I called Michael J. Phillips last week to ask what he plans to talk about with parents and students this Friday and Saturday.
Phillips, a computer consultant, has been tutoring students of all ages in Shreveport, La., for several years while holding down technology positions at AT&T and with Caddo Parish. I didn't quite understand how that kind of work would help turn around reluctant learners and test-takers.
"Most people think it is just tutoring," Phillips said. "But it is more involved. You cannot intellectually enhance a person without addressing the whole person."
Students, be they in elementary school or those working toward their doctorate, must first think positively, Phillips said. If they don't think they can do something, he said, they won't.
"To help them think they can, I give them some abilities very early," he said.
With that, Phillips launched into an exercise over the phone that involved techniques seldom taught in school that make math easier. We did a multiplication and a division problem without showing all the work.
Because students usually aren't taught to solve math problems that way, Phillips appears to be a genius and they tell him that.
"So," he says then, "if you do what I did, then what are you?"
The immediate success the student experiences can translate into all fields of knowledge because they have changed the image they have of themselves, Phillips said.
Phillips will be using that type of motivation when he talks with a group of students Friday evening at the William Wells Brown Community Center, 548 East Sixth St. On Saturday, Phillips will talk with parents, sharing his test-taking tips and other motivational methods at the "Preparing Our Students to Succeed" conference sponsored by the Lexington Area Association of Black Psychologists (LAABPsi), the University of Kentucky's African American Studies and Research Program and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government's division of Parks and Recreation.
Lynda Brown Wright, president of LAABPsi, said recent statistics published by College Board indicated black students rank at the bottom of all other groups on ACT and SAT scores. Because of that, fewer black students will qualify for college, and the number of jobs that don't require a college degree are getting fewer and fewer.
If that trend continues, she said, black students will be "locked out of many other life opportunities as well."
When members of the group, which include black psychologists in Lexington, Louisville and surrounding areas, saw those statistics, "we were not only shocked but we got busy devising a way to begin to address the problem, and this free two-day workshop represents our first step," Wright said.
What they came up with is Phillips, who has 30 years of experience and success in motivating and tutoring students.
At the Saturday session — 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the community center — LAABPsi members will offer advice to parents on how to advocate for their children and how to promote the love of learning at home.
"We want to help parents understand they are the best experts about their children and show them how they can help inform teachers about the different aspects of their children," Wright said.
Also, community and religious leaders are invited to a luncheon on Friday at Shiloh Baptist Church, at which Phillips will speak and the psychologists will urge everyone to develop strategies to correct the academic slide of black students.
The sessions are free, but reservations are required. Call (859) 257-8273.
Phillips teaches his students that everything is governed by laws, rules, protocol or principles.
"John Dewey (American philosopher, psychologist and education reformer) said if you know the nature of a thing, you can predict anything," Phillips said. "It's about problem solving, attention to detail and patience. That is my objective, to teach them those three things."
When students have difficulty on high-stakes tests, he said, it is not because of their lack of intelligence. It's because they don't know how to manipulate the material.
"You don't go to school for 13 years and still can't pass a high-stakes test," he said. "If you are patient and detailed in your thinking, you can gather the information from the question."
He gets positive results after the first class, he said. But it would be unrealistic to think he can pass on all he knows to parents in just one session. He will, however, leave them with key points that should get results.
"We want to empower parents to support their children in ways that will be beneficial to their academic success," Wright said. "We are starting conversations with this initial conference and we are hoping to have many more."
