The Breakfast Club
This weekend, I watched the breakfast club with my teenage kids. Man, I love that movie! Lately, however, I have been seeing things through a different lens. As I was watching Alison, Claire, Bender, Brian, and Andrew painfully sacrificing their Saturday for detention, I began thinking about expectations. Specifically, lowered expectations. Of course, this theme is reinforced at the end of the movie when Brian agrees to write the essay that the school’s disciplinary principal, Mr. Vernon, assigned to the group earlier that morning. They are to write an essay about “who you think you are” and the violations they committed to end up in Saturday detention. This letter becomes the focal point of the movie because it is through Brian’s reflection, that he realizes how much they all of have changed throughout the day.
Dear Mr. Vernon,
We accept the fact that we had to sacrifice a whole Saturday in detention for whatever it was we did wrong, but we think you’re crazy to make us write an essay telling you who we think we are. You see us as you want to see us — in the simplest terms and the most convenient definitions. But what we found out is that each one of us is a brain and an athlete, and a basket case, a princess, and a criminal.
Does that answer your question?
Sincerely yours,
The Breakfast Club
What really got my attention was Mr. Vernon’s ridiculously low expectations of Bender; in fact, Mr. Vernon’s private interaction with Bender in the closet. It illustrates the dangerous nature of this type of stereotyping. In a desperate attempt to use fear and aggression to gain obedience and respect, Mr. Vernon explains just how hurtful having low expectations for students can be.
So, what does all of this have to do with designing and teaching learning experiences? As I watched that closet scene again, wincing at Mr. Vernon’s threatening language, I realize that as a teacher, I feel compelled to having unapologetically HIGH expectations for ALL of my students. Don’t let what you think your students can do stand in the way of what they actually do. This means that when setting up the guidelines for a project, or explorative learning experience, don’t limit your students thinking. For example, many teachers think that real-world problems are too big and too complicated for students. How could my fifth graders solve the problem of living in a dangerous neighborhood? Or reacting solutions to water treatment or irrigation problems in third-world countries? Renewable energy solutions for countries without access to electricity or fossil fuels? Neighborhood violence? Well, why not post this challenge?
Challenge
Target 1–3 viable spaces that are underutilized and within walking distance to the school– generate a design proposal that serves the local community and is financially sound for the owner.
Critical Question
What kind of transformation design would serve the local community as well as provide a compelling and long-term solution for teenagers and space owner?
This could be a great community-based, classroom research project on how best to create safe spaces for students of all ages to utilize before and after school. Students could use a five-step process for tackling this challenge.
Explore concepts, skills, and terminology common to industrial design. Also, address how to harness natural curiosity and transform it into a design project.
Describe concepts, skills, and terminology common to industrial design. Also, address how to harness natural curiosity and transform it into a design project.
Explain how the challenge will be addressed, how the project could evolve mid-stream, and what realistic expectations are for a result. This may be a good opportunity to bring in a real-world expert to give students advice.
Demonstrate the project in process by creating a Google Slide Deck or Site to act as a homepage, where students record and evaluate their work and the challenge’s competition jury can survey student work.
Evaluate the project’s results and design concept learning. Consider what changes students and the teacher might implement during a redesign, as well as how lessons learned from the project might apply to other school subjects and/or life situations.
Students will exceed any expectations placed upon them. We need to dream with students; not stand in the way of their dreams. Is it really that far-fetched to think that a student might solve a problem that has baffled adults for years? Kids bring with them a sense of reckless wonder and possibility that gives them such a unique and innovative perspective.
Resources
Teaching with the World Peace Game
Contest tasks kids to solve community issues
Empowering Kids to Be Part of the Solution
Project-Based Learning: Real-World Issues Motivate Students
Have a great week!
—Adrian