It's a discussion that comes up all the time? What are we preparing kids for? What do they need to learn? We convene meetings of education boards at the local and state levels and have great debates over what should or should not be in a particular subjects curriculum. There's a whole lot more to school than curriculum though. For today's students, it's not just what you know, it's what you do with what you know. It's what you'll do that will make something better than the way you found it. It's about skills as much as it's about knowledge. So what skills seem to set people apart? 1. Bringing the best out of those around you One of the best skills you can have is being a "maximizer." It's not good enough anymore just to bring your own "A" game anymore. You have to be able to help those around you find theirs as well. Being able to inspire people can be the most helpful skill in life. You'll find that you don't always have every answer. You'll also find that the smartest person in the room is the room. The question is, what is your impact towards making those in the room find their best? 2. The ability to self-direct learning
The amount of information will continue to grow at an exponential rate. The rate of change in the world will only accelerate, it won't be stagnant. Change will be the new constant. With all those things in mind the ability to self-direct learning is critical. The days of waiting for people to tell you what's important and what's not are gone. Students in today's world must emerge with an ability to self-direct their learning and guide themselves to the answers for questions that they've generated. The key here is the questions they've generated. Do not misconstrue someone's ability to find the answer to a question you gave them as self-directed learning. It's only half the process. You have to be able to generate your own questions and curiosities. 3. Having your own definition of success Who's standards are you going to use? Success can be measured so many different ways. It could be a achieving a certain level of education, developing a certain skill or hobby, it could be wealth and it could just about anything else. The point is you have to know what success will look like for you. I know people who are wealthy. Some feel successful, some don't. The wealthy one's who feel successful and happy are that way because they followed their passion and created their own definition of success. Those who are wealthy and don't feel successful and happy are that way because they listened to someone else tell them that they could find their success by doing _______. The question "what would make you successful?" doesn't have a right or wrong answer unless you let someone else answer it for you. The greatest skill in teaching today is in providing opportunities for students to foster these skill alongside what they're being taught. If we're going to do what's best for kids we have to go beyond a world where kids just answer questions we pose to them. We have to bring out the best in each other and realize that our successes may or may not be the same. We have to empower, we can't just educate.
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AuthorJeff Lahey Archives
January 2020
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