In Digital
Leadership, changing paradigms for changing times, by Eric Sheninger there is
great importance placed on creating a culture that is rich with creativity,
communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, technological
proficiency, and global awareness.
In education we face
the challenge of preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist. The question is and always will be how to
give students skills for careers that we don’t understand.
Sheninger uses these
seven skills to highlight the main focus of a balanced education. As educators and administrators we have to
determine when, where and how these skills will be implemented.
What most people
don’t realize is that all of these skills can be instilled from the youngest
ages in a school setting. It is
important to remember that children can learn whatever you take the time to
teach them. All skills should be taught
according to the way in which students learn at any given developmental
stage.
The skills should
continue to be taught throughout school with appropriate tasks to assist in
building the skills at each level.
For example,
creativity with a pre-school age student could be an activity where they are
asked to draw a creature of their imagination on a drawing tablet whereas, a
high school student could be asked to create a 3-D image of a magical creature
using Adobe Illustrator.
One aspect of
Sheningers seven essential skills that I find most compelling and least
implemented in todays public schools is global awareness.
There are definitely
teachers that are passionate about instilling this skill in students however
this is largely neglected.
One question that
educators and administrators could answer is what is the catalyst for the lack
of focus on this topic?
Increased focus on
standardized test scores, Common Core Standards, and budget cuts, to name a
few, are likely the culprit, however with our technological advances as a
society global awareness is right at the fingertips of those who seek it.
This is a tool that
can also be exposed to pre-schoolers by teaching them basic terms in different languages
and showing images of children in the areas where those languages are spoken.
At the high school level students can adopt
classrooms from another country, have skype conversations, and exchange emails
with a student in a different nation than themselves.
Communication is another skill that we must
take the time to deliberately teach in our schools and classrooms.
Sheninger references the typical classroom
with straight rows of desks where students are quietly taking notes and
listening to the instructor lecture.
This is also seen as
an environment where students are learning and engaged and students are
respectful of the learning environment in a more traditional or otherwise
outdated educational setting.
The reality is that
this is not how most workplaces are set up.
To go into a workplace and not collaborate with others is most often
viewed as arrogant and these types of people will not typically receive the
best outcomes because it is unrealistic for a person to know everthing they
need to know with out getting a different perspective.
Ultimately, all of
these skills are important skills in a workplace, in developing a well rounded
view on how to handle situations in life, and prepare students for their
futures.
Our shift as
educators and administrators needs to be on ensuring students are engaged in
learning that is meaningful for their futures.
Reference:
Sheninger, Eric. 2014. Digital leadership: changing paradigms for changing times. Corwin.
Hi Kristen! Thank you for your great, thoughtful, and reflective post about Sheninger’s seven essential skills. You made a great point that these skills can and should be introduced and cultivated in students from an early age. I think often we forget how much young children can do as well as how much they remember. For example, with being a Spanish teacher I think of all the research showing that a second language is best learned by starting acquisition at an early age. My two-year-old niece, for example, remembers the words I have taught her in Spanish, and associates the meaning. Young children have great potential for learning and growth, and if we as educators cultivate this early, our learners will already know so much and experience so much by the time they reach secondary education. As Birdsong states, “Across many studies that examine AoA (Age of Acquisition) and other factors that might be related to L2 success, it has emerged that, of all the above-mentioned experiential variables, AoA is reliably the strongest predictor of ultimate attainment” (Birdsong, 2006).
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I also like how you pointed out global awareness as a skill and its room to grow in the amount of focus, due to current lack thereof, in schools. As mentioned, I am a Spanish teacher and I often find the students’ lack of perspective on the world saddening as well as surprising. However, as I begin to incorporate culture into the curriculum, their eagerness to hear about other cultures is certainly high. Thus, there is not a lack of intrigue for global awareness from what I have seen, but instead a lack of priority from instruction. However, I think it is of utmost importance to implement global awareness and perspective in order to create active contributors to a global society.
Lastly, as mentioned collaboration is key in order to cultivate contributors to society!
Thank you for your great post!
References:
Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: a selective overview. Language Learning, 56(s1), p. 9-49.
Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Hello Kristen
ReplyDeleteYour post was very detail and a great read. It shed some more light on why I chose option one. I was thinking about all of the seven skill sets that does not have to start in middle school but each one can be implemented on the student’s level. When you started talking about pre-school age students in your blog my mind began to wonder about the learning instruments such as hook on phonics, leap frog, my baby can read products that are used to advance students today.
It’s amazing with these different strategies and creative teaching plans this will only help children that develop by stages and ages to be a successful magnet in the educational system and the work force. The integration of technology is a powerful connection because it enhances student teacher communication. It also maintains student focus. A lot of students are quickly diagnosed with short attention span. Helping student remain focus is key. Developing teacher creativity, remaining relevant, changing schools to implement strategies that will develop student growth, understanding the latest trends is why technology and global awareness is important.
It is important to implement a school culture that is understanding, open to change, and transforming for student development. These seven essential skill set can operate effectively with both student, teacher and faculty. It’s a positive collaboration and it takes the support of the teacher, governing school officials, students and parents to establish a vision and brand the school with the thought of remaining relevant in mind. As a learner I embrace the seven essential skills in Digital Leadership. “Digital leadership consist of a dynamic combination of mindset, behaviors, and skills that are employed to change and enhance school culture….” (Sheninger, 2014 p.xviii)
Once again I enjoyed your post.
Reference:
Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.
Kristen, I agree when you state the importance place on creating a culture "...that is rich with creativity, communication, collaboration, critical thinking, problem solving, technological proficiency, and global awareness" (Hale, 2016). Schools that are deemed on the cutting edge implement this type of culture into their educational processes. The School of One in New York City is a shining example. The school of one was created to address different modalities of learning. Students who learn best via lecture are lectured while those who learn best via one on one instruction are provided that as well. Technology is used in several different ways to achieve the School of One's goals. It is used to provide one-on-one mentorship and collaboration between student and instructor, who may be in another state or country. It is also used to track student data so that programs can be customized on the fly. The School of One exemplifies how technology can be used to transform the classroom.
ReplyDeleteYou also state that Sheningers seven skills should be taught to students at a young age and I agree. I believe that in elementary schools, the seven skills can be delivered in a way that accessible for young students and sets the foundation for future learning. I also agree that global awareness is a lacking trait in today's school. Although we take pride in America, the world is shrinking because of technology and students need to understand the important issues abroad. From my experience, many students graduating high school have very little global awareness. This leads to a false sense of security concerning the job market and the economy as these students because adults. India, China, and the UK continue to produce students who come to America an make great strides in healthcare and engineering. Without a global awareness, American students will continue to lose critical jobs to those overseas.