A little over a week ago, I stood in front of the Holdingford Public School staff. I had teachers who were itching to return to the classroom to finalize preparations for the school year. There were administrators that I have no doubt had a list of items they needed to attend to. The custodians had just a few days to prepare the school's doors to be opened on the 2016-17 school year. What I am trying to say is that we are all very busy and have our tasks we need to complete.
At the start of my welcome back I showed the staff the following video.
At the start of my welcome back I showed the staff the following video.
When the video concluded, I acknowledged that each of their "trees" or tasks to be completed were wide ranging. Whether it is teaching kindergarten or physics, driving a bus or maintaining a clean school, we could agree that we all have our own jobs. However just as the all the people had to work together to remove the obstacle in front of them, we as a team have a task that can only be done with us having the same mission. The task we have in front of us is creating productive young men and women.
I went on to discuss 21st century skills, but more specifically what is now known as the 6 C's.
Unfortunately schools are often known for how they score on MCAs, ACTs or any other form of standardized testing you can think of. While Holdingford does well on these tests, I don't want us to be known for just that.
I want the students who graduate from Holdingford to be known as good communicators, problem solvers, good citizens with great character, creative, and collaborators. This will be OUR tree. This is what I want our school to be known for.
I went on to discuss 21st century skills, but more specifically what is now known as the 6 C's.
- Critical thinking
- Communication
- Collaboration
- Citizenship
- Creativity
- Character
Unfortunately schools are often known for how they score on MCAs, ACTs or any other form of standardized testing you can think of. While Holdingford does well on these tests, I don't want us to be known for just that.
I want the students who graduate from Holdingford to be known as good communicators, problem solvers, good citizens with great character, creative, and collaborators. This will be OUR tree. This is what I want our school to be known for.