2020-2021 Soft Skills Educator Cooperative: Mining Solutions from a Rocky Year
The 2020-2021 school year may not have been easy or smooth, and it was least of all predictable. Even during such a demanding and unpredictable year, a growing number of NOLA-PS educators are embracing the importance of developing their students' soft skills as well as their academic knowledge.
What are Soft Skills, Really?
Soft skills, as we know them, are the transferable skills and habits that lead to success in any setting-- i.e., planning, clear communication, and problem solving among others. YouthForce NOLA and many of our collaborators use the MHA Labs Framework for soft skills because it is research-backed and vetted for cultural bias. Students with more developed soft skills have richer experiences in career training, internships, and other career exploration opportunities. “The ability to own and utilize these skills give our students the keys to succeed in a wide range of workforce readiness opportunities,” explains Nathan Stockman, former principal and Director of Learning Design at YouthForce NOLA.
““The ability to own and utilize these skills gives our students the keys to succeed in a wide range of workforce readiness opportunities” ”
Expanding Educator Capacity
The Soft Skills Educator Cooperative (commonly called ‘The SSCOOP’) is one of YouthForce NOLA’s most important programs for building adult capacity for soft skill development. Rahmel Fuller has been leading this work for the last three years, and has had the opportunity to work with over 35 educators at 11 schools, impacting over 1,600 unique students.
This year, four dedicated Orleans educators led the work of the SSCOOP. Our dedicated SSCOOP members worked on three campuses, covered everything from core academic subjects to CTE content and did so in distance, hybrid, and in-person classrooms.
Andrea Spreter Warren Easton, Quest for Success
Annalee Jackson: Livingston Collegiate, Junior Success
Kyle Smith: Livingston Collegiate, Social Studies
Shea Turner: Dwight Eisenhower (InspireNOLA), ELA
The SSCOOP’s main objective was to share strategies and practices for integrating soft skills practice into their lessons. The results of their collective work was innovative, shareworthy, and timely given how much the shifting learning environments forced students to rely on their soft skills in addition to their content knowledge.
What Students Are Saying
The Soft Skills Educator Cooperative showcase took place on May 6th, and was a heartwarming celebration of the work and impact in these schools and classrooms. Several students spoke candidly about the unique challenges of this past school year and how incorporating soft skill development was an empowering benefit.
“I feel like now that I’ve been in this class… I’m able to tell someone what I want, what I need, what I expect from them, and what I know without feeling ashamed or feeling out of place”
– Nala, Warren Easton Student
“The focus on soft skills… I really liked that and I saw the difference it made…. My classmates, we’ve talked about this before actually. Teachers are giving us the words that we couldn’t put our finger on. Like, ‘Oh, that sounds familiar. I have that skill! I can name that.”
– Gabriela, Livingston Collegiate Student
Soft Skills Design Team Presents at 2021 Teacher-Leader Summit
This May, the YouthForce NOLA Learning design team took their workshop to the 2021 Teacher Leader Summit held at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center. Over 2,000 educators from across Louisiana took part in the marquee professional development opportunity. Nathan Stockman and Rahmel Fuller had the privilege of delivering three sessions on the critical components of Soft Skill Building Practices to over 100 educators. Educators engaged in discussions and activities around the following topics:
What are Soft Skills and why are they so important?
Strengths Based Philosophy
Planning your Skill Building through Skill Targeting
Assessment and Growth through Effective Feedback Strategies
One educator remarked, “[This is] great information that I plan to utilize next year. I really like the way YouthForce organizes ‘soft skills’ and the strategies they used in this session to teach students those skills. I'm really interested in attending future trainings.”
For educators interested in joining our Soft Skills Movement, join us this July for a Virtual Introduction to Soft Skills Workshop! Register here.