Snails and Spice

Snails and Spice

Do you remember the little nursery rhyme about what little boys and little girls are made of?

What are little boys made of?

Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails

That's what little boys are made of!"

What are little girls made of?

"Sugar and spice and all things nice

That's what little girls are made of!"

It sounds nice and readers everywhere can get a general idea of what little boys or girls are made of, right? It’s nice to read, gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside on a cold day, but it doesn’t really mean anything.

This old rhyme was the first thing that came to mind when I started checking into the Partnership for 21st Century Skills (P21) web site. Essentially this web site discusses what are commonly referred to as 21st Century Skills and how today’s schools should be addressing them. Before I get too much into snails and spice, I want to talk about just exactly what 21st Century Skills are:

1. Life and Career Skills
2. Learning and Innovation Skills (Critical Thinking/Communication/Collaboration/Creativity)
3. Information, Media, and Technology Skills
4. Core Subjects with 21st Century Themes:

• Global Awareness
• Financial/Economic/Business/Entrepreneurial Literacy
• Civic Literacy
• Health Literacy
• Environmental Literacy

Looking at this list, I have to ask if these skills have not been present in some way, shape or form in schools for decades. Apart from information, media and technology skills, my parents were certainly learning these skills in school to some degree. Certainly global awareness was prevalent and I contend, possibly even more so forty-fifty years ago than today.

This may be a topic for another discussion, but since this is my blog I’m going to jump on this one like a room full of Alberta teachers jump on a snow-day in November.

Schools have incorporated life skills, lessons about government, and health (Premiere Tommy Douglas instituted national healthcare - BIG news throughout the 50's and 60s in Canada) and have encouraged communication, thinking and creativity in students through the ages. Although the subject matter is different because the world is indeed different, these skills were still taught.

The P21 web site mentions global awareness. I understand it is speaking of global awareness from the perspective of a technological age, but think about this: Today we are constantly bombarded by information coming at us in all directions. We can access news stories on the radio, the TV, our computers, our cell phones, our iPods or any other imaginable source.

How much of this information can we say we are actually AWARE of? I ask, is it not more likely that we tune out and let much, if not most, of this constant barrage of data wash over us like the driven snow sweeps across a stark prairie highway?

I am willing to bet that my parents at ten in the 50s were far more globally aware than many cell-phone-toting ten year-olds today. This is not to say today's ten year-olds are completely oblivious to the world around them. Not at all, they have the world at their fingertips - literally. But I wonder how desensitized are they to information? Fifty years ago world-worthy news was known by virtually everyone. The world knew about the the first and second World Wars, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, space exploration milestones, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, and on and on. Clearly information didn’t travel as quickly as it does today, but global citizens were aware. Actually the Queen’s coronation footage was shown on televisions in Canada (in 3D no less) within hours after it was shot, so even back in ’53 technology was relatively instant.

Financial and economic lessons were sure to have been part of education during these years as well. Nothing screams “learn to manage a budget” better than years of food rations and work shortages.

Now I could go on and on about how I see the presence of these school topics before the turn of this century, but I want you to stick around to the end of the discussion, so let’s get back to snails and spice.

When I looked at the P21 web site my first reaction was, “Wow. Where do I start?” Once I reviewed the so-called new skills, I checked out the various implementation guidelines. I started with Curriculum and Instruction: A 21st Century Skills Implementation Guide.

“Great!” I thought. “Now I’m going to get some guidance and learn how to implement these new skills. I’m going to read something I can take into my classroom tomorrow and start implementing instruction for these new skills.” I was so excited I poured myself a fresh cup of hot coffee and settled in for enlightenment 21st century style.

Instead, what I found was typical education gobbledygook. Oh goody, they have Guiding Recommendations and Promising Direction! For those of you who may not have already followed the link let me spell out a few of their recommendations and promises for you.

1.  “Develop curricula for understanding”. The recommendation here is to make sure curriculum outcomes produce an understanding and application of the 21st century skills.
2. “Unpack the standards to articulate essential concepts and skills”. This particular point discusses how it is necessary to outline an understanding of the 21st century skills and clarify the “big ideas” of these skills. Their words, not mine.

Uhuh...

The promise indicates that “Both staff and students understand the commitment necessary to implement a rigorous and relevant curriculum.”

Give me a break! Snails and Spice, I say!

Today's teacher doesn’t have time for this gobbledygook! We want to know precisely what steps we need to take to implement objectives written by some crafty wordsmith who doesn’t understand the term “plain language”. We don’t have time to clasp our hands together in glee and declare “There are promises afoot!”

It makes far better sense to me to offer up a document that says something like this:

Step 1: Find out which local corporations offer employee training. I’m not talking “Welcome to the Company” stuff. I am talking about real this-is-how-you-do-this-job-for-this-company kind of training.

Step 2: Approach said company for possible relationship with schools. This relationship would involve this company’s trainers making regular visits to the school to talk about the skills required and offer some training in this regard. Teachers benefit from this training at the same time making it more likely they can continue with this line of planning between corporate visits (or learning some good tips for a future interview with this company when education goes completely in the pooper).

It is very possible that this kind of a relationship doesn’t always translate into face-to-face training sessions either. Virtual training allowing corporate trainers to meet with leadership and other employees is not unheard of. Check out this Nebolsky, & Yee et al.(2003) article “Corporate Training in Virtual Worlds” for more on that.

Step 3: Don’t feel guilt over not buying into more plans, more committees and more promises. Just focus on doing what is right and find real ways to build that bridge between today’s students and tomorrow’s employers.

I look forward to hearing what you have to say!

The more we share, the more we know

Deanna Deveau

Resources:

CBC. 2010. CBC national news. [Television broadcast]. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from http://archives.cbc.ca/on_this_day/06/02/

Nebolsky, C. Yee, N. Petrushin, V. & Gershman, A. (2003). Corporate training in virtual worlds. Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics. 2(6) 31-36. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from http://www.iiisci.org/journal/CV$/sci/pdfs/P674230.pdf

Wikipedia. Tommy Douglas. Retrieved November 24, 2010 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tommy_Douglas