What is an Educated Person?

At Nordale School the staff and students have taken the time to discuss and debate the concept of what are the qualities and attributes of an Educated Person?

While a simple Google search can give lots of definitions and examples there are many skills and traits not listed that help to make a person a contributing member of society. For example, one definition reads; "An Educated Person is rational and reasonable. They have the ability to reason analytically and critically. They have the ability to think clearly and independently and have good judgement. They know how to acquire knowledge and skills and make productive use of it."

From the above definition you can see there are technical learning skills, but it says nothing about the social/people skills that help to round out the person. Generosity, Empathy, Caring, Concern for the Environment are critical pieces that help to ensure that the students of today can be engaged citizens of tomorrow.

At Nordale we used the analogy of the North Star, that beacon to strive for as our launch point with the 5 points of the star symbolizing the traits of the Life Long Learner, we call an Educated Person. In identifying those traits, the school year was broken down into five eight-week blocks with a focus on each trait during that span.

While the technical skills and attitudes of an Educated Person are important, the staff at Nordale School felt strongly that as a Life Long Learner an Educated Person who displays: Responsibility, Curiosity, Confidence, Empathy and Problem-Solving abilities, will be well equipped to meet the educational and social responsibilities for a student at Nordale. To aid in that journey the staff committed to an intervention strategy that identified lagging skills, be it social emotional or academic, with a focus on building resiliency to assist in catch up.

Through continued use of the writing project, numeracy assessments and activities, students slowly begin to develop confidence which is the first step of the journey to the Educated Person.

A new year brings new goals and a renewed focus on our learning journey. The new LRSD Multi Year Strategic Plan will help Nordale and all schools continue to examine the relationships between student learning and teacher efficacy as we all continue to look to the future and the society in which our students will be engaged and active in defining. What better place for an Educated Person to be?