The Four C's of Learning

A new school year is about to begin and it is time to implement some of the professional development I have enjoyed on Twitter this summer with my #PLN. I was fortunate to attend several excellent training sessions, present at three others, read several books and listened to dozens of episodes of educational podcasts. One of the ideas that was a common theme in my summer training was giving students agency, voice and the opportunity to create and produce their own learning artifacts. Towards that end I have incorporated these four C's of Learning (based on the 4 C's of 21st Century Skills). We will be using these as our framework for portfolios and projects this year.

1. Creativity 

Students need to create and express themselves as they learn in an academic setting. Give students an opportunity to showcase their thinking with original works that bring out their personality and passion. Options include podcasts, presentations, posters and videos, and artwork. Students can insert sound, color, music, motion (including animation) and more. Not only does creativity make the learning more interesting to students, it also makes the learning more memorable.

2. Critical Thinking

Curriculum in schools does not often afford students an opportunity to think critically and deeply about ideas and events. Advertising, news and politics is now filled with spurious claims that are often void of reasoning. Now, more than ever, our students need to be equipped to challenge, analyze, question, research and make informed decisions about what is happening around them. With 21st Century tools, we can help students sort through all the information to better understand their world.

3. Communication

Students now have have tremendous access to high quality FREE tools to communicate their understanding Students can create graphs, tables, equations, models, audio, video, presentations and much more using tools like Google Workspace, the Desmos calculator and GeoGebra Notes. These tools are not just for academic settings.

4. Collaboration

Knowing how to work with others and work towards a common goal are essential skills. Students sometimes struggle with listening to another person's perspective, considering all options, leading others and/or allowing others to lead them. The classroom can be a safe space to learn about teamwork.

These lists will be used to start the conversation with students and parents.  Giving students non-traditional assessments that incorporate the 4 C's will be a big change for most of my students.  We will continue with some of the more traditional forms of assessment, but an ongoing and integral part of class will be developing these skills and gathering evidence that we are making progress.

I am excited to see what these students will create this semester.  If you are already using these 4 C's in your instruction, I would love to hear more about it.

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Find and grow your #PLN (personal learning network) and share your ideas for incorporating the 4 C's for Learning!