Second, watch this short video from Tony Wagner, author of The Global Achievement Gap and Creating Innovators.
Assignment: For this clip, come up with one really good question (after all, that is one of the key skills employers are now seeking) regarding all that we have been studying concerning becoming a Linchpin and excelling in the connected, knowledge economy of the next 50 years.
Then briefly explain which one of the seven skills (Wagner lists them at about the 4 minute mark) today's learners will need that you feel is a strength of yours. Explain why.
Finally, explain which one of the seven skills is a weakness of yours. Again, explain why.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOne key question: In one short sentence, how exactly does one become a lincphin?
ReplyDeleteOne of Wagner’s seven skills that is a strength - curiosity and imagination. One reason I read and listen to so many different things is that I’m curious. Moreover, I’m curious at how to teach better, learn better, and improve my classes. This curiosity led me to Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. That led me to Clay Shirky’s Here Comes Everyone. That led me to Steven Johnson’s works. Those led me to TED Talks. Those led me to Sir Ken Robinson. His work led me to Seth Godin. Those led me to Simon Sinek. His work led me to the EntreLeadership podcast, which has now exposed me to John Acuff, David Kaplan, Ken Coleman, Tony Hsieh, and Mark Sanborn.
Curiosity and imagination lead to connecting the dots, not collecting them.
One of Wagner’s seven skills that is a weakness - accessing and analyzing information. Accessing information isn’t the problem. Right now I can access every high stakes test score you’ve taken since 9th grade. I can find out if you’re low in comprehension, evaluation, word recognition, decoding, and so on. The problem is how to analyze that information and use it to improve your learning experience.
How come you have to ask questions but at the same time think for our selves? If you want critical thinkers don't you want them to figure it out for themselves and not ask questions?
ReplyDeleteA good skill to have would be critical thinking. I feel like I would be could at asking good questions. I am always curious and want to know why and how things work.I feel like a weakness of mine would be initiative. I am usually not very good at taking the initiative to do my homework. I procrastinate way to much.
ReplyDeleteHow do you know when to listen to your gut feeling or to just think of it as the resistance and and push forward?
ReplyDeleteA good skill I have is that curiosity and imagination, but my weakness is that I lack in initiative and entrepreneurship. If I had more drive to do things I could probably come up with some neat things, I just don't think I can actually do things like that.
Well, here's my question:
ReplyDeleteHow can we convert our consumer economy to one based on skills and production?
As far as which skill I excel in? I would guess that it would be my ability to obtain and analyze information quickly and efficiently. Compared to others, I find that I am able to find and assimilate information far more ably than those that I take classes with. This manifests itself both in my ability to read and comprehend textbook information, as well as the general speed in which I complete papers and projects.
My weakest by far would be Initiative and Entrepreneurship. More often than not, I fail to do anything that could possibly rock the boat and change the status quo. Maybe that's due to a lack of leadership skills, or it could even be a general lack of creativity. I honestly don't know.
If college is so much different than high school, what is being taught in college that is keeping those students from finding a job in the area of what they studied?
ReplyDeleteCritical thinking is a good skill, there is no doubt about it. But where is the line drawn between critically thinking and over thinking? Over thinking is just as bad as not thinking. We over analyze something, and are constantly changing it, and then it's never ready. Real artists ship, remember?
ReplyDeleteMy strength would probably have to be my curiosity. There is so much out there to discover and explore that I haven't gotten a chance to grab at yet. One day I really I hope I do get the opportunity to explore. Sometimes I ask to many questions. Half the time they are the wrong ones, but I still want to know more because I'm either interested or curious.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, my imagination blows. In Key Club they are always asking for new ideas to help out, but I can never think of anything creative and fun worth doing. I lack in this department, and that's not a very good thing considering so many jobs require you to have an imagination, especially since many of my generation's jobs haven't been invented yet.
Question: What are the skills that an employer needs to successfully interact with an employee that fits the seven skills?
ReplyDeleteStrength Skill: My biggest strength is curiosity and imagination. I always love learning new things. If I see something that interests me I will look it up at wikipedia to learn more about it. I am always curious about things that interest me. I always want to learn more about it.
Weakness Skill: My biggest weakness is agility and adaptability. I have trouble adapting to new things. If I do something consistently for a long period of time, I don't like changing it. I fight with vigor to be able to keep doing what I was doing before.
Isn't knowing stuff without having to take the time to look things up an advantage? Sure we all have access to the same knowledge, but having it memorized has to count for something.
ReplyDeleteHow are we supposed to know where we should be a linchpin, if we don't know what we want to do for a career? How do I make that decision and become the best?
ReplyDeleteI would have to say my strength is adaptability. If something different is thrown my way, I'll just deal with it as best as I can.
My weakness is probably entrepreneurship. I'm nervous to start something totally new, mainly because I'm not sure what I want to do with my life yet, so it's hard to imagine doing something new and becoming the best.
QUESTION: Question: Why is there such a divide between school, college, and the real world if high school is supposed to get your ready for college and college is supposed to get you ready for the real world.
ReplyDeleteSKILL: Curiosity and Imagination: I like to find out how things work and go together. I used to take apart remote control cars and put them back together with different parts to see how if at all they worked. I like being inventive, and creative in whatever I have to do. I never tire of learning new things.
SKILL: Accessing and Analyzing Information is something that just sounds terribly boring as long as it is not coming in a interesting, active, or inventive way.
What if everyone thinks you're a linchpin but the person who really matters doesn't think you are, how do you make him believe you are a linchpin? One of the seven skills I excel in is the curiosity and imagination. I love to question everything. When I find myself zoning out on something I start to over think things and really question it. One of my weakest skills would be effective oral and written communication. I can't always find ways to explain my thoughts effectively.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteWe have a lot of evidence that points to the facts that average is over and to be successful in todays world you need to be a linchpin. My question than is why are schools still teaching us to work in factories and what is it going to take to change it?
ReplyDeleteI think one of my strengths is Critical Thinking/Analyzing. I believe it becomes very easy to think critical and ask the right questions if you are working with something you care about. If you are passionate about something, you obsess and thinking critically becomes easy.
I believe one of my weaknesses is Initiative/Entrepreneurship. I would love to be self employed and own my own business, but everything about being entrepreneurship scares me. What if my business isn't successful, how much money will I be in debt? Will I make enough money to pay it back?
Strength- I'm always willing to try new things. I find it fun to try new ways of getting things done. Im not afraid to take risks
ReplyDeleteWeakness- My patience needs working on. If things aren't going to plan when it should be easy, I get stressed out easily. If I get too stressed, it all goes down hill.
Problem solving is one of my strengths. I've noticed that if something goes wrong, some kids around my age tend to fold, and stop what they were doing. If something requires hard work, they may decide "it's not worth it". They really mean that they don't know what to do, so they'll quit. They don't know how to deal with adversity; they've never had too. But I've had to deal with adversity several times, through sports, school, and work. The only way to deal with it is to do the best you can to solve the problem, and make the best of the situation. If I'm working and a register stops working, I can't just sit down on the floor and say, "That's it, I'm done". I have to help the people at my register quicker, and we have to figure out a way to solve the problem. A weakness of mine is having clear communication. Sometimes, I can't clearly get my thoughts across.
ReplyDeleteTwo Questions: How do you balance achieving at a school level while also developing the skills that are supposed to be valuable in the current market?
ReplyDeleteWhy does Wagner insist on pretending he still has a full head of hair?
The skill that I think I am good at is critical thinking and problem solving. I like to think problems through and find a solution.
The thing that I struggle with is collaboration. I sometimes have trouble trusting others to complete their parts. Not because I don't trust them, but because I know the state of mind I can get in when I have a lot to do. Sometimes I have trouble getting started and I understand how the same thing could happen to others.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete1. Is it better to be really good in many things, or just focus on one thing and do it to the best of your ability and be a total linchpin in that one thing?
ReplyDeleteQuestion: If college is supposed to get us ready for real life, what is happening in college that is causing kids to not have a job and live at home? Wasn't college supposed to help them live on their own?
ReplyDeleteStrength: I think that my strength is my ability to adaptability. When something changes, I adjust to it as smoothly as I can.
Weakness: My weakness is probably collaboration. I usually end up not doing a whole lot and then I get stressed when we aren't close to being done on time, so I cram on that project and it isn't our best work.
The skill I believe I am the best at is thinking and analyzing. I am so good that I sometimes even over think, which may not be a good thing. I tend to analyze situations well,
ReplyDeleteA skill I need to improve on is imagination. I feel like I am not very creative, but I have gotten better through writing. This is probably the best way I know of to get creative. I am not the best at coming up with creative things to do, and this is a perfect example of why I will never be an elementary school teacher.
Question: How do you know if you are really a linchpin?
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that I excel in is adaptability. If something different is thrown my way, I adapt to it. As much as I don't like change, I try to make the best out of things.
One of my weaknesses would be imagination. I'm one of those people who sucks at coming up with new ideas or creative things. At most jobs you need to have somewhat of a good imagination, including the career/job that I am looking into. Imagination is a good skill to have which unfortunately I lack.
Question: How will I, as a job seeker, know whether or not an employer is looking for "linchpins" and how do I find the employers that will let me stretch to my full potential?
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't schools up to date with information and curriculum when the world's information is changing at a extremely fast pace? We are being taught ancient, irrelevant information that we cannot use in the real life.
ReplyDeleteOne of my strengths is critical thinking and problem solving. I can be given a problem or mess and be able to think through everything that is going on and still come up with an effective solution. I believe that I will be able to use this skill in the future and help my employer out a ton, because I will be an asset to the company if I can think ahead and find proper solutions.
ReplyDeleteOne of my weaknesses is creativity and imagination. I am not the type to come up with a ton of new and great ideas. When it comes time to brainstorm ideas I sort of sit back and wait until we find an idea. I am more likely to participate if I can solve the problem or dig deeper into the idea. I do know that companies look for people who do have a good imagination and can come up with new ideas that can potentially bring in profit. It is something that I strive to work on and bring it out so I can be valuable to a company and be worth their money.
ReplyDeleteI think one of my weaknesses is critical thinking/problem solving. I have a hard time coming up with solutions unless someone walks me through my thinking process. I notice this problem a lot in math. I understand the math that goes into a problem, but trying to figure out what the math is that I need to do is really hard. So basically, if I'm given a worksheet on a certain math skill, I can do it, but word problems are really difficult for me.
ReplyDeleteI think one of my strengths is curiosity, not necessarily imagination, though. I don't really think these two things go hand in hand. I love learning about why and how stuff works, not just what works. In A&P, for example, I love learning about how the body works, the physiology part of the class, but memorizing the structures, the anatomy part, is boring to me. I just like learning new things and trying new stuff, but coming up with new ideas is harder for me.
ReplyDeleteQuestion: Why is there only like 5 people in the audience??
ReplyDeletehaha poor guy. jk:)
Serious Question: Why must we need a degree to prove our intelligence to "succeed" in this life?
I think initiative and entrepreneurialism would be a strength of mine. I haven't jumped into something full force yet but that's only because school is holding me back. That's how I truly feel. Once I'm out of here I can't wait to breakout of this shell and actually do something with my life.
Obviously oral communication would be my weakness. I only begin to really talk to people when I truly know that person. Only then do I share my thoughts and wonders of the world. That being said I feel like I am just fine at written communication.
Question: Why haven't we changed our education system to one that produces linchpins and not factory workers?
ReplyDeleteStrength Skill: My strength is probably accessing and analyzing information. I'm really good at reading things thoroughly and making connections.
Weakness Skill: My weakness is probably entrepreneurism. I'm not comfortable with the idea of taking huge risks. I'm not so afraid of failure that I'm unwilling to try, but I am very rational so huge risks cause me anxiety
If it doesn't matter how much we know, why do we go to school everyday so that we can know more? Why don't we focus more on doing things with our knowledge?
ReplyDeleteI think one of my strengths is critical thinking/problem solving. I'm pretty good at solving problems without much information to reference and figuring out how to manipulate things to work out.
My biggest weakness would have to be entrepreneurism. I don't like failing, so I don't take very many chances unless I'm pretty sure I'll be successful.
Why do they teach/want/expect us to be overall good at everything, (particularly in high school) when in the real world, we are needed to obsess over one thing to really succeed in it?
ReplyDeleteOut of the seven skills I would have to say my strength is shown more so through accessing & analyzing information. I feel that I am good at thinking things through and discovering/noticing things most people don't.
My weakness is definitely oral and written communication. I have a hard time expressing how I feel and finding a way to put it into words, whether it's on paper or by word of mouth.
A question: If the pace of change is so quick now, what will it be like in 10-15 years? Will the skills towards being a linchpin be much higher?
ReplyDeleteStrength skill: Effective oral and written communication. I enjoy writing papers actually because I can really connect my passions into it. Once I get going, I don’t have much trouble finishing because it flows since it is something that I care about.
Weakness: Critical thinking and problem solving. I am not always the most creative when it comes to having to ask a question and solve a problem. If I’m not comfortable from the situation in the first place, then I would rather just push the problem aside instead of solve it sometimes!