The Year It Begins
This is the year it all begins.
My eldest son Justin, who is severely autistic and non-verbal, is turning seventeen in a few months. This is the year that the inevitable slide to adulthood really ramps up.
The year Jeff and I spend thousands to be his guardian when he turns eighteen.
The year we apply for Medicaid and SSI, which will be welcome benefits.
The year my boy is technically in his last twelve months of childhood.
I admit that sometimes I find milestone years to be hard. If his school went by traditional years he would be a junior in high school, and if he were typical he'd be gearing up to drive, preparing for the SATs, looking at colleges on road trips. I've watched my friends go through this right of passage for years, and know that instead we will be spending our time and money petitioning a court to grant us legal rights so when he hits adulthood we can continue to make medical decisions about him.
Sometimes I am okay with this. Sometimes I am really, really sad.
It's funny, but the realization of the vast differences between his life and that of many of my friends' kids doesn't hit me when you think it might. I am generally fine on his actual birthday or at his family party, mostly just grateful we have family to celebrate with him, and thankful he usually enjoys opening his presents and scarfing down a chocolate cupcake.
No, the differences hit me when I see a "driving school car" tooling around the neighborhood with a cautious teen at the wheel. It hits me when I see bumper stickers of colleges on the back of cars at a stoplight. I notice it when I pass the Huntington prep school advertising SAT prep on my way to grab a hot chocolate at Barnes and Noble.
I still have my priorities.
And the thing is, having these thoughts is okay.
There are some who might say they are not okay, that I'm not accepting of my son as he is, not reveling in his personal accomplishments no matter how much they diverge from the mainstream. This couldn't be farther from the truth. When he recently relearned how to take his shirt off before a shower, I literally did a dance (no, it will not be on YouTube). When he started using a fork about seventy-five per cent of the time I rejoiced, because it was a skill he once had before the tic disorder came calling, and it's a skill he should have for his lifetime. I am as proud of his accomplishments, no matter how small they might seem to the world, as I am of his little brother's more typically achieved milestones.
The truth is I also believe Justin is unaware that he will not drive or attend college. He is passionate about watching his DVDs on his player, committed to driving around Monmouth County on the computer using the Hertz Rent-a-Car site, and absolutely devoted to Philadelphia Pretzels. I am confident he thinks his life is good, that he loves his school, loves to go out to most places, and also craves being home.
This knowledge helps my heart immeasurably.
But I know there will always be a wistful component as to what might have been, and a passionate longing for my son to have been gifted with the ability for independence, to be able to take care of his needs when I'm dead. I know I will never let that one go as long as he takes breath.
And I'm okay with that permanent longing too.
In a few months I will gear up to take official lifetime responsibility for him, which is of course a mere formality. I will hopefully continue to watch him reacquire skills, and find joy in his routines. His father and I will continue to try to provide a happy and safe life for him, which in the end is all we want for him with all our hearts.
And no matter what we feel we will move forward, because that's what we do.
I hope all of you can too.
For more on my family visit my blog at autismmommytherapist.Wordpress.Com
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Browns Make Andrew Berry Hiring Official; 32-year-old Is Youngest General Manager In NFL History
The Cleveland Browns' new front office hierarchy is among the NFL's youngest and most analytically inclined.
Check back in eight or nine months to see if it results in more victories.
The Browns on Tuesday, Jan. 28, confirmed the hiring of Andrew Berry as executive vice president and general manager.
At 32, Berry becomes the youngest GM in NFL history. He also joins Miami's Chris Grier as the lone African American general managers in the 32-team league.
Berry was the Browns' vice president of player personnel for three seasons (2016-18) before leaving to become the Philadelphia Eagles' VP of football operations in February 2019.
The Harvard University graduate will again work with Paul DePodesta, the Browns' 47-year-old chief strategy officer, and the pair will be joined by new head coach Kevin Stefanski, 37, to form an all-Ivy League trio at the top of the organizational depth chart. (DePodesta is also a Harvard alum, and Stefanski is a former University of Pennsylvania defensive back.)
"We are thrilled Andrew will lead our football operations," Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement released by the team. "We have always been profoundly impressed with him as a consummate professional who has meticulously studied his craft every place he has worked and is extremely dedicated to utilizing every resource to improve an organization and to enhance his own knowledge. He will be a tremendous partner with Kevin as he embraces the critical nature of his relationship with the head coach. We know he can't wait to get to work."
The Haslams stressed the importance of alignment as they embarked on their fifth coaching searching since purchasing the franchise in 2012. In Berry and DePodesta they have a duo who get along well, and both were fans of Stefanski in the search that led to the hiring of Freddie Kitchens as coach in 2019.
Former general manager John Dorsey pushed for the hiring of Kitchens, who had an impressive eight-game stint as offensive coordinator after Hue Jackson was fired in 2018. But Kitchens' only season as a head coach was a massive disappointment, and the Browns' 6-10 season ended with his firing and the departure of Dorsey.
That led to DePodesta getting his top choice — Stefanski — this time around, and Berry, along with Minnesota Vikings assistant GM George Paton, was mentioned all along as a favorite to be named GM.
Paton, after two interviews with the Browns, pulled out of the running for GM on Jan. 24. Three days later, word broke that the Browns and Berry had agreed to a five-year contract, a timeline that coincided with the length of Stefanski's deal.
Berry, who will be introduced at a news conference Feb. 5 in Berea, has a diverse background in the NFL.
A three-time all-Ivy League selection in football, Berry graduated from Harvard with a bachelor's degree in economics and a master's degree in computer science.
He joined the Indianapolis Colts as a scouting assistant in 2009. Two years later, he was promoted to pro scout, and he was elevated to pro scouting coordinator in 2012. After four seasons in that role, Berry joined the Browns as part of another unconventional front office setup — one that was led by Sashi Brown, the team's former general counsel.
Berry worked one season with Dorsey, then left for Philadelphia.
In a 2019 interview with his alma mater, Berry said working with multiple areas of the football and analytical operations has helped him "speak multiple languages with the decision-makers and the analysts, and it has enabled me to be of help with the general strategy in terms of building a team."
In the Browns' statement, the new GM said he was "honored and blessed to lead the football operations" of the organization.
"The passion for football courses through the veins of Northeast Ohio in a manner that is unique to that of any other region," Berry added. "Our fan base's devotion to the Browns is the catalyst for such affection for the sport. Rewarding you all — our loyal and faithful Dawg Pound — will energize and motivate me daily to attack the challenge ahead of us. It is for that reason that I am excited to partner with Kevin Stefanski — a coach I know our city will embrace because of his leadership skills, work ethic, humility and character — to work tirelessly and with immediate urgency toward building a winning organization that will make the people of Cleveland proud."
Stefanski said he's known Berry for about 10 years. The coach called the GM "extremely knowledgeable" and said the two "share a vision on the type of team we need to build to have the success our fans deserve."
It’s Time For The World Of Work To Connect To Our Classrooms
Lindblom Math and Science Academy
A World Of Work We Can’t Predict
The world of work is changing rapidly. Even the jobs not being phased out are shifting fundamentally. Employers are searching for a set of increasingly complex, specialized technical skills while also demanding strong “human” skills—like creativity, collaboration and communication—that will be resilient in the face of automation. Faced with unprecedented challenges and opportunities, today’s students will need human skills, hard skills, an ability to integrate them and a capacity to keep learning more in order to thrive in the future of work. Ours is no small task.
To meet it, a growing number of educators have turned their energy toward real-world, applied learning experiences. There is not much debate around the powerful potential of project-based, industry-connected learning, and impressive programs like Urban Alliance and Big Picture Learning already focus on it. But as Edutopia and the Buck Institute have noted, opportunities for meaningful applied learning are by-and-large inequitably distributed, and even when they are available, they’re too often completely disconnected from students’ learning pathways and broader career goals.
To foster the leadership skills and self-discovery that can come from meaningful, industry-connected learning experiences, schools need to make sure their project-based learning programs are driven by students’ passions, connected to the learning happening throughout the school and focused on preparing students for their future careers.
Picture It: Wednesdays In West Englewood
Lindblom Math and Science Academy, my alma mater, is a public high school on the South Side of Chicago. It’s located in West Englewood, a majority Black neighborhood where more than a quarter of residents live below the poverty line.
Earlier this year, you could find Lindblom students in classrooms with schematics in their hands, iterating different ideas for how Gatorade could be better distributed in gyms. The task, presented to them by engineers at PepsiCo, was one they worked on throughout the year, assisted by their teacher and periodic visits from the engineers. At the end of the year, once the group had reached its final recommendation, the students traveled to PepsiCo’s office in Chicago’s Loop and presented their ideas to the company’s senior leadership.
This year, computer science students teach the basics of coding to elementary school kids. Students interested in aviation learn about (and tour) planes with real-world pilots. Students wanting to explore industrial design collaborate with engineers from EXP Engineering to brainstorm ways they can renovate spaces in their neighborhood.
These are just a few of 50 such “Colloquia” classes that Lindblom students choose between each semester. They take place for 200 minutes every Wednesday. Varsity sports fall within the program, as do more traditional electives like yearbook and choir, but the emphasis on passion-driven, experiential learning is consistent, and the opportunities to connect it to industry are plentiful. Graduate students from the University of Chicago host demonstrations on lasers and magnets; experts trained in the outdoors help students identify and initiate service projects in nature; women doctors share wisdom with Lindblom girls interested in medicine. As Lindblom Principal Wayne Bevis puts it, the Colloquia classes are less about training students for a specific career and more about fostering the high-level thinking, collaboration and passion necessary to thrive in nearly all of them.
That said, Lindblom doesn’t skimp on more career-specific preparation either. The school partners with Chicago Public Schools to offer multiple Career Technical Education (CTE) program options—in things like web design and engineering—for students interested in distinct career paths to get a head start honing critical technical skills.
Connecting It To The Classroom
Lindblom Math and Science Academy
At Lindblom, none of this applied learning happens in a silo. The experiences are an intentional continuation of the learning that starts in Lindblom’s classrooms, which is essential to making the school’s approach to workforce preparedness so powerful.
As part of implementing personalized learning across the school’s classrooms, Principal Bevis has led a school-wide push to focus on social-emotional skills. For Lindblom teachers, growth mindset, executive function and relationship skills are North Stars alongside the traditional classroom learning experience. As Lindblom teachers guide their students toward opportunities to collaborate, exercise agency and direct themselves, they lay the foundation for them to be successful in their colloquia experiences.
Beyond this social-emotional focus, Lindblom also emphasizes competency-based education in its academics. The pace of each student’s learning is not dictated by the group. Instead of focusing on passing or failing, students focus on learning, and persisting with challenges until they understand—just like they’ll have to do in the real world.
When it’s time to apply these skills and mindsets in more professional settings, Lindblom students have been practicing them. The school makes sure its partner organizations are aligned with Lindblom’s broader goals for students’ development, and are committed to delivering on them with substantial, challenging work opportunities. The in-school and out-of-school experiences are synchronized, and their power compounds as a result. Students don’t just learn what it’s like to be in an office—they practice what’s needed to thrive in one.
Igniting It With Passion
The emphasis on student passion that runs between the in-school and out-of-school learning at Lindblom is what drives the program’s success.
Why is passion so important for the future of work? Because the job market will never be stagnant, and today’s young people will need to hit a perpetually moving target. They will have to become adaptable, learning how to quickly adjust and integrate new skills as they go. You cannot foster adaptability without developing passion and curiosity. Our students must find a personal meaning—for themselves and their futures—in what they are learning. Without it, they’ll be far less likely to develop the curiosity or determination required to keep building on their knowledge and skills when they’re no longer being graded for them.
Everyone—from those of us leading schools to those leading businesses to everyone in between—needs to be thinking about how we’re building our learners’ passion and curiosity in real-world ways. Without a robust pipeline of young people who can adapt quickly and apply their knowledge across multiple contexts, we won’t have the leaders to solve next-generation problems or the talent to meet our economy’s needs.
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