Take a look at Cookie Monster's perception of "21st Century" Skills -
Whoa, Cookie Monster! Your perspective on 21st Century Skills was a little narrow. But I'm glad to see that you realized 21st Century Skills were more than what you initially thought. It's okay, we all have our "Cookie Monster" moments.
What's a "Cookie Monster" moment? I'm going to define it as what could happen when we (educators) try to take what we know and do, and place it in a new framework - without full understanding of that framework. But it doesn't have to happen! Family and consumer sciences and FCCLA have so much to offer as we help prepare students to manage the challenges of living and working in a diverse, global society. As family and consumer sciences professionals, we can integrate global awareness, practice problem solving skills, harness technology for information and creating, and teach life skills within the context of families, relationships, and work. After all, isn't that interrelationship our unique focus?
It's very easy to have a limited perspective when it comes to our little part in this big world. During my "Cookie Monster" moments I try to figure out how to take what I already do, and fit it into whatever new framework I've been given. Does that work? Sometimes. But more often it means significant changes. And quite frankly, it's not a pleasant, comfortable process or one I'd like to go through continuously. But it's one that education - at all levels - is experiencing.
To wrap up this post, I'll pass along a quote that I have hanging on my office wall - "If you don't like change, you're going to like irrelevance even less." (General Eric Shinseki, US Army). It helps me keep the changes I experience in perspective.
Have you been experiencing "Cookie Monster" moments lately? If so, how are you handling them? What changes are you making to remain relevant within your new frameworks?
But isn't change what education is all about? Trying new things and learning more than you knew when you got out of bed this morning? Somebody once said the people who think they know it all don't know what they don't know. I say keep an open mind, try new things, and get ready to fail--sometimes that is the best way to learn something new! Don't be afraid to experiment! What if people like Thomas Edison and Benjamin Franklin had been afraid to try new things?
ReplyDeleteI love that, "cookie monster moments". You are so right, we all have these moments. It is important to keep things in perspective and really work toward fuller understandings.
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