The document discusses several skills that are important for students to develop, including the ability to apply knowledge to new situations, create and innovate, be continuous learners, find humor, listen with empathy, and manage impulsivity. Each section provides an example of how a teacher can help nurture these skills, such as assigning journal entries about real-world inferences, having students illustrate literature, giving examples of lifelong learning, using humor like comics to introduce topics, doing perspective-taking activities, and establishing classroom rules around turn-taking and planning.

1. The Ability to Apply Knowledge to New
Situations
Students should be able to draw on previous
experiences and learning, and apply this
knowledge to real-life situations. Common Core
Standards include the target of making
connections between classroom learning and
real-world situations. An example of this would be to analyze
characters in literature by making inferences about what a text says,
and observing a person’s behavior and making inferences about their
character. I always try to find ways to help students connect their lives
with what we are talking about in the classroom; I would assign a
journal entry for students to give examples of how they have made
inferences about someone they have met, such as a new teacher.

2. Creating, Imagining, and
Innovating
Students should feel free to
create new products and to innovate new ways of doing things. This is
possible in every subject and at every grade level. In my classroom, I
would have students do things such as write poetry or short stories, or
to illustrate a literary work, for instance. This is an important skill and
one that must be nurtured and teachers should use a variety of
instructional methods and techniques that appeal to different learning
styles.

3. Continuous Learners
Students need to be aware that technology
has created a world that requires us all to
be able to function in a global society. This
means that we must be willing to be open
to new learning, and to seek new learning
opportunities throughout our lives. In the classroom, I give students
examples of teachers who have sought multiple certifications, so that
there are many options available. Teachers also seek Master’s degrees
or board certification, and many people continue education as adults so
that they can change to completely new careers.

4. Finding Humor
Humor makes students more creative and
requires higher-order thinking skills. Teachers
can use humor in the classroom by finding
creative ways to introduce new skills, such as
showing a film clip or an editorial cartoon on the
topic or by having students to express their learning
by drawing a comic strip or cartoon. I use websites
such as gocomics.com to find comics that relate to
the topic I am teaching.

5. Listening with Understanding and Empathy
Empathetic behaviors are the opposite of
egotistical behaviors. According to psychologists,
listening with understanding and empathy is among
the highest forms of intelligent behavior. This
includes listening to others and the ability to view a
situation from the point of view of others. The ability to empathize is an
important skill that enables us to “walk in another person’s shoes”. I
have an activity that involves giving students cards that detail a
situation, such as a teen pregnancy, and having them respond from a
specific person’s point of view, such as that of the teen father-to-be.

6. Managing Impulsivity
All humans start life with no impulse control. As
we age, most people gain the ability to control
our impulses so that we think before we speak or
act. Acting impulsively creates conflict and makes
existing conflict worse. Students beginning school learn to walk in line
rather than running and to raise a hand before speaking. These
behaviors are precursors to behaviors such as thinking before
answering a question or planning and pre-writing before writing an
essay or short story. I require that students follow rules such as waiting
their turn before speaking so that classroom discussions are possible,
and to plan and pre-write before beginning assignments.