There is a group determined not to stand idly by while large groups of minority students fail.   They are doing something to change the situation.  They are called the Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN).

“The Minority Student Achievement Network (MSAN) is a national coalition of multiracial, suburban-urban school districts that have come together to study achievement gaps that exist in their districts. 

Since its inception in 1999 MSAN has worked fervently to discover and propose strategies to change school practices and structures that keep these achievement gaps in place. To this end, districts work collaboratively to conduct and publish research, analyze policies, and examine practices that affect the academic performance of students of color, specifically African American and Latino/a students.”

Mainstream media seems to only talk about the problems.  MSAN is interested in finding solutions

For more information about MSAN or if your district might be interested in joining the Network, please contact the Executive Director, Dr. Madeline Hafner at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison, at mhafner@wisc.edu.

But here I want to highlight a mindmapping tool designed with students and teachers in mind.

Recently Mead, the maker of Mead Map, created a special pilot program for schools.

The pilot program includes the following:

In 1993 Adam Robinson, Co-founder of the Princeton Review, wrote a book called What Smart Students Know. The remarkable thing about this book is that it shows students (and anyone interested in learning) how to take full control of their education.  

As Adam Robinson put it, “I wrote it to show you how to improve your grades by mastering an entirely new way to learn.”  Think about that: “…an entirely new way to learn.”

Many of us believe that a teacher teaches us.  But learning is not determined by the teacher, it is determined by the student. If the student is active and engaged, the student will learn from the teacher.

But if the student is distracted and not engaged, the teacher will teach, but the student will not learn.  

What is so remarkable and “new” about Adam Robinson’s book is that he shows the student how to leverage techniques, strategies, and approaches that enable them to learn – with or without a teacher.  He shares these empowering strategies through 12 principles.

I created a mindmap to capture these 12 principles and what they mean.  If they resonate for you, pick up the book immediately and read it.  If they don’t, by all means find something that causes you to be an active learner and not a passive observer.  In the end, we have to find resources that work for us.  As someone who did well in high school, college, and graduate school, I can tell you from personal experience – these principles worked for me.

Click on the mindmap below to enlarge and read the 12 principles:

If you have MindManager 8 or the MindManager Viewer 7 (which is a free download) you can view the notes that are a part of this mindmap.  I encourage you to download this mindmap and read the informative notes by Adam Robinson on each principle.

The MindManager file (.mmap) for this mindmap is available for download at biggerplate.com.  Click here to download.

Learning is a process.  We all go from “not knowing” something to “knowing” something.  It is through this learning process that we grow and develop.  The best situation is when we have people around us who encourage us to learn new things – People who understand that “not knowing” something is not a crime.  Who understand that everyone who “knows” something –  at one time didn’t know it.

The blog is about helping students go through that process of “not knowing” and then “knowing” as a result of their efforts.  When you understand that learning is a process you understand that “not knowing” something today doesn’t mean you won’t understand it tomorrow.  Understanding this gives you a “freedom” to learn whatever you want.  That is one of the reasons I call this blog “Freedom Class” because it is about students of all ages “liberating” themselves to learn more and pursue their goals.

Because in the end, it is you who will have to liberate yourself.  It is you who will have to spend the hours studying and moving your mind from “not knowing” to “knowing”.  Others can help you – and I will try with this blog – but you will have to do the work.

Good luck.  I wish you the best on your educational and professional journey.