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Why Skills Matter More Than Content - and Why We Need to Teach Them

I recently pitched an idea about consulting with schools to embed explicit instruction in 21st century skills (communication, collaboration etc.) to a room full of peers, judges, and investors. I was a panicked, nervous wreck and did not perform as well as I hoped. Other educators also pitched a plethora of wonderful (and winning) ideas that included cooking lessons for English language learners, using virtual reality field trips for rural students, and connecting elementary students with elderly patients in nursing care facilities. I'm proud to be part of a community of such empathetic and motivated educators. Seriously, it gives me hope for our students and our future.

Over 80% of the groups that pitched also mentioned skills in conjunction with their projects. "This will be great, and it will help them with collaboration!"  "They will learn, have fun, and innovate!"  And they were all right! But, we can't just continue to add these skills on as an afterthought, a bonus to an already great lesson plan.

Hundreds of businesses have given published interviews about the needs of a 21st century workplace. I've spoken to hiring reps, small business owners, and other educators, about what graduates need to be successful in such a rapidly changing work force. They NEVER say, I wish students left high school knowing more about ancient Roman history, or quadratic formulas, well unless they're putting together Ikea furniture. What they do consistently say is that students lack professional communication skills, the ability to proactively manage tasks and generate plans, and the adaptability to maneuver when business needs or plans change. This is true of both high school and college graduates.

We focus so much attention on improving subject content instruction and we can't just pile more responsibility on overburdened administrators, counselors, and teachers, so what do we do instead? We can't continue to ignore the glaring need, so we MUST embed the instruction of those skills in everything we are already doing well - teaching and preparing kids.

We need a framework for what this work looks like that is tailored to individual school vision and mission statements. We don't need boring, lecture based professional development where someone reads to a room full of adults from 300 slides. Instead we need to empower the people already doing great work to generate plans for what that looks like in their buildings, in their rooms, and with their students. It needs to be flexible enough to adapt to changing needs, but structured enough that it permeates every decision made about instructional methods, curriculums used and so on. It needs to be the foundation the rest of the educational decisions are based on.

When this happens, when schools buy in, and educators are empowered to own their own decisions, we will finally see empowered students, ready to compete and succeed in a 21st century world of work.

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