#isrosemao

Last week, three members of my PLC and I visited the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII) in Victoria, BC.  What an amazing place! It's probably what solidified our plans to actually figure out the logistics of our proposed whole-grade inquiry on water.

The school is one big open space with smaller break-out rooms around it. There are learners' inquiry maps posted on every wall; there is a schedule of all the seminars for the coming weeks (learners choose to attend only the ones they need); there is a kitchen where learners can create recipes and cook; there is a workshop for building things; there is a dress-makers work space; there is a 3D printer, for goodness sake!  The thing that has the most impact though is that the learners have a ton of freedom to move and work where they wish.

And, don't get me wrong: teens are still teens. Not all learners were "on task" all the time, but ALL of them recognized that they eventually did have to document something about their learning. Everything that we talk about as educators when it comes to 21st century learning and best practise exits at PSII... self-regulation is an understatement.

I had the opportunity to chat with two learners: one is in "Grade 11" doing podcasts on pop-culture connections to literary classics; the other one is in "Grade 9" whose inquiry centres around the Heroes of WWII.  Both were able to tell me what curricular outcomes their inquiry met. The Grade 9 boy said:

"Part of my inquiry is fulfilling some History 12 outcomes; the way I'm choosing to present everything is covering Information Technology; and because I've decided to actually do the training program the military does, I'm doing my DPA (Daily Physical Activity, a ministry requirement at each grade level)."

I was struck by the incredibly purposeful and completely personalized learning going on, and by the absence of any desire amongst the learners for a letter grade or a percentage.  In fact, when I asked Jeff Hopkins, the founder of PSII about how the report card looks, he told me the percentages arrive out of a conference with each learner and all the learners know that they will be assessed on the learning outcomes they fulfill and how deeply they fulfill them.  Learners are responsible for documenting all their learning electronically, via Quio.

There are so many more anecdotes I can share, but maybe the twitter feed of our experience is better "real time" reading. Check #isrosemao.  Rose Pillay, a consultant with the CISVA liased with Jeff to arrange the visist - the hashtag is a tribute to some of her wise words.