During my NISL class we talked about a study conducted on college and career readiness. They interviewed the business sector white collar companies, blue collar companies and the green collar or military looking for what skills/traits they are looking for from a potential employee. Almost across the board they were looking for the 3 C's (communication, collaboration and creativity). It's not enough, they said, to be able to successfully complete the job. They are looking for individuals who can not only do their job but invent new ways to do to their job in more efficient ways.
The discussion then moved to the statement that AVERAGE is gone. Average jobs are rapidly being replaced by computers. If an algorithm can be created for a machine to complete a task...that task will no longer be a source of employment for one of our students in the future. Our kids must be ready to compete in an economy where "average" jobs won't exist anymore. For example, I went to my bank recently to deposit a check. I drove up to the ATM machine and my son asked me why there wasn't a bank teller at the window. I had to explain to him that the ATM machine can now do what a bank teller can do.
So the challenge becomes how do we ready our students for an uncertain future with an uncertain economy and uncertain careers in the midst of a digital revolution? Phew! That was a mouthful! I believe as educators we do need to embrace technology and learn new and creative ways to use it in our classrooms. Utilizing online resources, teacher websites and video lessons can only help students and parents connect to the classroom away from school. With our Red House Project Signature Program focusing on digital technology we are building capacity at Reno High School with both our staff and students. This is a great resource!
The second way we can support our students is to continue learning and implementing the Common Core State Standards. Increased emphasis on depth of knowledge, problem solving, composing evidence-based arguments, creative thinking, and student cognitive engagement will help our students become independent learners-which supports what the business world is looking for.
Finally, focusing on technology and the CCSS are all well and good but the single most important thing we can do for our students is to provide the very best Tier 1 differentiated instruction possible. Providing a classroom that concentrates on the whole student and their personal growth is where we do our best work. We do a wonderful job at Reno High establishing rapport with our students by creating a safe and respectful learning environment. Our staff gets to know their students and their families. We are progressing in evaluating diagnostic data on our students so we can develop strategic grouping, differentiated lessons and engagement strategies. The work in our PLC's are progressing also. Our departments are moving forward with common assessments, sharing best practices and reviewing various student assessments in order to make remediation/acceleration adjustments to their instruction. The challenge for all of us is to continually improve. I think cross departmental PLC's is a great way to share best practices and to discuss common students and their progress. I will be sharing our demographic data over the past 10 years with our staff in August. This data shows that our students have changed over the years. We have a new clientele with differing skills during a time of increased rigor and high stakes testing. That fact alone is why concentrating on strong Tier 1 differentiation will be our rallying call. I have the utmost respect and faith in our teaching staff. They are professional, they care and they are multi-talented. I have no doubt they will take on these new challenges (like they always do) with passion, focus and urgency.
