ABSTRACT
A PORTRAIT OF OUR STUDENTS At the writing of this chapter, 45 states have adopted the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). With so many states adopting, and with such high stakes tied to their implementation, any discussion of teaching and learning must certainly include mention of them. While controversy surrounds how these standards will be implemented and assessed, one of the helpful elements they provide is a compelling portrait of the learner who is college and career ready. The standards state that, “As students advance through the grades and master the standards in reading, writing, speaking, listening, and language, they are able to exhibit with increasing fullness and regularity these capacities of the literate individual” (National Governors Association Center for Best Practices & Council of Chief State School Officers, 2010). Through mastery of the standards students:
s $EMONSTRATEINDEPENDENCE s "UILDSTRONGCONTENTKNOWLEDGE s 2ESPONDTOTHEVARYINGDEMANDSOFAUDIENCETASKPURPOSEANDDISCIPLINE s #OMPREHENDASWELLASCRITIQUE s 6ALUEEVIDENCE s 5SETECHNOLOGYANDDIGITALMEDIASTRATEGICALLYANDCAPABLY s #OMETOUNDERSTANDOTHERPERSPECTIVESANDCULTURES
While these are certainly valuable skills that are necessary for twenty-first century jobs, this portrait seems incomplete if we are to truly support our children as they grow into adults. To capture a more comprehensive portrait of our students, my colleagues and I often begin our work with teachers with a visualization activity. We have them picture the young girl jumping rope in the schoolyard, or the boy who comes in to class a few minutes late every day. We then ask them to project that image forward 15 years or so and try to see that student as a community member, neighbor, soldier, manager, lawyer, health worker, politician, and parent. Then we ask them to create a picture of the skills, qualities, and traits that student needs to possess, in order to be ready to tackle the myriad roles and responsibilities they will inhabit. The list often contains words from the CCSS portrait above, but it also contains words such as, empathetic, caring, resourceful, engaged, principled, focused, passionate, gritty, creative, reflective, hard working, problem solver, resilient, etc. This picture represents a more complete hopefilled representation of our future. This image serves as a beacon keeping the work we do in schools focused on the ultimate outcomes we desire. Teachers are ultimately responsible for both images from above. They need to ensure students master the rigorous academic standards, but they also need to help them develop, the other, what the author Paul Tough calls “non-cognitive” skills (Tough, 2012). Moreover, these skills are essential for students’ eventual success in life. Our emotions, skills, EXPERIENCESANDKNOWLEDGEALLWORKTOGETHERINONEPACKAGE5NFORTUNATELY INMANY settings these non-cognitive skills are not nurtured together but seen as separate discrete things. This is problematic because it is not like students leave their emotions on the shelf above the coat rack outside the classroom. Instead, they come into our rooms as whole bodies possessing full hearts and minds. Supporting and nourishing the whole child
must therefore be at the heart of the work of schools. Since its inceptions, the Developmental Studies Center has focused our research, teacher professional development, and curriculum development on this mission-fostering students’ academic, social, and ethical development.
