Chapter 1

Chapter 1 in summary, discusses the stark differences between content that is currently being taught in classrooms across America compared to the skills current employers are wanting in their employees. The author conversed with numerous business leaders and asked what they were looking for when hiring new employees. The business leaders replied: 1). we want employees who are capable of asking good questions to identify and solve problems 2). we want employees who are capable communicators - both verbal and written - for the purpose of influencing co-workers who are in various satellite offices 3). we want employees who are able to think on their feet - who are willing to alter their thinking and their responses to continually changing information 4). we want employees who are self-directed and self-motivated to identify and solve problems 5). we want employees who are effective communicators who include 'voice' in written communication 6). we want employees who are able to locate and interpret ever- changing information from multiple sources 7). we want employees who are curious and imaginative. These seven traits are termed the 'Seven Survival Skills'.

A quote that I found interesting from the chapter was, "....what preoccupies many educators, as we will see, are the growing pressures to prepare all students for the increased number of 'high-stakes' standardized tests. They simply don't have time to worry about abstractions like workforce preparedness. They're a lot more worried about their school or district making what's called 'adequate yearly progress' so they're not stigmatized as 'failing'."

This quote directly correlates with my reaction from reading Chapter 1. I feel that I have an understanding now of what 21st century employers are looking for in their employees. I feel that I have an understanding of what millennial students want. I know, also, that schools are not achieving in bridging the achievement gaps - neither gap one nor gap two. BUT how do I bridge the gap in my classroom when I have to focus on getting all of my students to achieve the NCLB requirements to get my school off level 4 improvement? How can I teach my students to synthesize and analyze when some can't decode the words on the page much less draw conclusions from the word's meaning? Is playing the audio version of the text as a modification really preparing them for the future? In later chapters the book indicates that student's should not be pushed into higher order thinking skills until their brains are ready to think at an abstract level - when, developmentally, are student's brains ready to process at this level?