Template: Learning Continuity Plan (LCP) in times of COVID-19 Pandemic (for Private School)

MY INSIGHTS ON THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION: THE 7TH C's (CHARACTER EDUCATION)

This is in reaction to the article: ON THE FUTURE OF EDUCATION: THE 7C's, 3R's & 3M's of 21st- Century Learning, posted by Sean Arnold on April 19, 2018. https://braveintheattempt.com/2018/04/19/the-future-of-education-the-7cs-3-rs-3-ms-of-21st-century-learning/

(The advocacy of Sean Arnold, the Author of the Article: He is a special education teacher and STEM coach in New York City's District 75.  He believed that the standard educational models have failed at meeting the needs of all learners for too long.  He committed to advocating and innovating for all students and especially for those voices frequently neglected.)

I. The Key Points of the Article:

A. The Need to Address the Change

The author recommends the need to address the coming change. The changes in our 21st-Century instruction should be dealt with by not continue dwelling on our previous perspective, but move forward towards innovation and advancement, and set out on the 7C's of 21st-Century learning. The deciding element in producing future leaders is on the nature of our 21st-century instruction.

B. The 21st-Century Learners

The author compares the 21st-century students in terms of learning to previous learners. He said the students now will never read a book or a map traditionally but on internet technology, such as gadgets, GPS, and other related technology. They google any information they need, which somehow resulted in low memorization skills. Indeed, he said, "we enter a new paradigm where we must prepare students for a world that doesn't exist, and we are unsure of what it will require." Today's learners are all familiar with the latest technology like Youtube, iTunes, and PlayStation.

C. What Should We Instruct?

The author then asks, "what should we instruct?" referring to this kind of learner. They must learn to be comfortable solving the sort of ill-defined problems they will encounter in the real world. He said a classroom needs to be a laboratory for exploration and no more extended worksheet factory. 

D. The 7C's of 21st-Century learning

The author explains that the Partnership for 21st-Century learning recognized the necessity of 4C's to scale up into the 7C's with the inclusion of life, career, and media skills, of which are most important in modern education. The first 4 of the following are the previous 4C's.

1. Critical thinking- this is to require research and analysis of information along with problem-solving and analytic thinking.

2. Creativity- this is to allow students to be curious seekers of new knowledge, which leads them to exercise their creative muscles.

3. Communication- this is the ability to craft and analyze the information to give and receive. It also pertains to media literacy in the current situation.

4. Collaboration- this is on the need to connect, cooperate, compromise, and build community. 

5. Cross-Cultural Understanding- this is about global citizenship that spans across diverse ethnic groups, cultures, and ideas because of the instant internet connectivity.

6. Computing Technology- this is on how to navigate in a world of electronic information and how to become positive digital citizens.

7. Career Learning- this area encompasses many of the job and life skills to conform to workplace challenges.

E. The 3R's

The author says that the 3R's refer to the character traits that help learners to redefine failures. The learners must know that mistakes lead them to learn. We can observe them playing video games. They fail many times, game-over many times, but they keep on trying until they survive. Survival is equal to learning. They learn through their experience.

1. Resilient- this is to withstand and abandon failures and move on to a practical and more capable solution.

2. Reflective- this is about self-reflection to successes and failure to have room for growth and improvement.

3. Risk-Taker- resilient and reflective learners are risk-taker. They are willing to innovate.

F. The 3M's

He said learning should be motivating, meaningful, and made-for-everyone (3M's). These 3M's addressed the character traits such as openness, rigorous, positivist, and honesty that embedded with skills. 

1. Motivating- This is by giving the students a voice, helping them to set clear goals, and making it challenging. Motivation makes learning playful, social, and exploratory. 

2. Meaningful- This is to answer, "why is it important?". Meaningful learning means to connect the knowledge to their real-life situation. 

3. Made For Everyone-This is incorporating accessibility tools and includes the differentiating instruction so that each student, including the disabled, is capable of being challenged and achieving success. 

G. How these happen in the classroom

The author said he doesn't know since it depends on the school, the students, and the comfort in taking those risks. 

II. My Insights

On change: The Bible believes change by saying, "to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven" (Ecclesiastes 3:1). The only that never changes is God Himself. Whether we like it or not, change is coming on our way. Even the author will not recommend addressing the move to real change, a particular generation in our society will always set and define its transformation according to what is reality. Response to change is the output of the present condition, including technology. The sociology calls it modernity. Modernity is the self-definition of a generation about its technological innovation, governance, and socio-economics (Snyder, 2006). It is a shorthand term for modern society, or industrial civilization (Giddens, 1988), or internet culture adaptation.

On 21st-century learners: The author's perception of these learners was accurate to his place and the learners of the urban centers, but it is not the reality in the countryside school of the Philippines. There are still schools that have no internet access and connection. There are always students who struggle to learn even the basics of the internet due to no access (DiMarco, 2019). If the government will provide technology and gadgets to those school would be of no help since it is not necessary for them. They still need a library with books and maps.  

On "what should we instruct?": With the kind of learners described by the author, the teacher indeed needs technology innovations to provide a learning experience to students that suits their needs. School authorities should provide internet and gadgets for them to explore in the classrooms. Internet in the classrooms supports the student capacity for research, making student inquiry more realistic, enabling students to present information in appealing forms, and offering students access to learning resources within and beyond the school (Mehlinger & Powers, 2017). But in the countryside, it should still be the traditional approach. 

The 7th C's- Character Education: The following are the 7C's of C21 Canada. 1. Critical Thinking 2. Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship 3. Communication 4. Collaboration 5. Culture and Ethical Citizenship 6. Computer and Digital Technologies 7. Character Education. The only difference when we compare to the 7C's of the article is the term in number seven. Instead of career learning, C21 Canada chooses character education (https://c21parentguide.wordpress.com/7cs-of-21st-century-learning-for-all-canadians/). Character education includes the school's commitment to helping the learners to become responsible, caring, and contributing citizens. (http://blog.awwapp.com/6-cs-of-education-classroom/). US Department of Education says that character education in school includes the emotional, intellectual, and moral qualities of a person. Also, essentials in character education are student leadership and involvement.  (https://blog.alludolearning.com/2018/1/4/4cs-5cs7cs-in-education). Recently the Philippines Senate approves Good Manners and Right Conduct (GMRC) as part of the subjects in K to 12 curriculum of both in private and public schools (https://news.mb.com.ph/2020/02/19/deped-welcomes-gmrc-revival-in-basic-education/). 

How do we implement the 7th C's (character education) in our school- Ezra Mission Academy of the Philippines (EMAP)?

On learning strategy, EMAP strictly pursues a biblically aligned culture of behavior to be maintained inside the campus. The school leaderships spontaneously require all teaching and non-teaching personnel to immediately deal with and report any disrespectful, disobedient, and dishonest behavior done by the learners. This behavioral standard in the school campus offers influence to all learners, especially the new enrollees and transferees, to respond and cope with the culture. The school also actively participates in other extra-curricular activities, such as scouting activities, sports competitions, and festivals of talents. The institution believes that these activities will develop multiple intelligences and leadership behavior. Thus, learners achieve the dream of excellence. 

The biblical principle guides the school to develop this strategy in the learning environment. The bible declares, 'He that walketh with wise men shall be wise: but a companion of fools shall be destroyed' (Proverbs 13:20 KJV). The passage shows the influence factor of the environment on the formation of a child's behavior and learning. Blessed is a child who does not walk in the counsel of ungodly, nor standing in the way of the sinner, nor sitting in the seat of the scornful (Psalms 1:1).

The strategy also harmonizes the social learning theory of Albert Bandura (1977). He concurs with the behaviorist learning theories of classical conditioning and operant conditioning. Classical conditioning (otherwise called Pavlovian molding) is learning through affiliation. Two stimuli are connected to create another learned reaction in an individual or animal (Pavlov, 1897). Operant conditioning is a strategy for learning that happens through rewards and punishment for conduct. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes a relationship between a specific behavior and an outcome (Skinner, 1938). However, Bandura adds two essential ideas: 1) Mediating processes occur between stimuli & responses. 2. Conduct is found out from the environment through the procedure of observational learning.  

In society, numerous powerful behavioral influences, for example, parents/guardians inside the family, characters on TV and the internet, companions inside their friend gathering, and teachers at school, encompass the children. These influences give instances of conduct for children to watch and copy. Children focus on these individuals (models) and encode their behavior. The company they keep does have an impact and influence on their choices.Sometime in the future, they may imitate (i.e., copy) the activity they have watched. They may do this without realizing whether the reaction is 'biblically appropriate' or not.  To help the children learn proper behavior, EMAP must willfully create a culture of biblically aligned conduct inside the campus.

To effectively mold the children's behavior at school, EMAP creates programs to sustain the indoctrination process of biblical principles to substitute the 'old nature.' The programs are the character education lessons, chapel hours, and Sunday academy sessions aside from recitation of memory verses every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday morning flag ceremony. Character education lesson is done once a week bible stories to every level. The teacher in character education will teach biblical values and proper behavior. Every last Friday of the month, the learners will conduct church service. This program teaches the child to adopt the habit of attending church service and the importance of giving. The Sunday academy will be held one Sunday in a month together with their parents and guardians. Sunday academy sessions teach parents/guardians biblical principles on raising godly children, while their children at the same time continue in their bible story lessons.