Effective relationships are paramount to success in the workplace and in one’s personal life. However, schools do little systematically to help students know how to build and maintain effective relationships. Here are the topics Prensky (see January 9 Sustaining the Journey) suggests be included in a relationship curriculum.

Communication and Collaboration

One-to-one

In teams

In a family

In a community

At work

Online

Relationship-building

Empathy

Ethics

Politics

Citizenship

Negotiation

Conflict Resolution

The fourth pillar of his proposed curriculum is Effective Accomplishment. This is directly connected to effective relationships, but it adds value by having students work on real problems that they can solve collectively based on the environment they live in. Even young children seek meaningful work where their efficacy is built because they see they can make a difference and have control of their environments. Project-based learning is one way to move toward this kind of curriculum. Kids could leave school, Prensky offers, with not just a transcript of grades, but with a resume of accomplishments.

As you reflect on your own education, how did it support you in having effective relationships and feeling a sense of accomplishment? How do your schools do that today? What might we rethink our work so that students would graduate with skill and knowledge of relationship building? What are some ways we could truly give kids the opportunities to have meaningful accomplishments? What is considering this kind of curriculum worth to you?

Source: Prensky, Marc. “The world needs a new curriculum.” Educational Technology. May-June 2014. http://marcprensky.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Prensky-5-The-World_Needs_a_New_Curriculum.pdf