iNACOL's tweet on Wednesday, January 6th caught my attention. What will the big trends be in 2016 and will it move all the way to Iowa? Will my future kindergartener and future pre-schooler be given the opportunity to learn where their needs lie, or will they be expected to mold themselves into the factory-style model of education? I'm not sure, but I want to dive into each of the 11 predictions that iNACOL mentioned on Wednesday and so that will be where the next 11 posts take us.
This started by Susan Patrick, President and CEO of iNACOL, citing her prediction in Getting Smart's blog about the 2016 direction of education. She then listed 11 trends looking forward that will shape the future of K-12 education. Her first prediction is that there will be "New Definitions of Success."
If you've followed my blog, you can go back and re-read My Jobs of the Future, and the fact that the jobs of tomorrow don't look like those of one minute ago, a decade ago, or a century ago. So what does it truly mean to be college and career ready, and are the students that graduate from our K-12 institutions, or our high school equivalency programs, really going to be ready for this future world without some major changes to how we define success as a society?
Patrick speculates that a high school diploma's definition of success in 2016 will be expanded not only to show knowledge, but also to include skills, social-emotional intelligence, and important dispositions for future success. In or Adult High School program, we have shifted our focus from the knowledge to begin our program and are focusing more on the social-emotional intelligence and dispositions of our students so that we can help them be successful in earning their high school credential.
There's a shift that is occurring with the re-authorization of the Every Student Succeeds Act, where states and districts now have more flexibility to meet the needs of their students without, as Ryan Wise, Iowa Director of Education stated in September, being "fundamentally flawed." It allows students to show growth and achievement in multiple modalities without punishing teachers and students with more testing and opens a door to allow communities to connect with students.
How does one define success in the global economy? Is it being a proficient reader by 3rd grade, or is it moving a student to whole language when he or she still doesn't know his or her phonetics? Is it being able to name all fifty states, or being able to experience how a state government works? Is it knowing how to count to 100 or knowing that 10 groups of 10 items equal one hundred and that you can re-organize that to 4 groups of 25 or 5 groups of 20 and still have a total of 100 items? Is it having a disposition that allows you to care for the geriatric population or the disposition that can be a mother's helper? Guess what? Each of these may define success, but probably not for the same student.
I have a five-year old, emerging reader. When she and her dad visited her grandparents during the winter break, there was some concern that she wasn't reading yet. I, however, do not think that is the worst thing in the world. Her vocabulary is strong. She knows her phonetic sounds and she makes meaningful connections with print. However, she is never going to be the type of child who plops herself down on her bed and reads a novel in a day. In her mind, the world is too full of things for her to explore, jump on, climb on, paint, stir, color, or tumble about for her to sit silently in her room and read a book. Will she learn to read? Definitely. I am not going to waste my time making her meet some magically benchmark that defines her success. It will just cause tears and anxiety for us both.
I also have a three year old, non-reader. He didn't get to go to his grandparents, because he was sick, but he loves books! His favorite is called I Ain't Gonna Paint No More! and although he can't read the words, he knows when we get to the second to the last page that the mother in the story comes in to the room and yells "WHAT?!" He will listen to stories for quite awhile and he will probably learn a few words before he starts kindergarten. (Hey, isn't that what the littler ones do? Keep up with the older child?)
Do I think my children will be successful? Of course (doesn't every parent?). How they are successful though could vary greatly between the two of them. I see my daughter as a performer, one who will take center stage in gymnastics, tumbling, or storytelling. I see my son as more mechanically minded and willing to stick to difficult problems longer. Both are very unique; however, neither of them will be successful if they have to fit the mold of the factory-model education system.
No comments:
Post a Comment