+
“Yesterday’s
answers
won’t solve
today’s
problems.”
Influence
LEADERSHIP
Flexibility
Would
you Hire
Your
Own
Kids?
“Even in our best
schools, we are
teaching kids to
memorize much more
than to think, and in
the 21st century,
mere memorization
won’t get you very
far.”
7 Soft Skills Students
Desperately Need
+
“The idea that a company’s
senior leaders have all the
answers and can solve problems
by themselves has gone
completely by the wayside…The
person who’s close to the work
has to have strong analytic skills.
You have to be rigorous: test
your assumptions, don’t take
things at face value, don’t go in
with preconceived ideas that
you’re trying to prove.”
-Ellen Kumata, consultant
What is It?
•
•
•
Asking Good
Questions
Figure out what’s
important and
what’s not
Self-learning and
inquiry
What It’s NOT?
•
•
•
Teaching to a test
Only occurs at
secondary levels
Using textbooks
as sole resource
IDEAs
•
•
•
Open ended
questions
Essential
Questions
Big Ideas
Critical Thinking
and Problem
Solving
Soft Skill #1
+
MATH
PRACTICE 1
Make
sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
+
“The biggest problem
we have in the company
as a whole is finding
people capable of
exerting leadership
across the board….Our
mantra is that you lead
by influence, rather than
authority.”
What is It?
•
•
•
•
•
Team Work
Collaboration
Relational skills
Reaching across
boundaries
Teacher as
facilitator
What It’s NOT?
•
•
•
Whole Class
instruction
Step by Step
instructions
Teacher-centered
IDEAs
•
•
•
•
Wikis
Sharepoint
Cooperative
Learning
Discussions
-Mark Chandler, Sr. VP at Cisco
Collaboration
Across Networks
and Leading By
Influence Soft Skill #2
+
MATH
PRACTICE 3
Construct
viable arguments
and critique the reasoning of
others
+
“I’ve been here four years,
and we’ve done fundamental
reorganization every year
because of changes in the
business…I can guarantee
the job I hire someone to do
will change or may not exist
in the future, so this is why
adaptability and learning
skills are more important
than technical skills.”
-Clay Parker, President of
Chemical Management
What is It?
•
•
•
•
•
Reflect and
Revise
Experimentation
Risk taking
Opportunities to
fail
Learning process
What It’s NOT?
•
•
•
Only one right
answer
Answer more
important than
process
Lecture and rote
memorization
IDEAs
•
•
•
•
Debates
Presentations
Inquiry Based
Problems
Problem Based
Learning
Agility and
Adaptability
Soft Skill #3
+
MATH
PRACTICE 1
Make sense of problems and
persevere in solving them.
MATH
PRACTICE 5
Use appropriate tools
strategically
+
“For our production and
crafts’ staff, the hourly
workers, we need selfdirected people…who
can find creative
solutions to some very
tough, challenging,
problems.”
-Mark Maddox, Human
Resources Manager – Unilever
Foods
What is It?
•
•
•
•
Proactive, selfstarters
Creativity
STRETCH goals
Out of the box
thinkers
What It’s NOT?
•
•
•
Status Quo
Teacher
Dominated
Boring, dull, nonengaging lessons
IDEAs
•
•
•
Teams
Project Based
Learning
Students
monitoring
growth
Initiative and
Entrepreneurialism
Soft Skill #4
+
MATH
PRACTICE 4
Model
with mathematics
+
“The biggest skill
people are missing is
the ability to
communicate: both
written and oral
presentations. It’s a
huge problem for us.”
-Annmarie Neal,VP of Talent
Management at Cisco Systems
What is It?
•
•
•
•
Clear and
concise
Focus, energy
and passion
Reason and
persuade
Write with voice
What It’s NOT?
•
•
Focus on
grammar,
punctuation, and
spelling
Worksheets
IDEAs
•
•
•
•
•
Reporting
Newspapers
Blogging
Websites
Presentations
Effective Oral and
Written
Communication
Soft Skill #5
+
MATH
PRACTICE 6
Attend
to precision
+
“There is so much
information available
that it is almost too
much, and if people
aren’t prepared to
process the information
effectively, it almost
freezes them in their
steps.”
—Mike Summers, Vice President for
Global Talent Management at Dell
What is It?
•
•
•
Evaluating
information from
a variety of
sources
Synthesize
findings
Always changing
What It’s NOT?
•
•
•
Definitions
Sole Sources
(textbook)
One answer
IDEAs
•
•
•
•
Research
Use of varied
sources
Technology
infusion
Multiple
approaches
Accessing and
Analyzing
Information
Soft Skill #6
+
MATH
PRACTICE 7
Look
for and make use of
structure
MATH
Look
PRACTICE 8
for and express regularity
in repeated reasoning.
+
“Our old idea is that work is
defined by employers and
that employees have to do
whatever the employer
wants…but actually, you
would like him to come up
with an interpretation that
you like—he’s adding
something personal—a
creative element.”
—Michael Jung, Senior Consultant at
McKinsey and Company
What is It?
•
•
•
•
Inquisitive
Thinkers
Problem Solving
Unique and
meaningful tasks
Innovation
What It’s NOT?
•
•
•
Rigid Structure
Close-minded
Fear of failure
IDEAs
•
•
Make Learning
Fun
Real world
problems
Curiosity and
Imagination
Soft Skill #7
+
MATH
PRACTICE 2
Reason
abstractly and
quantitatively
+
Resources:

www.tonywagner.com

http://quizlet.com/5556999/tony-wagners-7-survival-skillsflash-cards/

http://www.edutechmag.org/2009/06/28/reviewing-tonywagners-seven-skills-students-desperately-need/

http://www.thedailyriff.com/articles/would-you-hire-yourown-kids-7-skills-schools-should-be-teaching-them-291.php

http://wiki.bath.ac.uk/display/charlescornelius/Tony+Wagn
er%27s+Seven+Survival+Skills

Wagner, T., & Compton, R. A. (2012). Creating innovators: The
making of young people who will change the world. New York:
Scribner.