It seems most people, pick up soft skills organization, planning, studying, without explicit instruction. By the time a student gets to college, she should be an independent learner. When are these skills learned? In HS? Before that?
What about the kid who doesn't acquire these skills organically? Whose responsibility is it to teach them? It seems that most people will fall back on "you are XX years old, you should be able to....". This would be nice, if it were true, but just having the conversation is a good indicator that it's not.
What about the kid who is so bright she doesn't need to be organized and/or study? Eventually she will need these skills and won't have had any opportunity for practice.
I've seen HS study skills classes, but they don't seem terribly effective. I don't think you can teach or learn study skills in a vacuum. But how can a content teacher also teach soft skills?
My naive ideas:
- learning journals--have everyone write about their learning and hope they start to make connections between effective techniques and success. Even the brightest can reflect on their process.
- rewrites--redo assignments to improve/correct them. I think this also gives an opportunity for differentiation--those who have mastered the material can extend it.
If a student has gotten to an advanced point in her studies without mastering the soft skills, berating her for her lack is pointless--a teacher must find a way to help her develop the skills while also learning the content.
Don't say, 'You're XX years old, you should be able to ."
Say, "You need to learn to and here is how I will help."
This looks like a job for Geek Woman!
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