Connecting Dreams to Education

Audio Highlight from Conference Session

"Acknowledge that students can express themselves, understand their world, recognize that they do care about the future, and loosen up," that's the advice Darrell "Coach D" Andrews gave educators who wanted to know how to connect with young people, especially students of color.

Coach D gave an inspirational talk in which he interspersed stories about himself growing up in a single-parent family with accounts of his own children and the students he has worked with in the HYPE program (Helping Youth Pursue Excellence). The HYPE program is a drop-out prevention program that teaches high school students how to be confident and responsible.

He proposed that teachers start a schoolwide dream initiative that asks students to talk about and make posters about their dreams. By remembering which student wants to be a doctor, which a fashion designer, and so on, teachers can connect lessons and dreams. "Don't lower the bar; take it up," he said.

He also addressed "the attention economy" and urged educators to notice what is capturing students' attention in the media. "To get their attention, think like a marketer," he said, "but remember that kids are not committed to programs; they are committed to people." By focusing on the importance of relationships, identity, and dreams, teachers can win their students' attention, he said.

Listen to a brief excerpt of Andrews' session.

• Dennis Littky put the microphone in the hands of his 16-year-old student Josue Lopez, who gave a heart-provoking assessment of his life that includes an imprisoned father and the determination to avoid following in his father's footsteps.
• One Florida school presented data from their program that shows increased parental involvement improved student test scores.
• ASCD Outstanding Young Educator Award winner, Pete Hall, said that the award is a celebration of the contributions of all educators and called for educators to join him in what he respectfully called "the attack."

If you have difficulty with the audio file, a transcript is provided below.


Transcript
I did this one time, in a middle school class, and I tell you, the teacher could not believe it. She said, "How did you get them to start talking about their dreams like that?" I said, "Because they want to. We've got to create the environment to allow them to do this." We created dream posters and all kinds of stuff. We took the posters--I'm going to talk about this in a moment--and put their pictures on it, and then we found people who had succeeded in that career and connected their faces. They're all lined up, like a hall of fame, in a sense. And we put their posters up on the wall, and we would start calling them "Doctor this" and "Lawyer that," and then, "Look at your colleagues up there--That's you and your colleagues." Because they had their pictures and their faces next to famous people who had excelled in that career. I told the teacher, "Every day they come in, call them by their professional name, because I want them to see their dream." We did this with one young man that was in there, whose father had been in jail all of his life, and who had been a challenge in his school. And [his] teacher contacted me three or four weeks later. She said, "Darrell, we have a new person in my classroom. Because now, he was starting to see that he can accomplish his dream."