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Adam Fletcher
| November 30, 2007 | 1:11 AM |
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Youth Rights on the March
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Its difficult to build a movement, and even harder when you are young. Last month after 7 years of aspiring to build a nonprofit and struggling once my board of directors received 501c3 status from the IRS, I folded CommonAction. I earned a few grants, got a few contracts, but there simply was not enough support to warrant the full-time operation of The Freechild Project and SoundOut.  So its with a great sense of awe and pride that I share the story of my friend and hero, Alex Koroknay-Palicz. Yesterday the Washington Post featured Alex in a spread called "Age Is Just a Number: Youth Rights Advocate Tries to Break Down Barriers to Adulthood". Its a nice piece that centers on Alex's activism, and should help bring awareness to the National Youth Rights Association, and the youth rights movement as a whole. Congrats Alex! Here's where you can read the article. You can also talk about it on NYRA's forum, read the history of NYRA on Freechild, and learn about the youth rights movement in the U.S. from an article I wrote on Wikipedia. Oh, and for the fun of it, here's Alex's blog - he's all over the place in a great way - and an interview my SoundOut advisor Adam King did with Alex in 2005.
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| November 28, 2007 | 11:11 AM |
Links for 2007-11-27 [del.icio.us]
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- Mainstreaming of Youth
Wow. Another spectacular doc from the UN outlining the advancement of youth involvement in Europe and around the world - minus the US.
- Mainstreaming youth
More information from the UN, this time from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). This is cutting edge youth involvement material.
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| November 28, 2007 | 1:11 AM |
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Teaching Student Voice
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"Where there is a will there is a way!" An old time adage has no better purpose than describing the phenomenon of student voice in schools. In these times when standardization seems to have choked out any individualism that teachers may have ever experienced, the odds of actually having students acknowledged as significant partners in the process of improving schools seems nill, at best. At worst we have a US Supreme Court that actively takes away the ability of students to share their voices, no matter what they're saying.  What to do when students are ready for more? That's right - empower them! And I'm not just talking about giving the keys to the car to a fifteen year old and letting them figure out how to drive on their own. For three years from 2003 to 2006 I worked deeply in several high schools across Washington State to entwine students within the formalized school improvement process mandated by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction. One of the outcomes of that work was the creation of the "Students as Partners Cycle", which identifies a series of steps to engage students in school improvement.  I actually want to teach every single student I work with about this Cycle, and then facilitate their learning about the steps within. I followed this Cycle in creating the SoundOut Student Voice Curriculum, which, after two years, I still have not formally released. 28 hour-long lesson plans are spread across eight project-based modules that cover: - Learning about Learning
- Learning about the Education System
- Learning about School Reform
- Learning about Student Voice
- Learning about Meaningful Student Involvement
There are so many options and avenues and different ways for students to become engaged throughout the entire curriculum... I'm just not sure if there's interest out there. Well, here's the finding that out soon enough!
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| November 27, 2007 | 7:11 AM |
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Building on Student Voice
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This morning I dropped my daughter off at day school, and I was reminded of an important lesson I've learned about student voice. A friend of Hannah's came over and started immediately telling her how excited she was to be learning about plaster casts today. As they went back and forth I listened to the tone of my daughter's voice change, and saw on her face as she became more excited about a Monday morning. I'm reminded that in one of its more commonly recognized forms, student voice is always a force for changing the climate of a learning environment, good or otherwise. Students go back and forth on a regular basis, checking in about each others' emotions and ideas, experiences and knowledge about school, learning, teaching, classrooms, curricula, behaviors, attitudes... the whole nine yards. That's why it becomes vital for educators to embrace the voices of learners from the youngest ages, and to let students inform their pedagogy.  By starting young educators can empower students by teaching them about learning, about the process of education, and about the schooling that is done to them every single day, whether or not they are willing participants. In this way learners can at least have a common understanding of the individual and collective experiences they share. Anyone who has been in one of my more recent workshops can attest to the conversations we've had about what type of learning our schools could foster if only students had this basic understanding of their days. Topics that students can and should learn about include: - Curriculum: What is it, what does it do, why is it used and who does it serve?
- Management: What is classroom management, how does it affect me and how can it change?
- Design: Who designs schooling, from the building to the agenda to the budget to the hiring process?
- Assessment: What is the purpose of assessment, what are the ways it happens, and what are the outcomes from assessment?
And of course, let's teach students about student voice! Students should have a basic understanding of their identity, their skills and their knowledge, and be able to apply those understandings in and to the course of their daily experiences in school. Embracing student voice in this way takes a lot of different forms. Check out my Cycle of Student Voice for ideas about what that looks like specifically. In a really simplistic way, building student voice is a constructivist perspective for embracing the power of schooling, which could potentially be a positive experience for all learners. It is our responsibility as ethical educators to do exactly that.
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| November 26, 2007 | 5:11 AM |
| November 18, 2007 | 1:11 AM |
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When Given the Freedom...
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"The young, free to act on their own initiative, can lead their elders in the direction of the unknown... The children, the young, must ask the questions that we would never think to ask, but enough trust must be re-established so that the elders will be permitted to work with them on the answers."
- Margaret Mead, Continuities in Cultural Evolution
In 1964, at the age of 35 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. became the youngest person to ever win the Nobel Peace Prize. Thousands of students of color participated in a school walkout in New York City over defacto segregation. The Berkeley Free Speech Movement was started after a huge protest after a police officer arrested a protester.  That same year Margaret Mead, a cultural anthropologist who was famous in the U.S. for her book called Coming of Age in Samoa, wrote quote above. Mead is popular today because of a more simple quote attributed to her: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." I think "The young, free to act..." quote above is one of the most powerful summaries about youth-adult partnerships and intergenerational equity I have found. Enjoy.
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| November 15, 2007 | 7:11 AM |
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The Youngest Mayor Ever
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I don't know who the youngest mayor ever was. In 1885 the mayor of Van Buren, Arkansas was thought to be the youngest in America at the age of 21. During a fight over a prostitute with another man, Mayor Alexander Aaron was cut with a razor, and consequently shot his attacker. ( NYT .pdf) In 1972 Jody Smith was elected mayor of Ayrshire, Iowa, a town of 202 in the north-central part of the state. His election was cool, and he was only 19. But in elections across the U.S. last week the country saw a slew of action from the outskirts of the youth rights movement: A variety of candidates from across the country drew national attention, and if leveraged right, they could draw attention to the efforts of activists working for civic engagement, youth rights and intergenerational equity.  Michael Sessions turned eighteen in September, and ran a write-in campaign in his hometown of Hillsdale, Michigan. Beating a 51-year-old incumbent, Sessions ran as an anti-establishment candidate in a town of 8,000+ and won the support of the town's symbolically powerful firefighter's union. A recent USA Today article also reported that Jeffrey Dunkel was one month shy of 19 when he was sworn in as mayor of tiny Mount Carbon, Pennsylvania in January 2002. He was reelected this week. Chris Portman was 19 at his inauguration in Mercer, Pennsylvania was originally elected the same month. Portman resigned before the end of his first term after it was alleged that he was too immature for the position. He routinely rode around in police cars with officers and had an MTV camera crew follow him extensively.  A little digging shows that Luke Ravenstahl is the youngest mayor of any major American city today. After becoming mayor of Pittsburgh in September 2006, Ravenstahl began his political career at 23, right after graduating college. As a city council member, Ravenstahl was elected Council President in 2003, and then was appointed mayor in 2005 after the previous mayor died in office. By defeating a Republican challenger in 2006 he ensured his office until 2010. Christopher Seeley of Linesville, Pennsylvania and Sam Juhl of Roland, Iowa are two other eighteen-year-olds who were elected mayor last week, as well. However, things aren't all rosey for young people in politics. The campaign for Brett McClafferty to become mayor of Streetsboro, Ohio must have pissed off the right people. Right after his near-loss campaign to get on the ballot, the city council raised the minimum age for candidates to be 23-years-old. Here's an interesting PSA from Do Something with one story. Later on I'll share an analysis of all this: I think there is a much more important point to be made instead of simply suggesting young people should run for office. Stay tuned...
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| November 11, 2007 | 4:11 AM |
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Youth 2 Youth Forum
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I wanted to let you all know about a powerful example that we should all follow in our local communities. Simply reading the announcement, you can see young people working with adults to make youth voice heard and active. That's powerful. If you're in NYC, go to this event and let me know what you think! The Youth 2 Youth forum will offer diverse youth aged 14-21 from across New York City the opportunity to connect, speak out and take action to make a difference in their schools and communities. Networking and workshops followed by performances and open mic. Food and drinks will be served. The forum will offer both immigrant and non-immigrant youth an opportunity to connect, speak out and take action on the issues facing their communities. Registration is required for organizations wishing to table or take part in the performances or open mic, and space is limited. The forum is sponsored by the New York Immigration Coalition, Union Settlement, the Coalition for Asian-American Children & Families, the New York State Youth Leadership Council and United Neighborhood Houses.
For more information please contact Sasha Chavkin as civic@thenyic.org
Youth 2 Youth Forum
Friday, November 16th 5:00-10:00pm
Washington Community Center, 1775 3rd Ave and 98th St.
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| November 9, 2007 | 10:11 AM |
And Youth Go On...
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Despite all the changes, all of the technologies, all the activities and all the news of the world, youth go on. Everything that I've read has shown me that young people have existed for all of time, whether recognized for their unique status in society or for their integral contributions to the good of the whole, youth have always been there. I go on as well. Starting today I am rededicating this blog: Here I will continue to share, examine, critique and explore young people in the world today. Expect more of the same commentary, as well as news, links and other information about young people, youth activism, social change, student engagement and youth empowerment. If you think this has been whiley or critical in the past, you haven't seen anything yet. Look for more from here on out - and send me more, too. I'm willing to stand out if you're reading. Thanks for that support.
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| November 6, 2007 | 11:11 AM |
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