Message from the ISEEN Board Chair - Charlie Noyes
Now in my fourth decade of teaching at a well-resourced and intellectually challenging independent school, I can recall many conversations with colleagues that revolved around our concerns over what we were and were not teaching our students. When we transcended the specifics of our respective disciplines and honestly questioned the practical depth and functional “value-added” of our classroom teaching, we wondered out loud just how effectively we were preparing our young charges to meet the demands of a rapidly evolving world. Academically we were covering our bases quite well, but to what extent were we building in and teaching such things as common sense, reasoning & logic, tenacity, effective communication & cooperation skills, and grit – concepts now annoyingly referred to as 21st century soft skills.