I really enjoyed Jeff Hopkins’ guest lecture today. The model at PSII reminds me quite a bit of what we saw in the “Most Likely to Succeed” film. It would be so amazing to work in a place that encourages this student led model. Jeff answered quite a few questions that I’ve had ‘concerns’ with in the past when it comes to student led-inquiry learning. I’ve often been curious with how students get a fully cross-curricular education with this model, and his take on things really helped me understand how this model can work.
I liked that PSII caters to students with different learning needs as well, including those who struggle with their mental health. As someone who has anxiety and struggled with it quite a bit in high school in relation to not being able to fully explore my passions, I would have loved the opportunity to go to a school like PSII.
I’ve witnessed a bit of a non-traditional teaching happen at my placement at Claremont where there are two teachers who co-teach science and social studies. It’s quite interesting to see how they integrate the two topics and their units. I’d like to explore co-teaching as an option for myself in the future if possible.
It was rather disheartening to hear that Jeff has experienced a lot of miscommunication between schools, parents, and the department of education when it comes to introducing a more innovative education model. It seems as though the education department may be avoiding responsibility on implementing a new model as it would be quite a bit of work. I hope to be able to advocate for such a model during my teaching career and possibly be part of a shift in our system.
I also liked his take on the role of technology in the classroom and getting students to research their own tech addictions- this is something I may want to explore in my learning pod for our end of semester project.
