This article brings clarity to "college and career ready," the phrase we hear repeated over and over again. There are several embedded links that are quite informative as well. I'll list the author's 4 broad skills, but please read the article carefully for further specifics.
1. Adaptability
2. Communications
3. Technology
4. Workplace Experience
Teachers of middle and high schoolers should find this a high priority read. Our 21st Century Skills and HOTS focus in our Title I classes should give the students some progress in advancing these skills. Specific areas could make for a beneficial discussion with your students.
Have you had some of these discussions already? What have you learned? Have your students learned?
What It Means to Be Career Ready. Anthony Jackson. 10.19.12. Education Week. - Global Learning
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2012/10/what_it_means_to_be_career_ready.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2
I like how this article takes the wide variety of ideas about career readiness and shapes them into four broad skills. I especially agree with the decision to put adaptability first. If students are afraid of change and unable to cope in different circumstances, they stand little chance of being ready for college and probably will not do well in their careers. Things are in constant flux and we can choose to embrace it or we can hide. I love the idea of helping students become adaptable to new situations by teaching them to learn.
ReplyDeleteI think the author makes a compelling case that communication is also important. A friend of mine teaches physics at a level-A high school in China where most of his students go on to international universities. It is so important that they can communicate with their new classmates and professors. It isn’t even just about learning English. My friend says Chineese students are not typically taught to read in the same critical way Westerners are. They are very good at finding one correct answer to each question, while we are more open to the idea that there could be several correct answers. As a Westerner, when he told me this I realized that I do value divergent thinking more than convergent thinking. However, that value structure is a product of my culture. Is divergent thinking truly better? How many times have you discussed with a student that we pick the BEST choice on a multiple choice test, even though there could be several good choices? You would probably not have the same discussion with students who were raised to see one correct answer. I think communication is about how you listen and read to comprehend another person’s viewpoint, not just about how you write and speak. It is important to develop the skill of being able to understand others.
Of course I agree that technology readiness is critical. Again I think it is more about having a learner’s attitude and being open to discovering something new.
I think workplace experience is something we leave for colleges to do most of the time, but we can cleanly link high school performance to college performance to career performance. It should be a focus earlier on.
Thanks for the great article, Pat!
This was a great read, and is something that I keep in the back of my head while teaching throughout the day. One thing that I found particularly important was how, "the career readiness statement highlights learning to learn." Learning to LEARN is one of the things that I hope my students are learning from their TI experience. Teaching students the skills they need to strive in their classrooms often transfers into the skills they will need to strive in the workforce. My students are always focusing how to read actively (take notes, question, analyze, rephrase, etc), how to concentrate in class, how to study and prepare for tests/projects. These ways of "learning to learn," will help them understand the importance and usefulness in their future job fields.
ReplyDeleteAnother thing that I thought was interesting is the opportunity our students have to become global communicators. "Integrating technology into teaching and learning ensures students not only gain these skills and the interest in continuously upgrading them, but can also provide a window to the world so students can learn to communicate with a broad range of people." Our students are already using social networking to communicate with people both inside and outside of their communities, and it's a great experience for them to be exposed to other cultures and social issues through the communication with people from those cultures dealing with those issues. I think that global awareness efforts and movements publicized through social media are exposing our students to current events and fundraising opportunities more so than I was when I was in high school! Something as small as a YouTube video gone viral about Human Trafficking will get students' attention to research and find more about the issue. I think the potential for our students to be globally involved is greater than ever, thanks to technology!