.

In this book, as an introduction to each student, they were asked to describe their learning profile. To me it’s getting a “Galileo” that was kicked out of a traditional school for not doing his time tables and giving him a telescope … or even propose he build one.

This is the next epiphany for me – Give students a rich environment with multiple mediums to use to create something that is an expression of themselves! (That may sound like art, but it is much more; it must include science, technology, mechanisms, living things, etc.) Creativity leads to ownership, pride, confidence and success—often for the first time in a very long time! Whenever I give students a choice, they have further ownership and take pride in what they do.
I invite you to meet the students of Room 119, they each have their own story, their own learning style and their own medium for expressing the message.

- Ramsey Brookhart Denver Academy Room 119

EDITORS NOTE: In order to preserve the spirit and intent of each student, there has been minimal editing and few changes to their writing in this book. The meaning is most important – to get it all out on paper first. And then they edited to the best of their ability without fear of incurring the wrath of injured red rodent tracks. You will notice deep philosophical connections, which generally outweigh the inevitable misspelled words. The writing process is always there, creation and expression comes in waves and must be put down first. They have done their best writing of the year and I am proud of them, they are proud of themselves.