Empowering Youth: Accessing Positve Peer Power

By Chuck Gobel and Nicholas Schaeve

Positive Peers was simply to be an activity used with a group of young persons whether a classroom, a whole class in a school or perhaps even the entire school. The hope was to foster the development of youth in a way that would improve their performance as well as that of the school organization by using a tightly constructed activity.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: May 3, 2013
• ISBN: 9781626758605

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Attachments

Preface

Why have education reform efforts been pursued for so many years but have yielded so few effective and permanent results? With a life’s worth of experience as educators, we asked this question with a focus on youth – approximately grades 5 through 12, ages 10 to 18. Clearly, there are obvious and pervasive issues that can come to mind. Economic issues, especially for urban populations, and economic support come quickly to mind. But there is much more to the answer. The path we took to seek further answers was a winding one, but it led to our writing this book.

This path took us to renewed and revised understandings about the world of youth and what it means to talk about achievement. It also compelled us to consider some key words and concepts in a fresh way in order to integrate them into united processes to be employed by adults working with youth. These key words and concepts include: motivation, positive peers, power, leadership, communication, critical mass, tipping point, and above all, seeking higher expectations and achievement. At the end of the path, it was clear to us that these words and concepts could be united into a system that became much more than the key words themselves. Some illustrations may help to clarify our meaning here.

Consider, for example, the interpretation exemplified in a classroom described by Charles Dickens.

NOW, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts. Facts alone are wanted in life. Plant nothing else, and root out everything else. You can only form the minds of reasoning animals upon Facts: nothing else will ever be of any service to them. This is the principle on which I bring up my own children, and this is the principle on which I bring up these children. Stick to Facts, sir!..

The square finger, moving here and there, lighted suddenly on Bitzer…. ‘Bitzer,’ said Thomas Gradgrind. ‘Your definition of a horse.’

‘Quadruped. Graminivorous. Forty teeth, namely twenty-four grinders, four eye-teeth, and twelve incisive. Sheds coat in the spring; in marshy countries, sheds hoofs, too. Hoofs hard, but requiring to be shod with iron. Age known by marks in mouth. Thus (and much more) ... Bitzer.

‘Now...,’ said Mr. Gradgrind. ‘You know what a horse is.’" Dickens, Hard Times.

The poet John Ciardi in his book entitled, How Does a Poem Mean? while not directly dealing with the teaching and learning of youth, uses some words and concepts that, in essence, would be the antithesis of the Dickens quote. Part of Ciardi’s thesis is that a poem gains its impact from more than the literal meaning of the words used to write it. The writing of this book forces one, as with a poem, to go beyond the literal meaning of our key words. Perhaps more to the point considering both youth and adults, it means going beyond the literal of what it means to be a leader, or perhaps even more to the point, of what it means to lead and communicate.

Similar to a poem, the meaning of our key words especially positive peers is more than a literal meaning of the words. It is, in fact, the assimilation of those words into a context that gives a specific meaning or actual system for those adults and youth functioning within it. And, most importantly we believe that specific meaning or system will become clear to all those involved through reading, learning and most especially practice.

Empowering Youth: Accessing Positive Peer Power started out as a search through years of first hand involvement with the education of youth for a way to begin to answer our paraphrase to the lead question above, How can student performance be improved? The question is especially complicated in the face of a jumble of ongoing reform efforts. Observation and understanding led us to the belief that there were some common elements, or the lack of same, that distinguished, for example, good schools from bad schools. The presence of adults with appropriate attitudes and skills that have been employed effectively, a core of achievement-oriented youth leaders, a meaningful level of peer participation, among other things came to mind. How to put these pieces, and others mentioned above, together in a way that could be implemented relatively easily, over time or in stages, and that could be specific to the youth population at hand became the challenge.

Initially, Empowering Youth: Accessing Positive Peer Power was simply to be an activity used with a group of young persons whether a classroom, a whole class in a school or perhaps even the entire school. The hope was to foster the development of youth in a way that would improve their performance as well as that of the school organization by using a tightly constructed activity.

As developing the rationale to be used for the activity moved forward and as the instructions for carrying out a new approach took form, it occurred to us that we were, perhaps, engaging in a Gradgrind-like enterprise. This meant that more background, information and concept development were necessary if a truly new approach or system was to be meaningful and successful.

Having determined the need for more background, information and concept development, the question became, How much more of these and what form would they take? As pieces of information were piled atop pieces of information, all in response to the question, Well, what about…? - it was not long before it was clear that we were engaged in writing a book and that the book could have applications in youth organizations and settings beyond just schools.

And so this book is the book. While the book is not about newly discovered concepts, it is about a new and fresh total approach in the use of established concepts, some better known than others. It is about organizing around those concepts in new ways using a youth-centered system to produce higher functioning youth and youth organizations.

The need for higher functioning youth and youth organizations continues to be well documented in reports of student performance and in the news. We believe that those adults who teach, work with, and guide youth as well as the youth themselves, will find this book an effective tool.

Introduction

Schools and other youth organizations are busy places with many existing rules, policies and actual overall cultures of how we do things around here. There are also many expectations for goal achievement. Thus significant reform does not come easily. Since we propose a youth-centered dialogue approach to education reform, a question/answer foreword may offer an overview in that style. Thus we address some questions that may well pop up while reading through our presentation. And so…

   What is the problem this book solves?

The problem this book seeks to solve is how to transform an environment that is stagnant, negative, and populated with predominantly under performing or non-performing youth into one that can and will move the youth population, whether in a school or other youth organization, toward greater personal achievement, be it academic or otherwise, and toward a higher level of task performance. A core element is that a preponderance of peers at any age want to interact with one another and want to be involved at all levels in their own learning if the environment is conducive.

   Who is the primary audience for whom the book is written?

The primary audience for whom the book is written includes all adults who formally work or will work with youth from approximate age 10 to age 18. This could include: administrators, supervisors, teachers, adults who work with youth in after-school and vacation clubs and churches, parents, and any other caregivers of youth.

   Is this book meant to be an analytical or practical instructional approach to educational reform?

Our book is both analytical and practical. It offers an analysis of weaknesses in what may be called the predominant current instructional modes and an instructional handbook showing steps for success using a total youth-centered approach. Chapters 1 through Chapter 3 set the stage to understand the overall picture. Chapter 4 offers some concept connections in the literature and past publications. Chapters 5 though Chapter 16 offer a practical set of helps to begin the process of implementing a total youth-centered instructional approach to attain competency. These later chapters offer a new focused way of teaching and learning highlighting leader peers, small-group work, large-group activities, parent involvement and special circumstances always involving youth in planning and implementation. It is an approach that rests heavily on youth input and involvement in all the learning phases of the organization’s activities. It is important to understand that this kind of paradigm switch would be absorbed slowly and steadily by organizations that understand and sense its value.

   Who trains the staff members of any organization that believes in and want to assimilate this youth-centered approach to education reform?

The book is the guide that can be a working guide. Some organizations may feel it would be in their interest to retain professional trainers. As another resource, instructors or professors at local college or university schools of education may have the necessary expertise to assist. In other larger organizations, supervisors may be able to run workshops on planning days. In smaller organizations the training task may well be up to administrators or consultants. College or university education professors are in a position to play a significant role in teacher education classes. We also think that certified teachers might be able to use planning time working in small groups to help each other learn and practice skills offered in the book.

   How does the youth-centered approach address state standards and test score achievement?

This is not a test prep book. Nonetheless the strategy advocated in the book can have a positive impact on test performance if employed with the concepts and information called for by state standards and standardized tests. Our instructional strategies are not a curriculum, but are to be used within the curriculum. Once leader peers are picked and trained in the group process, teachers and/or youth leaders must introduce needed curriculum concepts. Then various peer discussion and work groups can process related necessary skills. Peers working with, assisting, and even teaching, each other offer a more compelling and motivating way to process new material than worksheets. The same would be true for review work that deepens skills and understandings. At all points in the teaching/learning process this dynamic Socratic approach is geared to assist youth in acquiring needed problem-solving skills and desired curriculum concepts.

   Is cooperative learning the major thrust of this youth-centered approach?

Cooperative learning, mentioned in our chapter on concept connections, plays a big but certainly not the only role in our approach. First, staff members acquire new attitudes and skills; second, peers pick their leader peers who are trained in the group process; third, all involved peers are trained and practice the group process of teaching/learning; fourth, staff-directed learning sequences occur with added small-group work; fifth, additional youth-initiated and implemented large-group learning experiences like assemblies and field trips occur; sixth, special focus small groups can occur; seventh, parental involvement would occur. This approach is not a single small isolated effort but a new comprehensive youth-centered approach to teaching/learning involving positive peer power.

   How does an organization with entrenched policies, procedures and overall culture for lecture-type teaching to impart or pour knowledge get restructured to use a global youth-centered approach to teaching and learning?

The first step for adults is assenting to a youth-centered approach and the concomitant youth-centered skills. Then an organization can begin the process of slowly adapting and integrating a youth-centered instructional mode of operating. This assimilation can happen in a natural progression at the pace that suits the organization as skills are acquired and sharpened and positive outcomes occur.

   What would be the most important driving force on the part of involved youth?

The strategy of developing peers through their direct involvement speaks to the benefits of self-determination and personal control over the course of unfolding events. Peers of all ages enjoy talking and interacting together. There is a natural motivation that operates in such a process. With proper adult teaching and guidance and positive youth leader peers helping to lead the way, the youth-centered approach can generate positive peer power. This power can move an organization forward toward a positive tipping point that will change the culture of the organization from one governed by the impact of a preponderance of low achievement to one motivated by the rewards of high achievement.

CHAPTER ONE

Getting Started

Like searching for the pot of gold at the ever-elusive end of the rainbow, finding a way to insure success in youth endeavors is a never-ending enterprise, one that is frequently fraught with disappointment. Nonetheless, this book undertakes just such a quest. In so doing, we seek to present what is involved in building a successful learning environment for groups of youth, whether that environment is in a school or some other youth group setting. While the focus of the discussions is on interaction within formal organizations, the overriding attitude and way of communicating and interacting that is advocated may also be helpful in any human interaction, including interaction between parents and children. Our hope is to show the way to get close to that pot of gold, namely, successful achievement rather than disappointment.

The search takes us through a number of ideas and strategies. Included, for example, are understanding critical mass and how to go about creating a critical mass of positive youth learners, identifying