What could teaching and learning look like?

"The Global Achievement Gap" by Tony Wagner suggests that there is a gap between what schools teach and what students need to learn in order to be successful in today's society. I see this gap at my school and I wonder what can be done to help close it?

Wagner offers several questions to encourage a dialogue about our children's future and how we might change what education looks like. I've numbered the questions according to how they appear in the book and to help facilitate discussion -- should anyone wish to chime in. My contribution to the dialogue follows...

1. What does it mean to be an educated adult in the 21st Century? What do we think all high school graduates need to know and be able to do to be well-prepared for college, careers and citizenship? And since we can't teach everything, what is most important?

What it means to be an educated adult today is different to what it meant 10, 20, 30 years ago. In the recent past and still for many people today, an educated adult is typically someone who has graduated from post-secondary school, or at the least high school, and is probably a professional of some kind or has a "good" job (e.g. store manager, nurse, lawyer, teacher, engineer). Technology has made information readily available and enabled everyone who has access to the Internet the opportunity to learn. To be educated today must involve something more than the acquisition of information. To be educated in the 21st Century means that one has the ability to navigate online information and find what they need; it also means that one is able to clearly communicate ideas, share them with others and use feedback to modify and change ideas. Really, to be educated today means you have developed skills that will transfer from school to work to life.

In terms of what high school graduates need to know, I like Wagner's "Seven Survival Skills":

1. Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
2. Collaboration Across Networks and Learning by Influence
3. Agility and Adaptability
4. Initiative and Entrepreneurialism
5. Effective Oral and Written Communication
6. Accessing and Analyzing Information
7. Curiosity and Imagination

The difficulty with these skills is figuring out how to most effectively teach them. I'm not sure if it was Wagner or a blog or news article that I read recently, but I recall someone suggesting that regardless of the curriculum, the subject or course is a vehicle in which we must teach the skills necessary for students to succeed. Yes! But here's the thing: I still hear colleagues at my high school say things like, "I have to get through two more units in the next month" or "I haven't covered the entire course curriculum." To me, what's most important is what the students need! We need to meet the students where they are.

2. How might our definition of academic rigor need to change in the age of the information explosion?

Still thinking...

3. What are the best ways to know whether students have mastered the skills that matter most? How do we create a better assessment and accountability system that gives us the information we need to ensure that all students are learning essential skills?

Again, still thinking...

4. What do we need to do in our schools to motivate students to be curious and imaginative, and to enjoy learning for its own sake? How do we ensure that every student has an adult advocate in his or her school who knows the student well?

If you haven't read Daniel Pink's book "Drive" or seen this animation of one of his TED Talks, I suggest you check out one or the other or both. Pink states that three things are required in order to motivate someone: autonomy, mastery and purpose. Schools like High Tech High (HTH) in San Diego and Groh Public School in Kitchener are providing students with opportunities to learn in an environment that encourages autonomy and self-direction; they allow students to fail and learn from their mistakes so they are more likely to master skills; and they give students a real-life sense of purpose to their work by expecting students to present their work to the community and to a global audience.

As for ensuring that every student has an adult advocate, this is something that I am currently trying to ensure for every grade 9 student in my school, all 474 of them. I started the process earlier this school year thanks to some inspiration from Rita Pierson's TED Talk, "Every Kid Needs a Champion." After sharing Pierson's ideas with my colleagues, I challenged them to make a connection that extends beyond the classroom with at least one grade 9 student, particularly students who are struggling either academically or personally. To help determine who has an adult advocate and who doesn't, staff were asked to put a sticker next to the student's picture -- all grade 9 students' pictures and names are posted on a wall in our staff room. Last time I checked, we had close to 300 students with a sticker next to their photo. With less than two months remaining in this school year, I'm losing hope that all of our grade 9s will have a champion and I'm also wondering how we could ever ensure that every student in our school -- 1,800 of them -- has an adult advocate. Is this possible? Again, still thinking.

5. How do we support our educators and hold them more accountable for results? What changes are needed in how educators are trained, how they work together in schools, and how they are supervised and evaluated in order to enable them to continuously improve?

Still thinking...

6. What do good schools look like -- schools where all students are mastering the skills that matter most? How are they different from the schools we have, and what can we learn from them?

This last question is very similar to the focus question I came up with prior to reading Wagner's book. I'm completing an independent leadership project as part of my additional qualification course in guidance and careers studies. Here's my question: How can we enhance and transform teaching and learning and what does good teaching and learning look like? I believe schools like HTH and Groh are already enhancing and transforming teaching and learning. In Groh's case, the school doesn't open its doors until September, but principal Helmut Tinnes made it clear to me in our conversation that Groh will be a world-class school where students master global competencies like critical thinking, collaboration and creativity through inquiry-based and project-based learning. HTH has been around for several years now and there is a documentary called "Most Likely to Succeed", which features HTH and is based on Wagner's latest book of the same title. To get a sense of what good schools look like, check out the trailer and then organize a screening of the film for your district. If nothing else, it'll lead to some great dialogue!