Plan, Train, Reflect & repeat it all over again ... #CoreSkills4all

It has been a very intense couple of days dear reader, most of the time planning, training and reflecting which is the basis of my life as a #CoreSkills Trainers' Trainer and Trainer.

This time we are in Mexico once again, our 4th time in this stunning country with beautifully friendly people. On this opportunity I am not in the northern city of Hermosillo but in the very heart of Jalisco, in Guadalajara, with a group of 40 Educational Leaders of this State.

Our module this time is Communication and Collaboration and I could not feel happier with results so far, moreover, one feels
* hype, overwhelmed & self-motivated,
* gratefulness for group's human warmth
* one takes best of memories & Reflects (pivotal) / which is what we have been doing since 4.30 a,m,

In the end, and as I see it, Core Skills Training is all about:
(1) Sharing the brilliant materials British Council in partnership with Imagine Education have created for this purpose ...
but also and most importantly
(2) Giving TOOLS as personalised as possible to make this happen inside classrooms.
Hence, demo and modelling are critical at this stage and throughout training, as it is our style of faciliting these sessions that are embedding every Core Skill.

As we say, it is not about changing School Curricula but to adapt them in our every day ... and dear readers: Yes it works!

Which is -as we see it though- the critical point and where it seems to us, something more can/should/ought to be done?
We are thinking "Follow up" to accurately measure Impact.

For that, we believe Trainers are to be reachable and present for participants. It is like the customer service platform, this is not a one-way lecture or speech, by definition is collaborative and participative, based on the idea that things can be achieved more easily if everyone works together, being involved and committed to spread the word while making it happen ... #CoreSkills4all

As we are just about to finish the first month of 2017 #CoreSkills4all

Started this journey back in March last year when sent to KL, Malaysia to be a validated BC regional leadership and teacher trainer ... could not be happier as this is a journey I am passionate about following: I am convinced Core Skills are pivotal for our education systems.

What I take with me is an amazing experience -wherever I may be- ... it is about sharing and specially getting the tools to make a difference, to look for an impact to transform or modify/adapt teaching experiences in the classrooms, aiming for our students/pupils/learners to look ahead for a brighter future using core skills intuitively.

#CoreSkills4all


http://www.smilebox.com/playBlog/4e4455774e444d7a4f546b3d0d0a&blogview=true

The importance of #Education, #intelligence & #character / MLK

 On our Twitter account, we wrote yesterday

"Dear #teachers: a quote that is self-explanatory #foodforthought #CoreSkills4all #education #intelligence #goals"

And we honestly thought it was as straight forward as we read it, and yet, just in case we would like to say that yesterday was Martin Luther King Day, a fine opportunity to reflect on this great man's legacy ... pretty inspirational indeed.

What he said, is as valid and true as ever!

"The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically."

"Intelligence plus character - THAT is the goal of true education"

We can all do our bit, from wherever we are dear reader, it is just a matter of commitment ... are we ready to take upon the challenge?

#SustainableDevelopmentGoals

Intelligencing on a Sunday Morning #Citizenship & a shout out to #SDGs

Getting ready for training in Mexico, one more time and thinking about Citizenship understood as:
(1) Status> rights & duties
(2) Feeling> identity & belonging
(3) Practise> making a difference

... a concept that is understood as a National, Regional, Local and in our own communities but also bearing in mind that we are living in a globalised world, and thanks to technology, we are closer and closer, recognising our connections.

So, one of the activities I was checking, requested us thinking ahead, an imagining our world in 2030.

It hit me, and clicked on the World We Want 2030 (previously known as Beyond 2015 and The World We Want 2015)... found out it is now called "Deliver 2030".
Loved it from the beginning! It is not only a wish now, as in what we want, but defines steps towards achieving those goals ... how to deliver.

Sometimes, a little change in the wording can transmit ever so much. #FoodForThought.
I am a true believer in Mini-Revolutions, and the impact it does have.

Well done indeed! SDG all the way! (Sustainable Development Goals(
... and us, dear readers? Which are our 3 steps towards becoming a better person and influencing in the ones around us?
#WeCanDoThis

To whoever classified "reading & writing" as Hard Skills ... well done

Earlier today I was placing some documents away while doing some sorting in my studio. So checking some draft paper, I came across an A4 paper which read the following:

Soft Skills
- Communication
- Interpersonal
- Social Skills
- Team work

Hard Skills
- Reading
- Writing

Now, to be utterly honest, to the present time, as I am typing these lines, I have no clue whatsoever about the identity of the person/people/group who wrote in my last week workshop,

So decided to Google to verify if that was what they actually did ... mind you, absolutely nothing wrong with it, as he/she/they was/were using technology available to find out more about a proposed subject.

First line from "Investopedia" -- in Chrome

"Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured, such as typing, writing, math, reading and the ability to use software programs. By contrast, soft skills are less tangible and harder to quantify, such as etiquette, getting along with others, listening and engaging in small talk. In business, hard skills most often refer to accounting and financial modeling."
So, if that paper came from "you" dear reader, just to acknowledge I still had it until today, and that you were on the right track ... so Thank you for being there!

Inspirational Quotes by Gilbert Highet ... defining #CoreSkills

By far, my #GoTo educational Top 2 quotes have to be ...

"Wherever there are beginners and experts, old and young, there is some kind of learning going on, some kind of teaching. We are all pupils and we are all teachers."

"The mind never need stop growing. Indeed, one of the few experiences which never pall is the experience of watching one's own mind and how it produces new interests, responds to new stimuli, and develops new thoughts, apparently without effort and almost independently of one's own conscious control."

Not surpringsingly both from Gilbert Highet, The Art of Teaching.

And somehow these deep thoughts can easily define Core Skills as pivotal to our teaching/learning processes.

Those are mine, dear reader, what about yours?

Can Soft Skills be teachable? ... "we are what we repeatedly do", right?

Note to self ... remember this one!

Last week as I was wrapping up the afternoon and collecting materials after presentation had long finished, I found two pieces of draft paper.

The picture attached above, dear reader, is one of them, and to be fair, I wished to add that I do believe one can teach/train/develop your soft skills ... yes you can.

This is exactly the kind of workshops the British Council Global Trainer Network focus on around the world, we do have access to brilliant material and trainers provide these modules to teachers but also to school leaders, as I have done in Mexico in December last year.

Someone may say it is too soon to know if there is a real impact, but we would like to believe, that it is very true and tangible, with the right motivation, energy and adapting/adjusting traditional ways of presenting our lessons to school children or university students, we can definitely find a way forward.

So, in short, I trust soft skills or core skills can be teachable indeed. Paraphrasing Aristotle "We are what we repeatedly do ... excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit".