"Soft" Skills

"Soft" Skills

“Soft” skills are the skills you need to be able to work effectively with others, not just in schools- but in life. I do not like the term “soft,” it implies that these skills are not as important as other skills. They should be considered Professional Skills.

 I was given the opportunity to be a part of NISD strategic summit in the Spring of 2018; there were representatives from the district faculty, our students, parents, the community, as well as from businesses in our area. One topic continued to come up from both students and employers- professional skills. Both groups felt that the students coming out of high school are not prepared in this area. If you google the following: “soft skills,” “professional skills,” “the 6 Cs” you will note that there aren’t just educational articles that populate- business articles are there as well. The workforce is lacking in these skills coming out of both high school and college.

There are six skills that the business world looks for when looking to hire employees.

               Critical Thinking – The ability to take information and analyze it, manipulate it and apply                    it to new situations.

              Communication- The way in which you share information.

              Collaboration- Being able to work with others towards a common goal.

              Creativity- The ability to think of new and innovative ways to complete a task or to present                    information.

             Core/Content Competency- Content knowledge.

             Character Development – The ethics and morals with which a person is instilled.

What teacher is not looking for the same skills in their students? These skills are not something we are born knowing; they are not innate- they must be taught. They are not TEKS; they are not in the Scope and Sequence. We need to look at this as not “another thing,” but as skills to keep in mind when we are developing our lessons. If our goal is for students to own their learning, be life-long learners, and to reach the high expectations we have for them; then developing the whole child needs to be a priority.

How to teach these skills will be a topic for our PLCs. There is not a magic strategy answer for this; however, an excellent place to start is to give our students the opportunities to work cooperatively. Genuinely working in cooperative learning groups give students chances to practice these skills under our watchful eye. When we design lessons for our students we need to keep these skills in mind, spotlight them. We should be modeling these skills daily with students. Just like we model our thinking, we need to model these strategies in everyday lessons. Point them out and talk to the students about what these are and why they are important. Looking at them one at a time does not mean they are not working on the others, but that they are getting feedback from us on one particular skill in order to strengthen the skill. These skills need to be worked on just like any other ritual or procedure: practice, practice, practice!

Let’s look at the second question, “Is it appropriate for our students to learn them?” Of Course, it is! If we look at tackling this challenge as something that is vital to our students becoming successful, we will see the importance. Hattie says, “…the foundation for successful cooperative learning in later years can be laid in elementary school.” (Hattie & Klaus Zierer, 2018) Is it easy? No, but what we do is never easy. By looking for ways to embed opportunities in our day to learn these skills, our students will be able to “engage in a culture of learning that prepares all students to navigate the future confidently.” (Northwest ISD, 2018)

If we want our students to own their learning, these skills are a great way to help them on the path of becoming Life-Long Learners.

Creating an Environment that Encourages Student Learning

Creating an Environment that Encourages Student Learning

Decorating. We all do it. We all want our classrooms to be warm and inviting. We spend HOURS and HOURS decorating our rooms, so that when the students and parents walk in they feel comfortable and warm and fuzzy in the pretty room. But Why? Why do we do this? Does it help the students learn? Does it aid in helping teachers close the achievement gap? Does it encourage engagement? Does it? Or is it because we like our rooms to be pretty? We spend so much time in these rooms, do we want pretty things to look at? I have been in classrooms that  benefit the students and the teacher and I have been in classrooms that only benefit the teacher.

While you are resting and thinking about the theme of your classroom next year, contemplate the following:

• “What is the purpose of putting this on the wall?”
• “How will this help the students?”
• “Is this for me or for the kids?”

Don’t misunderstand what I am saying, I am not prompting a cold sterile learning environment. What I am doing is asking you to think about the amount of time and energy you are putting into your room and to think about where you get the biggest bang for your buck. Are you spending more time on decorating the “teacher” space or creating a space to display student work? Are you creating spaces for anchor charts or are you going to have to take things down to hang up your anchor charts.

It is important to create a positive learning environment and we want you to be comfortable in your space, but this year let’s look at how we are setting up our rooms.

 

What does your room say when someone walks in?

  It starts with the eyes, a student makes their first opinions about you and your class based on what they see when they walk in. If they walk into a room that has nothing on the walls and desks in a row, they will get a negative impression of your class right away. Desks being in “traditional” rows tells the students they aren’t going to be working with others, and will be working independently. (Think STAAR testing days.) The empty walls have the students wondering what they will be learning, there is nothing up to give them any clue as to how you teach, what they will learn, or how the class will be in general.

 If a student walks into a classroom and sees desks in groups or pods, they immediately know they will get to sit with peers, they will get to work with peers. People are naturally social, they will meet that need whether opportunities are given to them or not; it is a basic need they need met. It is an encouraging sight when entering a room, for most students.

When people enter a space they look around, they make opinions based on what they see. If there is space on the wall for student work they will notice, if there is a word wall it will be noticed, if the majority of the space is dedicated to students and learning it will be noticed. Students walk in looking for the reading area, looking to see if they will get to go to the “teacher table”, looking for affirmation that the things they love about school are included in the new classroom.  Bottom line is how we set up our room is vital.

 

Classroom Organization: form vs function

One of the complaints we have as educators is that there is never enough time. We can’t make more time, the district and campus gives us requirements when it comes to content minutes; but what we can control is how we maximize our time. Organization is one way to save those precious minutes. “Be prepared” is a norm we talk about every year; we expect our colleagues to come to meetings and PLCs ready to discuss the topic as well as bring anything that will be needed.  We need to have the same expectations for ourselves when it comes to instruction. It is vital that we have our materials ready for each day. Another thing to consider when organizing materials is to look at materials used often and set routines to allow students to be able to access them independently. Allowing students to manage materials for us has multiple benefits: the students gain ownership by being a part of the process, having a job in all parts of the lesson (helping classroom management) and giving the teacher time during transition to address other needs. Setting up these routines at the start of the year makes for an easier transition.

For the last two years we have been discussing how to maximize our flex-spaces. We have many teachers using them in creative ways, from reading nooks to technology “alcoves”, we need to use these spaces to add space to our classrooms and to encourage the idea of flexible learning environments. When thinking about your flex-space, it is very important to talk with your flexmate about expectations and needs before you change the use of the flex-space. Be creative… I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with!

 

Small Group Instruction Space

This space is a non-negotiable. Each classroom needs to have a space that the teacher can pull small groups of students to work with. Small group instruction is not just reteaching who did not “get” the lesson, but it is intentional time planned by the teacher to target students’ learning- based on data. (I am starting to get on a tangent…) The important thing to keep in mind is to make sure that this space is planned with student and teacher needs in mind: placed in a space where the teacher can monitor the rest of the class, easily accessible by the students, and easy to reach materials during instruction.  

 

Storage

We have several storage closets in the building; we have cabinets full of materials in the STEAM lab, and our library holds a plethora of supplies. We should not be using our flex-spaces as storage spaces and we should keep our classrooms clutter free.

 

Be You!

When setting up your room this year; show your students a glimpse of what to expect this year. Show them what is important to you as a teacher, as a learner, and as a Schluter Spur. Make your learning environment flexible, purposeful, and amazing. This year is going to be incredible and it is because of the teachers!

   

Finish Strong

Finish the Year Strong

“Finish Strong!” This phrase is used in so many fields and disciplines, but it all means the same thing, Even though you are tired, you have worked hard, do not let up when you are so close to the end. Do not “coast” to the finish line. We only have our students for a limited time, about 187 days. We ONLY have 187 days to make an impact on their lives. The spring can be overwhelming with all the events that happen this time of year but remember every minute we have with our kids should be intentional. Use the time to help them grow as much as possible; to reach and exceed every goal they have set themselves, to help them on the path to life-long learning.

I have said it before, and I will say it again, “the teacher matters!” The way we finish the school year sets the tone for the students for summer--whether they read or not, and sets the tone for the next school year--do they already have in mind that school is always important. I am not sure about you, when a student would ask me if they missed anything when they were absent, I would be offended. I still get offended if someone asks this question when he or she misses a meeting. “Of Course you missed something, important somethings.” We want our students with us to the last day because we plan important, vital, engaging, relevant lessons that they need to have!

Many of us are already making plans for next year, many of us have so many ideas it makes us excited, but do not forget we still have lots of days this year we can make an impact. When you are looking at your lessons, are you excited to teach them? If not, what can be done about that? We often joke that we have to “entertain” the students, but the truth is we need to engage them. No one wants to be in a place they are bored! What can we do to personalize lessons, to engage the whole child, to utilize the idea of anywhere anytime learning?

I am blessed to get to work with one of the most talented group of educators I have ever seen. The amount of knowledge, passion, and innovation is incredible; it is contagious! Be the teacher you wanted when you were in school. Be the teacher you want your child to have. Be the teacher that reaches their students! Leave them wanting more.