If you want to improve the trait of patience, then you have to be placed in scenarios where you have to practice it, right? (My mom always told me to be careful what I ask for!)
So, if the most in-demand skills from employers are critical thinking and problem solving, then don’t you need to be placed in situations where you have to use and build these skills? And these are skills that are not developed overnight. They are honed and refined over time and through experience.
Take critical thinking. How do you know if you have the skill? You can use objective analysis to make good decisions. You can evaluate situations with logical thought and arrive at a practical solution. You can use reasoning to identify the best outcome/solution/path forward.
Students need opportunities to do these things and it doesn’t come from teaching a textbook or taking an assessment. They need teachers who are facilitators who help them parse through the noise and find the critical bits; they need guides who ask questions that lead them to find answers. They need a coach who can identify the flaws, provide corrective feedback, and who celebrates execution of sound reasoning.
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them. ~ Albert Einstein
In order to find the best solutions, we must first understand the right problem. We need to do our research. We cannot possibly know everything. It is then we can begin to brainstorm solutions. Only after we have laid aside our prior reasoning and rationale do our minds become open to the possibilities. Then, we must use that critical thinking skill to identify the best answer.
Leaders in education and education decision-makers…here’s my call to action:
1. Set aside the thinking of the past.
2. Define the key problem(s) fueling the growing unsettlement in education. Keep asking why to determine the root cause and pinpoint the real problem(s).
3. Brainstorm ideas and list all the possibilities to address the defined problem(s). Ask your teachers, faculty, paraprofessionals—they have a lot of ideas if someone would just ask them. Ask students—they are full of creative, out-of-the box ideas.
4. Use objective analysis, logical thought, and sound reasoning to offer the best practical solution.
If we expect students and employees to have the skills of problem solving and critical thinking, then it is about time as leaders, we model it for them and give them the opportunities to hone those skills as well. And, who knows. We might surprise ourselves and find out the solution isn’t as complicated and complex as we like to espouse it to be.
There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns. ~ Edward De Bono
Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. ~ Vincent Van Gogh
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