In 100 words or more, comment on the following:
Tony Wagner, in “Rigor Redfined” lists seven survival skills that students need to succeed in the future. These include critical thinking, collaboration, adaptability, initiative, communication skills, ability to access information, and imagination. What skills do you think an excellent education provides for students?
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13 comments:
When I was in college one of my professors talked often about inspiring life long learning in students, and that is something I think about everyday. I really do want to my students to be life long learners, which means I want them to be curious and inquisitive and be confident in their abilities to actively seek out new information. That idea of life long learning includes the seven survival skills discussed in the rigor redefined article, and I absolutely believe that students will be more successful and happy in their adult lives if they can learn those skills along with academics when they are in school.
We live in an ever changing world. Over the past year much has changed. Our leaders are changing all the while our countries finances and stability are nearing a breaking point. Are our kids going to be prepared for the future. Are they able to be critical thinkers, collaborate, adapt, take sinitiative, communication well, be able to access information, and have an imagination? It is up to educations to use their skills to provide our students opportunities to practice these skills. These lessons in these skills need to be real and authentic to students. Also as a great teacher preparing our students for there future, teachers need to role model these skills on a daily basis!!
A: Response to Sheri
I was also thinking about how these skills are more important in today's world when we look at statistics for how many jobs a person has in their lifetime. A person used to stay in the same career for most of their life, but now our students will be expected to have something like 3 or 4 careers with multiple different jobs for each career. That definitely requires a lot of adaptability!
While all seven of the skills that Wagner lists are vital to a well rounded and excellent education, the most important of the seven skills are critical thinking and communication. All of the other skills are incorporated into these two main skills. In order to become effective problem solvers and versatile employees in the fast-paced and ever changing job market, students need well developed critical thinking skills. Today’s students will be faced with new problems every day. They must be equipped to manage and solve every problem and question that comes at them, or at least be able to access the resources they need to find someone who can solve the problem. In order to communicate their ideas effectively and work collaboratively with their coworkers on a personal and even global front, we must enable our students to become effective communicators both orally and in written communication.
While all seven of the skills that Wagner lists are vital to a well rounded and excellent education, the most important of the seven skills are critical thinking and communication. All of the other skills are incorporated into these two main skills. In order to become effective problem solvers and versatile employees in the fast-paced and ever changing job market, students need well developed critical thinking skills. Today’s students will be faced with new problems every day. They must be equipped to manage and solve every problem and question that comes at them, or at least be able to access the resources they need to find someone who can solve the problem. In order to communicate their ideas effectively and work collaboratively with their coworkers on a personal and even global front, we must enable our students to become effective communicators both orally and in written communication.
A:response to dstark
I agree with your statement that wanting to create lifelong learners is something the majority of us in this profession think about on a daily basis. It is our own passions as educators who ARE truelly lifelong learners to better students lives with giving them the same gift of passion for learning!
An excellent education is comprised of many elements, and I do not take issue with any of the ones Wagner pointed out. As we saw on the powerpoint presentation at the convocation this year, the world we live in has little in common with the world many of us were educated in. It only makes sense that the skills we focus on should change to best prepare our students. With this in mind, I believe that an excellent education would be one where the focus lies on teaching students to become independent thinkers. Traditional methods involving wrote memorization and regurgitation of teacher notes not only fail to reach this goal, but they also stifle and even punish the same skills mentioned as being essential by Wagner: creativity and imagination. That is not to say, though, that memorization and drill do not have their place in today's classrooms. I see a danger in focusing soley on any one approach. Communication in writing and speaking was listed as a key skill as well, and many of my students do not display effective sentence structure, punctuation, or even basic spelling skills. I believe an excellent education would apply the best teaching method for the intended goal. A teacher may choose to assign drill for grammar lessons,for example, and also provide opportunities to allow students to discover the impact of bad grammar and spelling when evaluating sources. A teacher needs a full "bag of tricks" to provide an excellent eduation.
Response to Amanda
I agree, and unfortunately, I see very little evidence of this in my students. Only the top 5% seem to be able to think beyond their notes and even those students often have problems effectively expressing their ideas orally or in writing. It is definitely a challenge to provide students the opportunity to think and problem solve. It means that we have to place the responsibility on the students and avoid allowing parents or even ourselves to "rescue" students when they don't have an answer to a problem.
In response to Sheri:
I agree with you that the demands of the world are rapidly changing and increasing. It reminds me of the slide show that we watched at Convocation at the beginning of this school year. I was fully impacted by that information, and realized how much work we have to do to get our kids ready to handle it and be successful in this world.
Initial Response to Question 3A
I think an excellent education produces students who can think independently, and who can also think quickly and rationally under pressure. Students who will succeed in the future must learn to question the validity of their solutions and beliefs. For example, many students today tend to believe anything that they read on the Internet. Determining fact from fiction will be essential. Students must also have extremely strong communication skills--verbal and written, as a great amount of jobs will revolve around technology. Flexibility is also important. Finally, teamwork and the ability to look at problems from more than one point of view will be vital for our students.
Responding to Amanda,
Yes, I agree that students "must be equipped to manage and solve every problem and question that comes at them, or at least be able to access the resources they need to find someone who can solve the problem." Unfortunately, many young people today simply wait for adults to provide solutions for them. Often we are guilty of teaching learned-helplessness. Instead of allowing students to discover solutions on their own, we often are pressed for time, and therefore, provide the answers for them. I believe that student-centered classrooms will become the preferred mode over teacher-centered classrooms as we move into the new future.
ARTICLE 3
3A
The skills an excellent education provides for students include the seven survival skills provided by Tony Wagner, with greater emphasis and further explanation upon ability to access information.
Wagner quoted Mike Summers of Dell as saying, “There is too much information available that it is almost too much, and if people aren’t prepared to process the information effectively it almost freezes them in their steps.” The expectation of students, of workers, of people in society has changed and continues to change daily. The focus of memorization of facts and figures is not as important as the knowledge of how to solve a problem through the access of information.
Of the people in my personal life, friends and relatives, they use computers for at least two thirds of their employment. Of those that do not, they continually use guides and resources for the vast amount of information needed on daily tasks. Yes, they are required to use a general knowledge of basic education skills (especially reading), but they could not navigate through the workday without additional access to information. The goal for education must include giving students access for information, and teaching the students how to utilize information to the greatest extent.
A: response to dstark
That term life long learner is also one that stuck in my head. I think when we teach we think beyond the day or lesson. We want students to remember the importance of learning, not just the importance of the subject matter.
If we leave teaching touching the seven survival skilss, we have done our jobs as teachers.
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