We Got Skills

At an after-school program, I squatted in a sandbox with several preschoolers as we made "cakes" and "pies" out of sand.  We baked them in an imaginary oven and even decorated them with leaves and rock sprinkles.  A rambunctious three-year-old named Turner kept jumping in and out of the sandbox and running all over the playground trying to get the rest of us to chase him.  At one point, he hopped into the box, and I asked him if he wanted to make pies with us.

"Those aren't pies," he said.  "That's sand."
"Don't you ever use your imagination?" I asked.
"No," he said and bounced away again.

I know that he uses imagination at least some even without realizing it and that I can't judge America based on one three-year-old, but his low value of imagination and creativity surprised and disappointed me.  As a little girl with a brother ten years older than me, I often played in the background by myself, but I invented an array of characters to join me in an array of magical places.  I think imagination is one of the beautiful traits of childhood, but that skill is squandered by our society and by education.
Imagination leads to creativity and innovation, which also assist in problem-solving and critical thinking—several of the major 21st century skills critical in today's global economy.  All of the 21st century skills, which also include collaboration and communication, emerge early in life in basic forms and thus should be fostered and enhanced throughout a child's education.

As an early childhood educator, I must practice these skills as well as teach these skills.  Teachers practice creativity, innovation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills when they plan meaningful curriculum, engage students in learning, reteach material in a new way if students misunderstood it, and enforce positive behavior.  They establish behavior and academic expectations and use the skills in their arsenals to help all students succeed inside and outside the classroom.  They must constantly adapt their lessons and practices to meet students' needs.  Educators also utilize collaboration and communication skills and cultural awareness when working with parents and coworkers.  They must build respectful, trusting relationships with parents and fellow teachers to create a school community.

One of the focuses of the Common Core State Standards, the new frameworks by which teachers teach, involves helping students become college and career ready.  All teachers need to incorporate 21st century skills into their everyday instruction in order to prepare children for the real world even in elementary school. "Students can master 21st century skills while they learn reading, mathematics, science, writing, and other school subjects." Educators can no longer simply teach to the test and tell children how to think.  Students must learn to think for themselves.    

I will serve as a role model for students, so I must acquire these skills through various experiences and develop them through practice.  Ways to do so include reading, research, trying new things, meeting people, going places, and simply practicing an open-mind.  We are all life-long learners, so we must all be open to every opportunity and educational experience.  We will never possess all the knowledge, but the pursuit of knowledge and the skills we develop along the way are what make us great.

A New Pair of Glasses

All people develop their own perspective of the world—their own pair of lenses—based on their heritage, their experiences, and their culture.  The lenses of most Americans, I believe, are black and white.  We see diversity and the new and unknown in black and conformity and what we know in white.  Things are difficult to see through the black, and white is typically a more friendly color. My own biggest anxiety whenever I travel is the fear of stepping out of my comfort zone and not knowing what to expect.

However, cultural lenses are unavoidable and not necessarily a bad thing.  Taking pride in one's culture creates unity and patriotism within that culture.  The problems, like ignorance and discrimination, arise when we refuse to take them off or try on a new pair or at least consider that other people are looking through their own lenses as well.  No two pairs are exactly the same.  I think we Americans know this, but we have to learn to accept and even celebrate the differences.

I have a couple of friends that want nothing more to attend college close to home and eventually end up back in our hometown working and living right down the street from their parents.  One in particular possesses no desire to travel farther than the Grand Canyon or Branson and believes this wonderful country she calls 'Merica is better than any other place in the world.  On the other hand, I have friends who long to escape the confinement of Arkansas and travel anywhere and everywhere.  My roommate and I often speak to each other in foreign accents and created a bucket list of things we would do in other countries, like drinking tea in London, riding a donkey in Greece, or learning to play bagpipes in Scotland.  Unfortunately, the issue of money has kept her and many other eager college students from traveling.  I have yet another friend, however, that began traveling the world as soon as he graduated from college.  I have heard that he backpacked through Europe and even started a business in Hawaii, and he is in a different country every time I hear about him.

Now people don't have to drop everything and travel the entire world to expand their horizons.  Lens shifting is more about a change in perspective, a change from cultural ignorance to cultural competence.  We live in a competitive, individualistic society in which success revolves around money and productivity.  We make jokes about the French being prideful and arrogant about their country, but I think Americans can be even worse.

A "my way or the highway" attitude is engrained in us from a young age.  Many elementary schools focus too much on boosting children's self-esteem and not enough on mastery of skills and collaboration with others.  We rarely learn about other cultures in school, and when we do, the material is presented from an American bias or we celebrate one little holiday like Cinco de Mayo.  We only take a language class for one, maybe two, years of our entire school careers, an insufficient amount of time to learn a language.  Language barriers play a significant part in keeping Americans from traveling.  However, many people in other countries, especially those working in tourism, know English.

Americans need to live up to the title of their country, "the land of the free and the home of the brave," and free themselves from the fear and pride that darken our lenses and bravely explore this diverse and colorful world that we all call home.