If we had to pick a few adjectives to describe the way we want our graduating seniors to be after spending an entire K-12 education in our care, what adjectives would they be?
Smart? Inquisitive? Confident? Kind? Compassionate? Hard-working? Honest? Easily hireable?
Do we all even agree on what the ideal student would be like? Have we ever taken the time to clearly define that goal, so we know what we’re working toward? If not, how can we be sure that we aren’t possibly working against each other? Do I work to create independent students one year, while you work to make those same students team players the next year?
Our state governments take care of telling us what content we need to be teaching, so there’s no lack of direction there. But on the behavior/attitudinal/ethical front, our goal seems to be a bit more nebulous.
If you could only pick three adjectives to describe the ways you want your exiting students to be, what adjectives would you use? How do you make it happen?
March 4, 2008 at 9:54 pm |
Students who are autonomous, assertive, and charismatic are the ones who will ultimately have the best impact on society. Do not allow school curriculum to fall into the deep crevice that puts low expectations on able individuals. Outstanding achievement should be rewarded, however, under average students should be uplifted as well. Pressed to be all they can be,
March 4, 2008 at 11:11 pm |
Provocative question. I’m going to have to give it some thought.
March 4, 2008 at 11:40 pm |
Ethical, moral, discerning.
March 5, 2008 at 9:49 am |
smart, competent, skeptical.
Ethics and morals are important but not the provenance of school, I don’t think. Discerning and skeptical are similar though.
March 5, 2008 at 12:52 pm |
Maybe rather than smart, “well-informed.”
March 5, 2008 at 6:27 pm |
students who are persistent, resilient, and think independently. LL
March 5, 2008 at 9:55 pm |
Interesting choices. Notice how we are all aiming for such different traits? I can’t help but wonder if this is part of why we attain all of them less frequently than we’d like.
For the record, my three words would be smart, self-motivated, and kind.
March 7, 2008 at 11:45 am |
I agree with mpullen, but I would change “smart” to hard-working. So…hard-working, self-motivated, and kind.
March 11, 2008 at 10:42 am |
[...] Ms. Zody, because I’d like to see what she does with this open-ended project; Mr. Pullen, to piggyback an existing post a little; Mr. Meyer, to give him another chance to pour hours upon hours into yet [...]
March 18, 2008 at 8:03 am |
students who are desciplined , and think independently.
December 19, 2008 at 7:06 am |
self esteem, Good character, competent
November 15, 2009 at 11:47 pm |
‘Character is better than education and intelligence’, so student should have good character first.