The Four C’s:

The four C’s consists of the terms Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, and Creativity. These four terms are considered to be the skills that the students of the 21st Century need/posses.  In one of my courses this was a topic we discussed and in fact, I already had some background knowledge pertaining to the topic. However after the class discussion, I have learned how effective this concept really is.  If you use all 4 of these terms effectively, there is no way that you will not succeed in whatever you are doing. If you’ve ever heard the term “teamwork makes the dream work”, these terms made that dream possible.  Especially when an individual is working with a group, the whole team needs to keep these 4 terms in mind to have a successful outcome.  Collaboration makes everything go smooth in which every member works together and is pulling their own weight in the assignment.  Communication is what pulls the group together.  Without communicating to one another, the group would fall apart and the task would not be completed successfully.  When the whole group is critically thinking great things can be accomplished by them thinking “outside the box” or finding different and unique ways the task can be tackled.  Creativity allows the group to express themselves in any way they want. They can illustrate their thoughts/ ideas through videos, images/drawings, etc.  

The four C’s concept has really opened my mind up as a future educator.  With this concept, anything seems possible which is why I will use this in my classroom and share with my students.  They will learn what each word means in which they will therefore display their understanding through their group work activities.  I plan on there being a lot of group activities occurring in my classroom since it allows for relationships to occur, new ideas come to surface and so much more positive outcomes. When the whole group uses the four C’s concept, they will ultimately succeed. Not only will my students use this idea, but I will as well.  I have to make sure I am setting my students up for success so therefore, I have to be trying my best in which is where the 4 C’s comes into play.  I will communicate with my students to get an understanding of what they need from me as a teacher.  Collaborating with them allows them to see that they have a say in their education in which we will work together to see what works best for them when learning a new topic.  When teaching new lessons I have to think critically and creatively to make sure they know what is to be done but also make it fun and interesting to keep their attention.  

Not only can this be used in the classroom, but it can be used in other places such as work. I used to work at a pharmacy in which we had to use all of these terms to allow for things to go smoothly.  The techs such as myself had to find the medication, count the pills and label the bottle.  The pharmacist would then come and check behind up, place warning labels on the bottle and would give to the clerk to check the customer out.  With communication, collaboration, critical thinking and creativity, my job would have not been completed as efficiently as it did and we would not have happy customers. 

Overall, I really enjoyed learning more about this topic in class which is why I chose to wrote about it.  I wish I knew more about this sooner in which I would have introduced it to my groups before to ensure a successful outcome. In fact, I even plan on purchasing a poster to hang up in my future classroom so the students will always be reminded to do their best with the help of the four C’s! I am excited to see how my future students use this concept inside and outside the classroom :). I found an awesome article that gave me ideas of how to implement the 4 C’s into my classroom https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-11-19-how-to-champion-the-four-c-s-in-the-classroom

Other Resources:

Check out this GREAT article concerning this topic

Check out this great video to get a more visual/ conceptual understanding of the 4 C’s!