Navigating the Seven Cs

There has been much discussion about the 21^st Century learner. Today’s middle school student will, in a few short years, enter a world of work that is dramatically different from that of even a decade ago. The U.S. Department of Labor suggests that the average worker will have more than 10 jobs before he or she reaches the age of 40. Further, it reports that jobs most in demand for 2010 did not even exist in 2004. Business and industry are calling for a workforce steeped in a series of competencies that will keep them nimble and competitive. As educators we cannot afford not to focus our teaching on these essential competencies.

Last year Corte Madera administrators, teachers, and parents participated in a 21^st Century Committee. From that series of meetings we derived a series of seven over-arching competencies that give foundation to the Portola Valley School District’s mission to educate a “global student.” They are:

• Collaboration and Teamwork: This means valuing and respecting all team members as people, their role in group work, and their contribution to group effort.
• Critical Thinking: This means actively taking part in problem solving tasks, application of learned skills, discernment between opposing or conflicting ideas, and self-evaluation.
• Creativity and Curiosity: This means taking academic risks, exercising flexibility, and demonstrating resilience following failure.
• Communication: This means the ability to articulate orally, and in written, non-verbal, and technological ways, and to demonstrate capacity for aural (listening) understanding.
• Citizenship: This means understanding civic and global responsibility, engaging in service learning, and demonstrating empathy and respect for cultural and individual differences.
• Cultivation: This means developing and appreciation of the arts, maintaining physical and emotional health and wellness, and expanding a love of learning.
• Competency: This means developing academic skill sets including all basic skills fundamental to future learning.

Our Integrated Exploratory class will be taking initial steps in this direction during the 2009-2010 school year. At the beginning of the school year, students will be given the opportunity to define and discuss each of these competencies as each relates to his/her individual learning style, his/her interests, and his/her personality type. Then, on a regular basis, students will be asked to reflect on their individual work ethic and productivity in terms of these 7 competencies.