Teaching 21st Century Skills

Image from http://pathubert.wikispaces.com/21st+Century+Skills

Based on our work during our opening staff development at our Magnet Schools - Magnet Communities Educational Summit, and continued research in the area of what our students will need to have  in order to be successful after their high school experience, I have assembled a first draft of the Profile of a Siskiyou Union High School Graduate. This first draft includes the 21st Century Skills portion of the profile. Still to come will be the academic content standards, and a section of specific experiences that we want all students to have during their high school years.

The Profile opens with the statement:

To succeed in college, career, and be a productive citizen in the 21st century, students must be supported in mastering both content and skills. In addition to core subject proficiency, we must provide all students with experiences that ensure they are:

• Critical Thinkers
• Problem Solvers
• Researchers
• Communicators
• Collaborators
• Information and technology users
• Innovators
• Leaders
• Creative
• Motivated and persistent
• Resilient
• Self-aware and Self-disciplined
• Honest
• Reliable
• Civic-minded

The specific standards and skills can be viewed here:
Siskiyou Union High School District Graduate Profile - Draft 1.1

I will be going to staff, students, parents, and community to seek their input regarding this first draft of identified skills and start the process of identifying the experiences that we want all students to have. As the state makes the shift to the Common Core Academic Standards and related assessments, we will work to develop the academic portion of our Graduate Profile.

The identified 21st century skills need to be consolidated and written in a format that is user friendly. I also want to provide a reference or resource section for each of the skills that will help staff develop places and methods within their content focus that provide students with the ability to become proficient at these skills.

As we continue to develop projects and experiences for our students that will ensure they are proficient with these skills, we will build our own expertise and community resources that support the process. We must also look at what others are doing and saying about the teaching and learning of 21st century skills. This post in the Harvard Educational Letter by Nancy Walser is an example of such a resource.

• How can we weave 21st century skills into our projects, lessons and experiences? 
• How can we most effectively teach these skills? 
• What types of experiences help students become proficient collaborators, problem solvers, researchers, communicators, creative thinkers, time managers, citizens?
• How do we balance the importance of these skills with the importance of our content standards?
• How do we assess that our students are proficient at these skills?
• What support do we need from our communities?

What are your thoughts about the first draft of our Graduate Profile? How are you teaching these skills or providing students with the opportunity to become proficient with them?