My school division has been part of the initiative for The New Learning Pedagogy for Deeper Learning. Part of this has included the addition of the emphasis on the 6 C's. Creativity, Communication, Collaborator, Critical Thinker, Citizen, and Character. These 6 areas have come up as a focus in many of the schools we have visited over the past few weeks. I love these 6 words as descriptors, but to be honest I have done very little with them. Oh sure, my students do all these 6 things daily, but rarely do we talk about it, define it, or base our learning around it. Being intentional around these 6 words is a goal I have for next year.
I was inspired during my visit to The Met School this week. I particularly liked their project proposal guide.
It went something like this...
Project Proposal
1. What is your project?
2. What are your guiding questions?
3. What prior knowledge do you already have?
4. How will you use each of the 6 C's?
5. What types of resources will you use (at least two different types)?
6. How is is relevant? Audience?
7. Assessment. How will you know if you did a good job? What will your product include in order to know its complete?
This is a great way to bring the 6 C's into their learning. While the students were presenting about their projects and internships they each spoke of their strengths and challenges using the language of the 6 C's. They were so self aware and inspired to improve in the areas of challenge. I hope to use this language to inspire my students and to help them recognize their strengths and challenges as well.
I also appreciated their method of assessment. In my own class I like to have students set criteria around their learning and then use self-assessment paired with student led conferences to set final marks. I find this is harder to do when every student is working on something different. These questions are a great way for students to continue to set their own criteria. I was so inspired in fact, that my students did this with their current Maker Space project today!
