https://lnkd.in/eA59hKWw
These kids have it. This school has it. Their teachers have it. Gulfport, Mississippi is home to an incredible group of students and Harbor Freight educators that believe in relationships, valuing people, and changing the world. They, along with Chickasaw City Schools, and Sunnyside School District in Tucson, Arizona are paving the way for a beautiful model of the best instructional education- one that involves being relevant, being servants, being hands on leaders that go the way and show the way.
Out of 5 major categories of skills that students lack moving from the academic world to the working world, 3 of them include: Relationship Building, Work Ethic, and critical Thinking
Character education is wonderful. The sad reality is that it doesn’t = resiliency, relationships, AND critical thinking.
We can no longer prepare students with simply knowledge. We must arm them with ACTION and the ability to be student driven. The experience of how to be so “proud of what they CAN do” instead of challenging them with being content in what they can’t do. The experience of reflecting to “make it better”, “work through emotions” and explore while serving!
These students and teachers showed off in the most amazing ways this weekend. I was honored to watch and observe.
If you want our students to shatter ceilings, it’s time to start believing in them so much that limitations to their goodness, knowledge, and action don’t exist. If you want them to move mountains, arm them with service and love. And if you want them to move and be moved, then let them think, create, experience that the real world is not organized or perfect, and it’s ok to challenge “the plan.” And lastly, if we want to make the invisible visible, then as educators we MUST make it relentlessly relevant in their eyes.
As adults we can no longer blame the pandemic. Instead we must look at HOW we are teaching them to BE relevant in a world that tries to dim the belief in their significance.
#youthtransformation
#CTE
#iLead