The 6 C's in Education

At U learn Conference this year, I have been very inspired by the 6 C's. 

Here is a brief description of what 6 C's stand for and how they are so important in education. This write up is also a reflection on how I will be developing my plans so that I create a space for all the C's into my lessons.

Thinking Critically- This is done the best when students have a variety of media to inform themselves about the topic. It allows students to analyse and filter the information and eventually form their own opinion based on the facts and information received. They weigh the positive and negative affects of the information.  It also allows students to think if the information is valid or is it biased. They make connections with their experiences and understand the topic deeply.

How can I plan to make this happen in my class?

Working Collaboratively - When students work collaboratively, they communicate to make an optimum outcome. In the process, everyone's ideas are valued.

 How can I maximise the success by making communication effective in my class? What are the most effective means of communication when working collaboratively? 

Communicating Clearly -  This means that students and Teachers need to communicate meaningfully. This will happen if communication is effective and engaging to the classroom audience. 

 How can I make communication purposeful and effective for my students? How can I encourage engagement within the students? Do my students need to develop their communication skills? 

Embrace Culture - Students become more engaged in their learning if teachers encourage and appreciate the cultures of their students.

How can I become more responsive to the culture of the community I teach? How can I include the members of the community to become a part of my classroom culture?

Develop Creativity - Creativity allows students to express their learning and share it with others. Just learning would not be of any value if students are not able to apply their new learning in a purposeful way. When students apply their knowledge to create something, they gain deeper understanding, their knowledge expands, possibilities of innovations arise, imagination happens and their is a sense of completeness to the learning.

 How can I bring more creativity into the topics I teach?

Utilise Connectivity - This allows students to share their learning with the wider community. It is important because it allows students to have authentic audience to get constructive feedback.

How can I use Technology to connect at the local and global platform about my learning?

Reflection -  On reflection I feel the need to plan my lessons very carefully keeping in mind the 6 Cs. Though I already plan under the umbrella of  'Learn, Create, share',  but sometimes the essence and richness of the learning experiences can get lost if emphasis and care is not devoted to the 6 C's.  For this to happens effectively, I need to set up norms in the beginning of the year where students will learn how to communicate and collaborate so that we get more engagement through richer discussions. I will need them to learn to embrace each others cultures and value each other's ideas  and communicate respectfully so that the outcome of each lesson is acceptable and workable for the community. 

Bringing Cultures into the Classroom

I am originally from India and have settled in New Zealand for the past 14 years. When I look back at my childhood I remember going to school and a whole saga of fond memories float in front of my eyes . We started our day with prayer and it was in my language, Hindi. I talked to my friends and it was in Hindi. During Morning Tea and lunch times the playground was full of chitter chatter and everyone spoke in hindi.  I sang songs in hindi and my mother taught me Hindi poems. My grandmother was monolingual and so she would read me stories and narrate myths and legends from our culture in my language. I enjoyed every bit of my childhood and cherish it even today. When I look back I am filled with gratitude for all the people who helped me and supported me in making my childhood a happy one.

When I became a mother and had little kids I made a conscious effort to teach my children their mother tongue as they were very young when they left India. I was not very successful with the younger one but my older daughter is bilingual. The younger one can speak in hindi but does not know to read and write the language. I am still in pursuit of teaching her and she knows that some Hindi lessons are in line for her during her vacations.

Today when I look at the students in my class, I find them a bit detached from their roots. The onus of making students aware about their cultures has shifted from home to school. I feel that they are missing a great deal about their cultures, about knowing who they are and where they belong? I want to see them sing songs in their language and talk freely to each other in their language, “Just the way I was brought up”. I encourage this a lot in my class and students who are fluent help others to communicate in their mother tongue.

I am very fortunate to have two team members in my team who are fluent in Te Reo and Tongan. Salena Kahika is very skilled at Te Reo and has taken to teaching Te Reo in our syndicate. Students enjoy learning Te Reo and maori songs of her and I feel very enthused and delighted to be able to provide an opportunity through our planned Te Reo Maori lessons that Salena loves to take for our students.
"Thank you Salena for Teaching Te Reo to our students"

Luti Tafea is a fluent in Tongan and when I go into her classroom to observe her I find her talking to her students in Tongan. Students respect this and take her commands instantly.

Luti makes a deliberate effort to bring languages into her day to day teaching. She is also in charge of the Tongan dance that she does every year for Performing Arts. Through her we have been able to bring the wider Tongan community closer to us and it was very evident when Tongan mothers got together to sew clothes for all Tongan participants for our Fiafia Night. I was amazed how they sewed, cooked, made head gears and other accessories in a couple of days. I could see how they loved to be acknowledged for their culture and how they thanked Luti for teaching their children about their culture.

“Thank you Luti for making our Pacifika parents feel welcomed.”

I think I am doing my bit, where as a Team Leader I am providing opportunities and opening avenues for my team members and most importantly our students to bring their culture into the classroom!