Notes from Dr. Irvin
Your WGHS Weekly eNews for April 6
Hello WGHS Families,
FUTUREPROOF: 9 Rules for Humans in the Age of Automation by Kevin Roose is a book that has a fairly optimistic view of the clash between rising technology and humanity--think "Terminator 2." It offers some pointed suggestions to combat the wave of technology, much of it rooted in skills schools can greatly impact. In addition to the suggestions around discrete skills, he suggests habits of mind and dispositions, buoyed by the call of “maintaining humane values (empathy) in an age of new machines.”
Below is a list from Kathryn Hume's blog on Education in the Age of AI that mirrors some of the Roose’s suggestions and details some skills that will be in demand for future workforce:
Flexibility and Adaptability
A one-trick pony will not stay relevant long, disruption as we have all experienced will demand a level of malleability. The need to access resources (increasingly via technology) will allow future workers to “embrace the need to constantly learn to stay relevant.” This has certainly been reinforced through and beyond the pandemic.
Interdisciplinary Application
Climate change, gun policy, and most issues we face are complex and multi-dimensional. Understanding the science of climate change is a start, but working in fields of impact such as the economy and government must also be addressed. Work will demand not a siloed approach but “various disciplines (with) different prisms that refracted a unified whole.” Last week I visited EDGE at Liberty HS near Kansas City to see students using additional fields (art, ELA, etc) to demonstrate their understanding of a math concept. How they approached their learning demonstrated their ability to use their minds well to connect and express ideas.
Framing Qualitative Ideas as Quantitative Problems
The need exists for using quantitative reasoning to address problems and rationally determine a myriad of entrepreneurial or industry decisions. Connecting to mathematical evidence to allow workers and companies to wisely move from “strategy to tactical execution.”
What is our role in this?
Technology and its reach have done more to disrupt than to cause a typhoon in the economy for both repetitive manual labor and repetitive cognitive labor. It surely had a role in fostering the fissures in our culture rooted in vast disinformation and its reach via social media. The Next Generation Science Standards ask students to apply scientific content and to connect knowledge across scientific fields into a scientifically-based understanding of their world. Critical thinking and other depth of knowledge Level 3 or 4 tasks that have students “consider explanation, interpretation, application, perspective, empathy, and self-knowledge” are needed across our curriculum. In English, students read Frederick Douglass' “What to the slave, is the Fourth of July,” James Baldwin book excerpts, and Ta-Nehisi Coates Atlantic article, "The Case for Reparations." Students should consider what is similar and different in historical context, cultural response to the work, and general arguments or limitations. Tasks such as these would go far to support students' deep thinking around their roles as a citizens of a new economy and old democracy, both of which we can impact as a school. As a parent, asking in conversation, “What makes you think that?,” "What supports your perspective?," or general discussion around complex problems in between TikToks can helpful as well!
Best,
Matt Irvin
Senior Parents: Now's Your Chance to Buy the ECHO Senior Ad
Here is your chance to congratulate your favorite senior by placing an ad in the May 2023 SENIOR issue of the echo. Click on the button below to place an order (we also accept camera ready ads and photos). If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at 963-6400 ext. 11157 or wgecho@wgmail.org. *All mailed photos will be returned when we are finished.
The ads are due by Monday, April 24. Sample Ads can be seen here
Payments can be mailed to Echo Newspaper, Webster Groves High School, 100 Selma Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63119.
Size (on page) and Special Senior Ad prices:
- 1/16 $25
- 1/8 $40
- 1/4 $60
- 1/2 $100
- Full $175
Click the link below to order your Senior Ad.
News from the Chelsea Center: WGHS’ In-house Experiential Learning Center
Anytown 7/23/23-7/29/23
The Anytown Leadership Institute, a program of NCCJ St. Louis, is a unique 7-day residential program for high-school-aged youth. Anytown's goal is to prepare youth to be effective leaders and change agents who are dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and oppression. Youth participate in experiential learning activities and dialogue sessions designed to increase their understanding of human relations issues and of their own responsibility to create a community based on inclusion, trust, and mutual respect. The Chelsea Center can provide funding for up to 3 students selected for this program who are also willing to simultaneously enroll in a Chelsea Center course.
Looking for other experiences?
If your child is looking to explore a passion area or career, have them visit the Chelsea Center to learn more about local opportunities, ways they might earn credit for engaging in these opportunities, and potential funding available to support experiential learning in the summer as well! Students can access wgsd.givepulse.com with their school Gmail account information to explore upcoming experiences as well.
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Webster Groves High School
Email: erb.mickey@wgmail.org
Website: hs.webster.k12.mo.us
Location: 100 Selma Avenue, Webster Groves, MO, USA
Phone: (314) 963-6400
Facebook: facebook.com/WGAlumni
Twitter: @WebsterGrovesHS