Hey, kids! Stuck at home? There’s a world of great learning – at your fingertips! I mean it! At your fingertips!
Go into the kitchen – right now! – and grab a couple of wooden spoons or chopsticks. Find a nice pot and turn it over. Put on your favorite music (and earphones, if somebody will get annoyed) and beat a drum accompaniment to your music with spoons and pot. Or put a cake fork in the pot, turn it right side up, and bang on the side, to sound just like a cymbal. You can become part of the band.
Your school is closed. Your teacher has suggested some things to do. Your mom would like you to take the time to really clean your room. Your dad has chores for you out in the yard. I’m not saying that all these good people are leading you astray. But this coronavirus thing is a chance for you to take charge of your learning. To learn some things you never could learn in school. To feel the freedom and the thrill of being your own teacher.
This can change your life. Up till now you might have felt that “learning” was what your teachers made you do in school, or that it was your job to do whatever you were told, so you could get that “A” (or those colorful stickers, if you’re a little kid). But now is the time to take charge. To learn for the sake of learning without tests, grades or even praise. To make your world bigger. To stretch your mind.
Here are some of the things you can do:
You can draw a picture of the coronavirus. Give it hands and feet and a big angry face. Draw your favorite superhero who’s going to stop that virus from hurting any more people. Make up a story or a song on how you’re going to make it go away.
Make your own school, with all of your stuffed animals as students, and with you as teacher. What will you teach them? How will you deal with those stuffed animals who misbehave? What will you do with them for recess? What will you give them for a snack?
You can build a fort inside your house, with bed sheets and clothespins. Decide which of your animals you are going to invite to have cookies and milk or tea with. Invent a song to sing with them about what it’s like to live in your little house.
Ask your parents who is the oldest relative (now dead) they know about. Write a letter to that person, and tell them what it’s like to live in the 21st century, with all the things they never even imagined. Also tell them about who you are, and what kind of person you’d like to become. Ask them some questions about what life was like for kids when they were your age.
Find some of your favorite children’s books, and practice how to read them to a little brother or sister, or over the phone to another little kid you know. Imagine that you are an actor, learning how to read with emotion and expression. My guess is that this young person will want you to read a lot more books to them.
It’s the year 2050, and you are running for president of the United States. Imagine what kinds of problems and opportunities will exist in 2050 and write a speech telling people why they should vote for you.
You’ve been elected by your fellow students to design the ideal high school that you all will be going to soon. What will make it the best possible school for all kinds of kids? What will all the teachers be like? How much freedom will you and your fellow students have to design your own education? Write out a plan for the ideal high school and describe its most important aspects – including what lunch will be like. And then, maybe, show it to your principal when school opens again.
Imagine that you and your best friend are the only ones left in your town. What would you do to survive? How would you stay safe? What would you do? Where would you go? What would you do if you met up with other kids your age from another town? Write a story, or draw some pictures, to show what you would do.
Pick out some of your favorite kids books to read to a younger person. Put some real emotion into your reading so that they beg you for more. Then write your own children’s book about something you know more about than anyone else.
Think of someone, a younger brother or sister, or the younger siblings of your friends. What advice will you give them to prepare them for middle school so they get the most benefit from their teachers and make good friends? Write up a little handbook for them. You might want to do this with a friend.
You’re in high school now. So you probably won’t be reading this, because you have better things to do. Well, just in case . . .
The coronavirus (or something like it) might mean a big change in how we think about the world. You’re in charge of designing civilization in the year 2100. How will you save the planet? What will make life fair for all kinds of people? What system of government (or no government) will you propose? What are the three worst things about life as we know it that you want to change? What are the three best things about life as we know it that you want everyone to be able to enjoy?
Whether you are sure you want to go to college – or are maybe feeling that college is not such a good idea for someone like you – make a list of the things a college would have to be like that would make it the right place for you. What would you most want to learn? What different kinds of people would you like to get to know? What kind of career would lead to a great life? Turn this list into a letter to an Unknown College – and think about actually sending it out to the college that comes closest to what you are looking for.
Do you want to improve your vocabulary? Do you want to be a better speaker? Do you want to learn more about the world – on your own terms and at your own pace? There’s an easy way to do this, in the privacy of your own room. And it only takes 5 minutes a day! Just turn on the National Public Radio news program at the start of the hour and repeat – word for word – everything you hear, just as soon as you hear it. It will seem very strange at first, but if you do this every day that school is closed, I guarantee that you will learn an unbelievable amount – new words that you will come to understand, different ideas that may, or may not, agree with you. You will be able to answer questions in Social Studies class that nobody – not even your teacher – thinks you know. You will be able to have opinions, and defend them.
Find a little book with blank pages and make it your “Question Book.” Fill it with questions that you think nobody has the answer to. Your questions are your key to your future. The best questions might never get answered, but they will help you build a life that is right for you.
I’m sure you have other great ideas of your own. Send them to me at rob.fried@gmail.com.
(Robert L. Fried of Concord is the director of the New American Baccalaureate Project.)