21st Century Skills - The 4Cs

Learning and Innovation Skills - the 4Cs (for more info: 21st Century Skills)

1. Critical thinking
2. Creativity
3. Communication
4. Collaboration

I think I am fascinated with the 21st Century Skills because I did not learn in this fashion. When I was going to school in the 70s, these skills were almost not at all included in my learning. When I went back to the classroom in the 90s, as a teacher, I used these skills as an enrichment to the school experience. Now these skills are expected to be part of the learning for our students.

These skills change our expectations of students' learning. We do not want our students to read a book or listen to the teacher and repeat what we said. We want them to understand the big picture, make connections to their previous knowledge, discuss with their classmates and formulate their own schema of the new knowledge. There is also a major change in the expectation of the work that students produce. We expect every student to come up with a unique product using their preferred medium.

The teacher role needs to go through a shift from being the supplier of information to becoming a facilitator of learning. The teacher will not be giving the students the new knowledge but helping them to find resources, to ask good questions, and to formulate hypothesis and test them. And finally to communicate their findings in a clear and unique way.

Not an easy change, but definitely exciting!

Nihad Mourad

WASC Visit

Dear reader!

Welcome and assalam alaikum!

 

Last week I participated as a member of a WASC Visiting Team for 4 days in a nearby city. The team was assigned to visit a school and make accreditation recommendation to WASC. I worked with 3 other educators from diverse backgrounds visiting the school, reading their self-study report, and meeting with stakeholders to verify the content. Finally we wrote our own report and made our recommendations to WASC.

I really like the WASC process and I believe it is very beneficial. When I was the self-study coordinator in 2002, I saw firsthand how this process helped us evaluate our school and identify its areas of strength and areas of growth. Based on the later we wrote a 6-year action plan to address the school needs. WASC offers a sound detailed process and send educators from other schools to review your findings. Even though it's a lengthy and tedious process, when done properly, the WASC process really helps schools to improve.

Participating in the WASC process as a Visiting Team member has its benefits too. It allowed me to get to know another school on a much deeper level. This was eye-opening to me to see the similarities and differences among schools. I interviewed parents, students, teachers, staff, administrators and board members. This opened my eyes to what the different groups value and look for in a school. Finally I worked closely with 3 other educators; we basically were together for about 12 hours every day meeting people, discussing findings, reading and writing the report and eating and drinking. Very enriching experience!

Nihad Mourad

P.S. WASC is Western Association For Schools and Colleges