Aha! Moment

Today as I was leaving my externship I ran into a former student of mine who is going to be a junior in high school (wow how time flies!) I was glad to see Nick and noticed that he actually is employed at Hy-Vee part-time and works nights. This student and I had great rapport with each other so I took the time to let him know what I was doing at Hy-Vee and asked him how school was and life in general. I also decided to take the opportunity to ask Nick about how he was able to get his job. Nick was a sophomore at the time he had gotten hired. He began to tell me how important it was for him to have what us teachers would call employability skills. He said it was important for him to have good grades, be kind courteous and know how to work with other people. I had an immediate Aha! moment. This is why it is so important for those 21st century skills to be included in the Iowa Core. Ive had many of my 7th graders tell me they want to start working soon, but they are not aware that potential employees look for them to have good grades, be well rounded and also show that they can work well with others. I try to always emphasis with my students that they must possess these skills in order to work at a job one day. It was great for me to see that one of my former students had taken advantage of the information and was able to get a part-time job while in high school. It is awesome to see when former students are doing so well.