Teach from the Heart to Develop Students

The key to Dennis Littky's talk on "Big Picture Education" Saturday was the snapshot view he gave into life at the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center ("The Met") in Providence, R.I.

Littky is the former principal and current director of the school that creates a curriculum from a student's interests. He wants students to study what they are interested in and expects them to launch into research on that subject with a passion fueled by advisors and parental support.

It is the type of approach that put a microphone in the hands of 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. Lopez is one of about 700 students attending The Met. These students have taken on studies that range from designing fashion to putting an award-winning spin on hypertension among African Americans.

"Our mantra is 'one student at a time,'" Littky said. "We enroll families, not just kids."

Littky, known as Doc, admitted that sometimes such bold approaches are a leap of faith-for example, the student who wanted to study the rapper Tupac. From that spark came the student's evolving interest in people who make an impact on society. Before graduation, the same pupil was researching activist Nelson Mandela and orchestrating a peace forum.

Unconventional gambles like these have paid off in other ways for the poor and minority students who attend The Met. Littky said his students not only get into college, 75 percent graduate-a far cry from the typical 10 percent college graduation rate he described for most African Americans and Hispanics.

"I don't think we realize how tough it is for our kids to make it in college," Littky said.

Littky continued to remind his audience that students need to learn how to solve problems, not just learn from books. He challenged educators not only to think outside of the box, but also outside the classroom for tools and ways to give children new and useful experiences. He encouraged the group to roll up their sleeves, and he threw out a challenge: "What can you do on Monday to be a little bit different at your school?"

Read chapters from Littky's recent book The Big Picture: Education is Everyone's Business.