TEL.A.VISION | It's Your Story

Fall 2011 Update

Posted on 06. Sep, 2011 by Ringmaster in All Posts

This week thousands of students will begin creating TEL.A.VISION videos. Two of the largest student groups include Big Lake High School with 700 9th and 10th graders and Battle Creek Middle School with 450 7th graders. Thanks to a Best Buy grant we will have researchers from the University of Minnesota at the schools to document the effectiveness of the vision videos on students, administrators and teachers.

Research at Big Lake last year showed a 30% drop in failures and a 14% drop in disciplinary reports after beginning a Transition Day program that featured all students completing vision videos.

TEL.A.VISION is based on studies of Neuroplasticity which say you can change the structure and function of your brain with your thoughts. More and more research is being done in the Neurosciences that confirms the importance of vision. The latest research is presented in the book “The Science of Optimism.” Here is a quote from the book, “To make progress, we need to be able to imagine alternative realities — better ones — and we need to believe that we can achieve them. Such faith helps motivate us to pursue our goals.”

Up With People had a successful launch of TEL.A.VISION in the first half of 2011. All 100 members of its cast completed TEL.A.VISION videos. Some of the groups they offered the program to included At Risk students in Florida, refugees in The Netherlands and second graders in Mexico. Next week, while in Minneapolis, they will be working with the students from Battle Creek.

We concluded a successful trial with the Minnesota Department of Education for secondary transition students with a presentation at the SEARCH Conference. Teachers, students and parents who spoke at the conference all felt that they benefited from the experience. We will be expanding the pilot this school year.

We are beginning to work with Optimists International clubs. Their mission is “By providing hope and vision, Optimists bring out the best in kids.” This is a perfect match for TEL.A.VISION. If you have any connections to Optimists please let me know.