How will Christian Ed Serve 21st Century Graduates?

An Outline for Serving the 21st Century Graduate by Tom Currie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

An Outline for Serving the 21st Century Graduate

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Disclaimer:  The following document should be applicable to all schools, in all regions, and within many contexts.  Consequently, it is to be seen as a sounding-board for your own unique school vision, and goals.  Though it is Christian in its character and its claims, it should theoretically be directly transferable to other secular, or religious environments.  This document attempts to provide common core-definitions for stakeholders within 21st Century Education.  It is based upon three years of conversation, and work-shopping at the Vancouver Symposium on Christian Education for the 21st Century.

Furthermore, this document is to be left “living and unfinished”.  In the sections below, each of the bolded titles should have hyperlinked resources to projects, schools, facilities, and networks that at any given time reside as the exemplars for the values stated.  The validity going forward will depend on activating a network of students and educators who will participate in its cultivation and curation.  

The connection to “the letter” exists only in that the statements that follow should be found to be consistent with the prediction made in the letter.

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A Definition for 21st Century Learning (The Vision)

To feel adequately prepared to face the scope of a unique future feeling the strength, hope, resiliency, and purpose that comes from knowing God by way of examining His creation.

Three Modes of 21st Century Education

What There Is

1.  The Educator

They who shall cultivate a culture of innovation and creativity borne from unassailable values of christian community and knowledge.

• Leadership - The educator shall model the conventional, regional, and cultural values of their christian context, work to maintain a professional and personal network of those who can positively affirm their commitment to The Vision, and devote themselves to humble service of others.
• Assessment - The educator shall regularly interact with students and their families to account for, document, and reflect on the Learner’s  journey toward The Vision.
• Relationship - The educator shall work to facilitate a growing network of resources, support, harmony, accountability, and love surrounding the Learner, while the Learner works toward a fulfillment of The Vision.
• Development - The educator shall continue to pursue The Vision themselves, by at times affording themselves the privilege of being a Learner.

2.  The Learner

They who shall navigate the prescriptive paths of curriculum with the intention of achieving a passion for life-long learning.

• Participation - The student shall be responsible for finding ways of engaging any prescribed direction toward learning, and at times be relied upon for determining new paths moving forward.
• Community - The student shall be responsible for engaging and maintaining positive, affirming, and relevant social relationships while working toward a sense of personal character and integrity.
• Focal Point - The student shall, at all times, be made the focal point for any educational decision made, as they are the ones ultimately who must demonstrate the adequate preparation outlined by The Vision.

3.  The Technology

That which is used in mutual symbiosis between the teacher and learner to create, manage, facilitate, and document the growing relationship between the educator, the learner, and a knowledge of God.

• Space - Educators and Learners will work together to find beneficial places to engage in relationship with God (learning).  The space will be managed and maintained by this partnership within the economic, physical, and personal limitations of the unique context of “school”.
• Tools - Educators and Learners will work together to find beneficial tools to help create, manage, facilitate, and document within the economic, physical, and personal limitations of the “school” context.
• Time - Educators and Learners will work together to negotiate the appropriate time required to create, manage, facilitate and document within the economic, physical, and personal limitations of the “school” context.

What There is NOT

1. There are no ‘class averages’ or comparative statistics
2. There are no grade levels, or specified age groupings
3. There are no prescriptive timelines,
4. There are no year-ends, so no year-end tests.
5. There are no “Teacher-Experts” or “Silos”

The above list, represents only a few scenarios that would be in direct conflict with the guidelines indicated and could be considered antiquated in a 21st Century Learning Model.  Suggested changes to these practices might include the following:

1. The community celebrates individual efforts in areas of high quality work.
2. Curriculum is seen as a dynamic and growing portfolio in the name of the individual student, the community forms around the learning and is managed appropriately.
3. Deadlines related to the goals would set by strategic negotiation between the Learner, the Educator, and any required resource person.
4. Standard testing could be used as a personal indicator of movement along a spectrum that has no definable end-point.
5. Educators link students to the resources, and may at times serve in that space.

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A Reflection

We believe, as educators, this is a strong outline for the future of learning because it:

1. Holds to the belief that all students CAN learn
2. Holds to the belief that all people have the RIGHT to learn
3. Holds to the belief that people require CONTEXTUALIZED learning
4. Holds to the belief that people will learn BEST when allowed to PERSONALIZE
5. Does not prescribe the HOW or the WHAT to learn, rather examines the WHY.
6. Fosters an environment where learning happens in COMMUNITY
7. By deepening our knowledge of God we move toward a realization of His ABSOLUTE TRUTH.

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To the Class of 2025

To the Class of 2025 by Tom Currie is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

As convocation time draws to a close for the faculty of many North American "educatutes" (defined as institutional education) I find myself drawn to the many published and non-published insights and inspirational homilies.  I consider what, if anything, could be said to the class of 2025 who, under the current model, will be set to enter ECS programs this coming September.

I submit the following for mash-up and distribution.  Having written it, I am left with but one question:  How do we ensure that this happens?  Or rather; who has the road-map?

The Original Raw Video Letter

To the Class of 2025,It was by careful and intentional design that you, the class of 2025, have been gathered together.  

In the early 2010’s a group of educators from around the world gathered in Vancouver, British Columbia to talk about you-- or rather to design a pathway for you to follow on your way to the present moment.  Know that we met then with the sole intention of ensuring your success; a measure of your resourcefulness, creativity, integrity, and diligence.  Know that we met out of love for you whom we had never met.  

No doubt we have been short-sighted.  No doubt our preparation has been inadequate or incomplete.  At times, Logan, you may have found our model wanting, while you, Emma, have quietly thrived.  Where Abi has struggled, Jackson has found great value.  Kaitlyn may have found herself in tears while Emily has been laughing, and we could not have predicted the struggles you have had Caden.

But all the while you have been loved; unanimously and uniquely. 

If 2025 were represented by a high mountain-pass then consider what we have done over the past 20 years as trail-breaking.

Early on we had to build the community at base-camp who would provide the support, the experience, and the wisdom necessary to go forward safely.  They provided the topographic map and helped to plan a route, but no map can ever provide the perfect path; that must be broken-in by the hands and feet of those who will walk it.  So we sent out our emissaries to break-trail.  With now-antiquated technology at our disposal we sought to clear a precise path through the thick forest to the vista upon which you now stand.  At the time you had only just learned to walk.  

Remember how tired we used to get?  Lucas and Ryan would race ahead and we’d have to send someone to find them.  Bella and Sophie would be so engrossed in their conversations that they would stumble over the tree roots.  Addie kept us laughing-- impersonating the birds.  Then there was the uncanny ability of Mia and Ava to see the things so many of us would walk past.

If it wasn't for Lucas and Ryan we would never have seen ‘The Falls’.  Bella and Sophie led so many of us to a better understanding of each other during the ‘Fireside Chats’.  Addie made the sodden-slogs fun, and Mia and Ava kept us awestruck by the wonder of creation.

If it hadn't have been for the heart, resolve, and downright stubbornness of Caleb, Jackson, and Noah would we have been able to find Hailey?

There is no question that at times we took a wrong turn.  What we knew at the time was that the risk of going forward was far less than the risk of not going anywhere at all.  

Though at times we struggled to find each other, and sometimes we had to wait for supplies (often famished, hey Brayden) think of what we learned together.

As Chloe once wrote in an open letter to her MLA;
“As a fifteen year-old student, it is with great regard and due respect I write this letter as my plea, on behalf of my learning-network.  Please consider our findings, which we have provided, before you vote on the conditions to amend Bill A44.  I hope that you will find our publication helpful in what must be a very difficult decision.”

By the end of each year our old trail will have begun to grow-over.  Little trace of our steps will be left for others to follow, except that documentation you posses of your individual journey.  Others will follow you-- have followed you and, like you will break off in new directions.  The most important thing is that you now stand in the saddle of this mountain pass looking out over the range in front of you, and you know full-well that those that stand around you and beside you can be relied upon to travel with you wherever you may go.  That includes me.

When Jacob came back from his Toast-masters workshop he told me his biggest epiphany was, ‘Never leave an audience without a gift.” And so I offer you the original Outline that we created as a small piece of nostalgia from this long journey.  May it simply serve as a reminder that from the very beginning it was in His name we worked so you might see the truth: You are the fulfillment of a promise made long ago, and the utmost authority, the Father of the universe loves you and values you as His own.

Now please join with me to celebrate a performance of “One”, an original composition sung live by Olivia, accompanied by Conner, Matthew, Jayden, and Lily who have joined us virtually from their respective music internships around the world.