"What 60 Schools Can Tell Us About Teaching 21st Century Skill" and reflecting how 20th century and 21st century skills differ? Do we need both?

I found this clip really interesting as it had a very clear message, a message that we have spent a lot of time unpacking and understanding as a school. The following points stood out to me.

Lichtman made a solid point about schools sharing their challenges, failures and successes. His research showed that many schools face the same problems and that schools are individually trying to solve these. He highlighted that schools should be communicating more openly about these in order to help each other. I feel that our education system in New Zealand is trying to rectify this problem through the development of clusters. The idea of sharing strategies and working alongside other schools will increase the depth of our practice and strengthen collaboration. This networking can only be a positive change!

What is hard about changing the way we do things in our class? Lichtman states that change is uncomfortable, complicated and messy. As we have approached these changes as school some have seen this change as hard and tried to avoid it. Carol Dweck defines this as having a fixed mindset. Those who saw change as a challenge and a learning journey demonstrated more of a growth mindset. We expect our children to be able to challenge themselves and step outside of their comfort zones but how are we modeling this to our children by only doing what we know and what we know is safe? Change in my classroom practice has occurred through deep self reflection, research and exposing my practice to others. A very uncomfortable time at the beginning!

Lichtman discusses the difference between Ecosystem and Industrial structures.

Lichtman talks about how schools that are catering for student led learning are becoming more dynamic, messy and noisy. I know this has been confronting for parents as their perception is that children only learn in a quiet space and at a desk. We have quiet spaces in our class that cater for these types of learners and also noisier areas for children that learn through active discussion. We attempt to cater for a range of learning styles. This concept has been very challenging for many parents. This probably reflects how they were taught as a child therefore shaped and formed beliefs about what current education should look like. Our parents are apprehensive that as a school we are not valuing the importance of teaching and developing the fundamental skills e.g. reading, writing and maths. At our school we have used the phrase “We are not throwing the baby out with the bathwater” to reinforce that we still value these basic skills that will allow our children to participate in society.

“Fail forward fail back” This year we have spent a lot of time learning about fixed and growth mindset. Our children really responded to FAIL (First Attempt In Learning). We have lots of ongoing discussions about failures, learning journeys, getting caught in the pit and perseverance.

“We don’t know the skills that our children will need so we need to teach them to be self evolving learners.” The ability to embrace constant change, develop problem solving skills, creativity and advanced communication are some of the skills that will prepare our children for whatever lies in the future.

We know what we should be doing! Many years of research tells us so we need to do something about it!