What if young learners were able to become smarter and stronger by participating in projects that would build their reading, writing, problem-solving, and character skills over long periods of time? Could young learners demonstrate mastery in these skill areas without attending traditional school for the state-mandated 180 days, or whatever it is in your state?
I ran across an example of exactly this type of project in Vermont. As most of you know, I spend time in Vermont, so I was excited to learn more about the Listen Up project.
The Listen Up project is an original musical inspired, created, and performed by Vermont teens. The show goes to the heart of current youth issues, including mental health, resilience, racial justice, sexual identity, friendship, love, family, community, social justice and current issues that young people are grappling with including Covid-19, climate change and the future of Vermont for young people. The play and music are co-written by teens.
The Listen Up timelines is an interesting one. Started in January of 2019, project proponents formed an adult advisory group and a youth leadership team. A month later, the project team hosted a state-wide press conference and began a Vermont-wide listening phase where Green Mountain youth were allowed to speak about their hopes and fears. Listening sessions continued through March to August of 2019. By October of 2019, adult mentors who served as the initial project directors were hired. Even though COVID-19 hit in March of 2020, the project team stayed busy writing script and songs for the musical. The early months of 2021 were spent launching a promotional video and creating learning labs for Vermont’s youth. The summer months of 2021 were reserved for auditions and rehearsals. In August of 2021, the Listen Up musical began a state-wide tour of Vermont.
During the 2 ½ years Listen Up was launching, the musical’s youth leadership was busy collecting concerns from Vermont’s youth across the state. Those concerns are quite interesting, especially when they are compared to how young people are currently using their time inside the traditional school setting.
Here’s a listing of what Vermont youth need in their lives and their communities:
“Inexpensive and accessible therapy for all
Creating an accountability process for counselors at schools so that students feel supported to speak up
More teen centers, everywhere
More places to do things in towns: ice rinks, coffee shops, art centers
More opportunities for teens to learn about jobs in agriculture
More money for environmental issues in our state
Land reparations to the Abenaki people
More advanced special learning departments
More LGBTQIA+ centers for youth, in every town – no matter how rural
Non-gendered dress codes
Better resources for youth rehab – both in and out of school
More Boy’s and Girl’s Clubs
More technology centers for alternative learning
More support for affordable housing
Prioritizing diversity and representation when hiring in school systems because everyone deserves to see themselves represented by adults in their community
More education about neurodiversity
Free speech and resources for refugees, including advocacy for appropriate school placements
Classes in school that teach about different identities so that we all have more information
Helping save family farms, so we teens can take them over!
Inclusive health classes geared for all bodies
A mandatory Diversity Class at every local school. Better yet, a world where a Diversity Class is not necessary
Accessible contraceptive and period products everywhere
Easier access to hormones. Easier access to gender affirmative medical care
Creating a culture that encourages teenagers to vote
BIPOC affinity spaces – Sometimes we just need to be around less white people
Education where slavery is not the only part of Black history – Please include in our classrooms the beautiful, rich, diverse history of Africa
Addressing and reflecting upon the fact that this nation and many others was built by the toil, blood, sweat and tears, of Africans and their descendants treated as slaves from roughly 1619 until this day!
Ending Climate Change for the future of all of us!”
Wow! What a list!
What would an individual learning plan look like if these needs were incorporated along with traditional reading, writing, and problem-solving skills?
How powerful would student voice become if youth across the country not only were invited to make a list like young Vermonters did above, but were given the support, necessary resources, time, and space to execute on most of these needs?
I had a chance to watch a panel discussing the impact Listen Up had on three participants – one adult, and two youth.
Bess O’Brien from Kingdom County Productions, the only adult on the panel, summed up the three-year project this way:
“We should just do more of this.”
Don Kiputa, a newcomer to Vermont from the African nation of Ghana, expressed a sentiment all of us interested in building smarter and stronger youth would be proud to hear:
“I found the real Don during the past three years.”
I’m sorry, but traditional school just doesn’t make this type of difference for most kids.
Maybe it’s time to stop doing some tasks that don’t make much of a difference when it comes to building a strong and impactful citizenry and start doing some tasks (like those listed above by the Vermont youth) that could make this country and this world a better place to be.
It’s worth a shot.
Til tomorrow. SVB
A Better Path to Learning 
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