Youth Development Insight

By Kate Walker I wrote a post on youth development lessons from the hit TV series Ted Lasso . That inspired me to find similar lessons in my new favorite show, The Bear , which is about a renowned chef who returns to his hometown of Chicago to run his late brother’s struggling Italian beef sandwich shop. Chef Carmy dreams of transforming the restaurant into a world-class restaurant, but is constantly battling personal struggles, crushing debt, a rundown kitchen and unruly staff. Through it all, I draw important lessons in teamwork, leadership, personal growth and purpose. Teamwork and leadership The show demonstrates the value of diversity in a team, where different personalities come together to solve problems and overcome setbacks, from failed inspections to exploding toilets. As chef de cuisine, Carmy listens to the kitchen staff, seeking their expertise and advice before determining the path forward. Determined sous-chef Sydney studies and applies leadership lessons from Duke Unive...

By Kate Walker I recently attended the annual meeting for the Society for Research on Adolescence where my mentor Reed Larson was invited to reflect on his influential research career in youth development. Reed first got interested in adolescence because he saw it as a critical period of awakening. Yet he noticed that most research focused on problems more than development, and he discovered that youth programs were powerful spaces for this awakening and development to occur. These insights propelled an impressive body of research that has tremendous implications for our work with and on behalf of young people.  Young people’s daily experiences and emotions With his mentor Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi , Reed began by studying adolescents’ daily experiences and emotions, pioneering the Experience Sampling Method (ESM) where young people were prompted (with beepers back then!) to report on their feelings and the dynamics of their experiences in different domains in their daily lives. He...

By Kate Walker In today's rapidly evolving world, artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming increasingly integrated into our daily lives. From smart homes to autonomous vehicles, AI has the potential to reshape how we live and work. However, as this technology advances, there is a growing realization that young people must develop not only technical skills, but also social emotional learning (SEL). Youth programs can play a vital role in equipping the next generation with the social emotional skills crucial to thrive in an AI-driven society . Artificial intelligence refers to the development of computer systems capable of performing tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as problem-solving and decision-making. Yet while AI can automate many routine tasks, it cannot replicate essential human qualities, such as empathy, creativity, and critical thinking. Here’s why social emotional skills are needed to successfully navigate the complexities of an AI-driven society: Empa...

By Kate Walker When someone in your community attempts or dies by suicide, everyone can be affected. Young people may have strong feelings and need your help understanding them. Cari Michaels and I assembled these practical tips and conversation starters for parents, educators and other caring adults when talking with youth about suicide. How to approach the conversation When talking to children about suicide, start by asking them what they know. During the conversation, be sure to ask how your child is feeling, listen to the answers carefully, and encourage questions. Be honest with your responses and encourage help-seeking if needed. It’s also key to keep your responses developmentally appropriate. Young children need simple information balanced with reassurance and ideas about how to cope. Encourage all questions and feelings. Do not give graphic details. Focus instead on how to cope with feelings of sadness, loss and anger. Pre-teens may want concrete information. Start by aski...

By Kate Walker In my role as editor for the Journal of Youth Development (JYD), I read a lot of great articles. JYD is designed to bridge applied research and practice. In other words, it addresses issues and features studies and practices that have implications for those working with and on behalf of young people in youth-serving organizations and the intermediaries that support them. However, many of those folks don’t have time to read journal articles. Allow me to highlight a few important JYD publications that you may have missed (from most recent): Silence is Not an Option: Oral History of Race in Youth Development Through the Words of Esteemed Black Scholars . The study of race has been silenced in many areas of science including youth development research. Harris and Outley synthesize an antiracist agenda from the perspectives of six Black scholars: Tabbye Chavous, Michael Cunningham, Davido Dupree, Leoandra Onnie Rogers, Stephanie Rowley, and Robert Sellers. Youth Programs Are...

By Kate Walker In 2016, photographer R.J. Kern took 65 portraits of Minnesota 4-H youth who didn’t win their county fair livestock competitions. Four year later -- in the midst of the pandemic -- he returned to photograph the young subjects. He asked them what they carried forward from their previous experience: What life skills have they learned? What advice would they give other competitors?  The portraits and reflections offer lessons on resilience and illustrate how young people learn from disappointments and rise from challenges. They also confirm what research tells us about how youth learn from emotions in youth programs and projects .  Resilience is the ability to cope with stress, bounce back from hardships. and use what was learned from setbacks to better navigate future challenges. "You win some, you lose some, that’s just how 4-H goes", Nick from Otter Tail County tells Kern.  In this video , 4-Hers share some of the life skills they’ve gained, from responsib...

By Kate Walker Have you seen the streaming Apple TV series Ted Lasso ? It’s a beloved comedy about an American football coach who gets hired to lead a struggling professional soccer team in England. Mostly it’s about how Ted leads his team, on and off the field. I am a huge fan of this unexpectedly heartwarming show, and in it I find lessons for effective youth development practice and for supporting social emotional learning with young people. “Be a goldfish.” According to Ted, a goldfish is the happiest animal in the world because it has a 10-second memory. He encourages his players not to dwell on their mistakes, but to learn from them and move on. Scholars in our field call this a growth mindset . “Believe!” Ted mounted a sign with this motto in the locker room. It represents his optimistic, can-do attitude. When asked if he believes in ghosts Ted quipped, “I do. But more importantly, I believe they need to believe in themselves.” Youth programs can help young people d...

By Kate Walker In this era of staying at home, distance learning and a new type of latchkey kids whose parents are essential workers, we can center young people’s social-emotional well-being. Schools are closed, routines disrupted and special events canceled. Issues of equity and access are worsened as families struggle with internet and technology divides, food and housing insecurities and the pressures of isolation. Our Ways of Being model is a tool for teaching about social and emotional learning (SEL). It’s the foundation for the freely available Social and Emotional Learning in Practice: A Toolkit of Practical Strategies and Resources , which has activities you can adapt for no-tech or virtual youth programming. I've just created a set of videos that walk you through each section of the toolkit. Ways of Relating Now more than ever we need to connect with and have empathy for others. Meeting virtually requires specific social, communication and active listening skills....

By Kate Walker Youth development researchers strive to contribute to the field’s knowledge base, influence practitioners' decision-making and improve outcomes for young people. Translational research aims to put science to use . Likewise, many youth development practitioners seek to ground their daily work in sound information, best practices and the latest innovations. So why is there a disconnect between researchers and practitioners? Practitioners rarely read peer-reviewed journal articles. Why? Most journals are hard to access and too expensive outside of academia. Even articles in free, open-access journals can be tedious to read, hard to digest and challenging for time-crunched practitioners to meaningfully translate to their everyday practice. Most research articles aren’t designed or written to meet practitioners’ needs. Researchers are rewarded (i.e., published, tenured) for original ideas, not applicable ones. They emphasize their rigorous methods to demonstra...

By Kate Walker Originally published in EdWeek .  Editor's Intro: Youth development and community-based organizations are taking steps to address diversity, equity, and inclusion. Today, Kate Walker, University of Minnesota Extension professor and specialist in youth work practice, describes the process the Extension Center for Youth Development used to create consensus around barriers to, and strategies for, advancing equity in youth programs. There are many different interpretations of the word "equity." For us at the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development, we define equity as promoting just and fair inclusion and creating the conditions in which all young people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. In other words, equity is everyone having what they need to be successful. As we began developing a learning series for youth workers focused on exploring and advancing equity in youth programs, we recognized that we are not e...

By Kate Walker Program leaders regularly confront issues of culture and race in youth programs. I was part of a a research project that examined culture-related incidents and how leaders responded. Based on interviews with 50 leaders from 27 programs for middle and high school-aged teens, my colleagues identified four types of incidents and three ways that leaders responded . What they discovered has implications for our work toward equity.

By Kate Walker The Extension Center for Youth Development's next public symposium series will focus on operationalizing equity in Minnesota's youth-serving organizations. In other words, making equity actionable. By equity, we mean promoting just and fair inclusion and creating conditions in which all young people can participate, prosper, and reach their full potential. For us, equity is everyone having what they need to be successful.

By Kate Walker I am the new editor of the Journal of Youth Development (JYD) which is dedicated to advancing youth development practice and research.  JYD serves applied researchers and evaluators as well as practitioners who work in youth-serving organizations or the intermediaries that support them.

By Kate Walker For several years now, our center has been digging into social and emotional learning (SEL). We've studied it , hosted a series of public symposia about it, and developed trainings to support it. Now I am delighted to announce a free online resource to help practitioners bolster SEL into their programs. This toolkit is a flexible set of practical tools, templates and activities that can be used with staff and youth to increase intentional practices that support social and emotional learning. It includes resources to: Equip staff: Enhance staff knowledge of SEL, how their program supports SEL, and their own emotional intelligence and cultural values; Create the learning environment: Establish expectations, give feedback and integrate reflection; Design impactful learning experiences: Infuse SEL into program activities that allow youth to explore their individual and community identity, practice sharing gratitude and communicate one’s feelings, learn ab...

By Kate Walker While we often talk about "bridging research and practice," too often that bridge is a one-way street aimed at getting practitioners to recognize and use the research being conducted. But if we want more research-based practice, we need to engage in more practice-based research. We need more  research aimed at understanding effective practice from the practitioners' perspective , as they experience and enact it. We need research that is wholly committed to generating useful information that can inform and improve daily practice.

By Kate Walker Our public symposium series is an opportunity to invite national experts to share the latest developments and discuss cutting-edge issues in the field of youth development. But there is plenty to learn from our own local scholars and practitioners as well.  At our upcoming symposium on Nov. 24, researchers will share data on how Minnesota youth are doing on a set of social and emotional learning (SEL) indicators and a panel of practitioners will share some promising programs and strategies from right here at home.

By Kate Walker How exactly does learning unfold in youth programs? They are a particularly rich context for young people to learn and practice social and emotional learning skills. It is critical that we understand how learning happens there, and how we as adults can support that process. Youth in our programs often engage in real-world activities and projects, work in teams, take on meaningful roles, face challenges and experience the accompanying up and downs.

To make sense of the emerging field of social and emotional learning (SEL), we developed a model we call Ways of Being. It paints a picture of the whole social and emotional learner, describing the attitudes, skills, and behaviors that exist within a person who is socially and emotionally competent. The model describes dynamic, interactive ways of being that exist in three layers -- identity, awareness, and navigation and three dimensions -- ways of feeling, ways of relating to others, and ways of doing.

Minnesota's educational achievement gap between whites and students of color has been narrowing, but remains one of the highest in the nation. To more fully address youth's learning and gaps in academic performance, we need to redefine educational excellence in a global society. To be successful in school now and ready for college and careers later, young people need to develop a range of skills that extends beyond traditional academics. Content knowledge and academic skills are important, but it is also critical that youth learn how to work well with others, persevere when faced with challenges, and recognize when a new strategy is needed to solve a problem. These social and emotional factors are critical to young people's success, and they can be developed through diverse life experiences and overcoming hardships or struggles. On Oct. 2, Dr. JuanCarlos Arauz will share a framework for creating a rigorous inclusive environment with a diverse community and reframe the...

Rather than delivering a separate SEL curriculum, a recent issue of Social Policy Report proposes that schools integrate the teaching and reinforcement of social and emotional learning (SEL) skills into educators' daily interactions and practices. Using a food metaphor, the authors describe this as a shift "from a focus on packaged, branded product (curriculum) to the essential ingredients like vitamins and minerals (essential and beneficial strategies)." I think a strategies approach is more in sync with how SEL ought to be framed in out-of-school settings as well. Blending techniques So what are some of the "essential ingredients" for promoting SEL? The report outlines four strategies for integrating SEL into daily practice: Routines - Routines that promote SEL skills like emotional regulation (e.g., "Stop and Stay Cool," a three-step process for staying in control of emotions) and conflict resolution (e.g., the "Peace Path," a proc...