Reflection on Preparaton for week 2

The New Zealand Curriculum identifies 5 key competencies:

• thinking
• using language, symbols and texts
• managing self
• relating to others
• participating and contibuting

These are the key to creating life long learners.  If we can develop these skills in all of our the akonga, we are providing them with the skills necessary to survive.  

Thinking is not just about content knowledge.  This is about developing the skills to interpert information and use is to inform decisions in the future.  In helping to promote our learners to think were are assisting them to problem solve and analyse situations to be able to make the most of them.

Students who are competent users of language, symbols and texts are able to influence communication in a number of ways.  They are able to recognise that people have strengths and weaknesses and can identify the best way to work with those people and communicate their ideas appropriately.

Managing self is ever important in the world today.  With the further use of techology and isolation of people because of this, the ability to set goals, work towards them to complete a job/task is vital. Providing students/learners with the opportunity to develop these skills and supporting them in being able to do so is vital.

Relating to others again looks different in this digital world.  The ability to use many different methods of communication the development of these skills is necessary in todays everchanging world.

Participating and contributing is about being actively involved which can be in many different ways.  As leaders it is important that we provide the opprotunity for all learners to experience this and feel comfortable in doing so.

Video on 21st century skills

Schools are not good at innovation.  Working together it can be done.

Change is hard, is it really or is it uncomfortable???

Schools are dynamic with student ownership of learning

Balance of constant innovation and tradition

These do not go together easily so we need to look at what we are doing.  Now education is more like the ecosystem model rather than the industrial one.

Where do we want to be as educators?

Anchors - time, space and subject content

Dams - those that want us to focus on content rather than concept 

Silos - inwardly focused on what we know and our "areas"

Break these down and innovation can/will explode

In this Rapidly changing world, we have to

• Teach into the unknown
• Teach them to be self evolving learners
• Become Self evolving organisations

Prepare our student for their future not our own past!!

Challenge - talking about what great learning and education looks like for a long time.  Its time to stop talking about it and start doing it.