At Landmark Collegiate we want to develop important life and career skills to help our students be successful after graduation. On our first day of school this year we focused on exploring these skills with our students to help them develop a better understanding of them.
Communication and Collaboration
To explore communication and collaboration students were tasked to stack 6 cups as a group without touching the cups directly. They had strings, an elastic band and teamwork to help them complete the task. After the activity we discussed with them the skills of communication and collaboration they used during the activity. We also discussed how communication and collaboration are used in our daily lives and in the work force.
Critical Thinking and Creativity
To learn about critical thinking and creativity, students were challenged to create a Rube Goldberg machine. This is a machine that uses chain reactions of ordinary supplies to complete a simple task. The task we gave them was to move a marble and have it land in a cup at the end. Students used a lot of creativity and critical thinking to create their marvelous machines. After the activity we debriefed by discussing how critical thinking and creativity are useful in our daily lives and in the work force.
Character and Citizenship
We used a few methods to provoke our students’ thinking on the subject of character and citizenship. We sorted pictures of famous people who demonstrate positive character and citizenship. We also watched an inspirational youtube video that demonstrated character and citizenship through caring for others. Students were able to discuss and create a group definition for what character and citizenship means at school. Then each student was given a slip of paper to write out one way they can display positive character and citizenship at school this year. After that, if they wanted to, students could post a picture of themselves with their paper and post it to instagram with the phrase “Be your best #LCselfie”.
These first day of school activities were intended to specifically highlight the 6C’s and we will now intentionally facilitate the development of these skills in our classrooms throughout the school year.