• The younger generation does not look to adults for answers.

• They are willing to take ownership of what they create.

• We need to look at some changes to our approach.

Working with the younger generation requires changes to normal approaches.

Children do not look to adults for answers.

In the traditional education system, the teacher will lecture, the students will memorize the material, and the teacher will test to see if they ‘know’ the material.

The 24-hour access to media allows access to a world of information.

They will fact check online and find out details about the topic under discussion.

Young people take ownership of what they help create.

People are more motivated when they are involved in setting targets to achieve.

As a result, they decide how they wish to live their lives.

More students are concluding that school or much of what is taught at school, is irrelevant.

An approach is to involve them and enable them to take more ownership of their education and lives.

AN EXAMPLE:

One example can be found in Dr. Tim Elmore’s ‘Growing Leaders’ recent post entitled “A Classroom Where Students Lead.”

Dr. Elmore met with Professor Uduak Afangideh, Ph.D., at Faulkner University. She is the Head of the Science Department Chair and Professor of Biology on the campus.

CHANGES INTRODUCED:

Dr. Afangideh stated, “Many of us are teaching as if we’re still in the 20th century.” She added, “I needed to stop teaching what they could look up on Google.”

What changes did she make?

Learning Pods:

• She created groups of five or ‘learning pods.’

• They came up with activities to get to know each other.

• They started learning together as a community.

• Students began to teach each other.

• They shared their discoveries.

• They took ownership of the content.

• They listened to each other and took notes.

• They had a pod group leader who could rotate for each class period.

Create Their Classroom Experience:

Since students support what they help create, she found ways to let them ‘create’ their classroom experience.

• She let them create the course syllabus.

• They chose the number of exams.

• Students chose the kind of class culture they wanted.

• They chose the topics, the rules, and how they would deal with the subjects.

• They chose a healthy culture, the very one any teacher would want—but this time, they owned it because they chose it.

NOT EASY:

• They are used to sitting back, zoning out, memorizing and regurgitating for a test system.

• Initially, they resist the change.

• During the year they became engaged and found the answers.

• The results made overcoming the initial resistance worthwhile.

Dr. Afangideh stated, “I’ve seen a difference in student performance since making these changes, five years ago.” They are taking more ‘ownership’ of their learning. I love it. While it would’ve been easier for me to continue teaching the way I did. I had to change, and I am so glad I did.

You can find the article by Dr. Elmore about Dr. Afangideh’s approach at the following link.

https://growingleaders.com/blog/a-classroom-where-students-lead/

The above example reinforces the approaches that work with the young generation.

Enable them to work together in groups and allow them to take ownership of their futures.

A PARENT’S GUIDE:

There is a guide available which assists parents and others working with youth.

The guide enables a person to be proactive in the success of a child’s future.

It contains activities to assist youth to gain critical soft skills.

They will become more resourceful and independent when they practice and gain these skills.

The guide is available from Our Future Leaders.

Request the Parent’s Guide here: http://www.ourfutureleaders.ca/contact-us/