21st Century Skills

"Between new technologies, multiplying media, and layers of intercontinental connection, global citizenship education is a 'must have' and not a 'nice to have' - for everyone" said Heather Beasley Doyle's piece How to Thrive in the 21st Century (2016) quoting Havard Graduate School of Education lecturer Connie K. Chung.  Simply put, being informed as a citizen is about knowing others, their culture, their perspectives and then valuing those in determining actions, advocating for solutions and making judgments.

K-2 instruction around citizenship is built into the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) alignment.

"The value of collaboration has been assumed for many years, and over the past two decades we have seen leading businesses and organizations move to facilitate team building and team-based work" as stated by the Partnership for 21st Century Learning. With so many new avenues for collaboration opening up within and across fields, in civic and professional organizations, and in face to face and virtual venues, students more than ever need to take advantage of learning together and co-creating for their own benefit and the benefit of others.

K-2 instruction around citizenship is built into the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) alignment.

Living and working with others are communication-intensive activities. The better we understand what other people are feeling and wanting, and the more clearly others understand our goal and feeling, the easier it will be to make sure that everyone is pulling in the same direction, according to the New Conversations Initiative Seven Challenges Workbook. In refining our students ability to observe the process of communication both in person or virtually, we equip them to be able to both participate in and observe their exchanges and determine what went well and what could have made the communication more effective.

K-2 instruction around citizenship is built into the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) alignment.

Creative people have the ability to maintain a sophisticated knowledge of their field of expertise yet look outside the frames of that field to come up with new ideas," according to Danah Henricksen and Punya Mishra's article in Educational Leadership entitled "Learning from Creative Teachers" (2013).This extends the definition of creativity from simply an artistic vision to include innovations, unique solutions and original perspectives.

K-2 instruction around citizenship is built into the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) alignment.

"The goal is not only to master content knowledge; it is to master the learning process" says Michael Fullen in his paper, A Rich Seam: How New Pedagogies Find Deep Learning" co-authored by Maria Langworthy (2014), This important re-imagining of the purpose of schools speaks to the need for our students and teachers to enter into a partnership in which they pursue issues in depth utilizing the breadth and variety of thinkers and experts available to them locally, regionally and internationally and available through the thoughtful utilization of technology.

K-2 instruction around citizenship is built into the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) alignment.

"Mindsets change what people strive for and what they see as success" says Carol Dweck, Ph.D. in her book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success (2007). Her work has been a foundation for changing mindsets to be growth-oriented, to foster belief that important qualities can be cultivated, obstacles confronted and new possibilities are all around each and every one of us. For our students, growth mindset offers the key for facing difficulties strategically, taking care of oneself, and determining actions necessary to reach goals.

K-2 instruction around citizenship is built into the Washington Kindergarten Inventory of Developing Skills (WaKIDS) alignment.