Education is learning what you didn't even know you didn't know.

As I watched both of the videos from the discussion this week, I thought back to the last thirteen years I have been teaching and how much “teaching” was geared towards state testing. Students are tested too much and it eventually takes away from their natural curiosity when we are “teaching towards the test” and not letting students explore (or teaching them how to expand their curious minds). T

These tests do not assess communication skills, let alone creativity, and those are two of the key skills students will need in college and most definitely in the working world. In the end, we are doing what is asked of us, but at a loss for our students. If you are like me as a teacher, you sometimes go rogue and do what is best for your students while completing district tasks that are asked of you.

Both speakers asked several questions and the two below are ones that I felt were most pertinent to the topic at hand. Wagner speaks to the process and Galinsky speaks on the results.

Wagner:

Do we need to rethink or reimagine education for the 21st-century learner? (2009)

Galinsky:

What can we do to keep the fire for learning burning in children’s eyes? (2013)

Both Wagner and Galinsky speak on seven qualities that will, in their opinion, produce lifelong learners. I have paired them in a chart below in what I feel is a comparable characteristic style of each quality. Some of the qualities could be matched with multiple qualities of each speaker.

References

Galinsky, E. (2013). The seven essential life skills, with Ellen Galinsky. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/SdIkQnTy6jA

Wagner, T. (2009). 7 skills students need for their future. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/NS2PqTTxFFc