Teaching kids to think about their thinking
Do you know the 80/20 rule? It says of 100 people, 20 percent make 80 percent of the difference.
According to this program, there’s no better time to help teens embrace this notion and learn how to land in the ‘Top 20’ than at a time in their lives when they are poised to become valuable members of their school, work, faith and family communities.
Top 20 Teens: Discovering the Best-Kept Thinking, Learning and Communicating Secrets of Successful Teenagers is a book based on a 12-week elective class for ninth-grade students at Cretin-Derham Hall High School in St. Paul. Tom Cody, a veteran math teacher at the school and one of the instructors of TLC says the bottom line is the course teaches students “to think about their thinking.” According to Cody, the potential of teenagers is frequently untapped. “The stuff we talk about is already in kids. TLC is just a way of helping them hunt around inside themselves to examine their behavior and attitudes,” he says.
The cultivation of Star Qualities will go the distance when it comes to helping teens become their best selves and successfully face many of life’s challenges. According to the authors of the book (Cody is one of five), Star Qualities are commonly found among those in the Top 20 and include creativity, self-confidence, organization, responsibility, emotional awareness, and enthusiasm. “Top 20 Teens” incorporates these qualities into three distinct segments: Self-Smart (Thinking) + School-Smart (Learning) + People-Smart (Communicating). Woven throughout these topics are subjects like classes and homework, social situations, family relationships, and other vital components of a teen’s daily life. The book, which was written last year, offers user-friendly strategies on how to develop tools for success. For example, by using “The Frame” when faced with situations that might seem unfavorable, TLC teaches teens to “see, feel, do and get” a favorable outcome they may have missed at first glance.
Lauren Belisle, 16, of St. Paul enrolled in the TLC course and believes it made an impact on the way she looks at different situations in her life. “I think pretty much anyone who takes the class will find something to hang on to or bring forward,” she says. The atmosphere in this nontraditional class was something Belisle really enjoyed. “The teachers provide a really good environment in the classroom. It’s really upbeat and it helps the students be upbeat about the subject,” she says.
While Cody often sees big changes in the kids who take the TLC course, he admits their commitment to change is not always permanent. “Some of these kids are on a cloud for the 12 weeks they are in this class, but they can fall off,” he says. The students who are most successful at maintaining the Top 20 strategies are often those whose parents have taken a separate adult TLC course. “Parents who take this class discover we don’t give them ways to ‘fix’ their kids, but ideas about how to look at their own behavior when it comes to parenting.” he says “What they learn helps reinforce what their kids learned in TLC, and it makes for great teamwork.”
Cody says over 1,000 students have taken TLC at Cretin-Derham Hall since the course’s inception five years ago while the program’s founders have presented the Top 20 basics at several schools and organizations both locally and nationally. “I’m so passionate about this subject. It’s really changed my life,” says Cody, a father of three boys. “It gives you the amazing power to change your experiences. Once you see it, it’s crystal clear.”
For more information on Top 20 Teens, visit their website at www.top20training.com. Copies of the book can be ordered at the site: they are also available at Bound to Be Read and St. Patrick’s Guild, both in St. Paul. Interested parents are invited to listen to their podcast about the Top 20 Teens philosophy.
