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Category: Respect For All Learners

Practise respect for all learners from all cultures, including, specifically, Indigenous learners

November 18th, 2019

Today we tried to connect with Verna Roberts but there were issues with her wifi. We spent the first half of the class in the video conference room. Half our class was in a separate room with video technology connecting them. Video conferencing is a great tool that can be used for student accessibility. Technology such as this helps enrolment and could be used more in schools. Face to Face video interactions are important as it allows fast and easy communication. Using video chats allow students and teachers to express themselves easier by using facial expressions and tones. Face to face can allow students to collaborate and actively focus. It is important for students to learn to socialize however this can be done in unconventional ways using technology. 

Should a teachers teaching methods override a students need for technology use? The answer is obviously no. However, technology is one of the grey areas where some teachers may not be wiling to or may not understand how to video chat someone. Teachers may also see a students absence as the student not wanting to learn. This is not the case some students struggle with anxiety, long commutes, or sickness’. Technology can be used in these cases to provide students with the possibility to video chat into class. We were also asked the question: does modality biased exit? The answer is yes, there is a biased for face to face interaction. It is important for students to attend school and participate in their school community but sometimes this isn’t a possibility. 

Schools should be flexible and if a student is accountable and wiling to learn they should be able to participate using technology. This flexibility will influence student engagement. Having solely face to face schooling is limiting learners. For the most part our society has binary thinking when it comes to face to face vs online as if it needs to be one or the other. There is another idea that it could be blended but blended does not meet mobility needs. Schools should be multi-access. This provides students with various learning methods to choose from. It may be individual if you are video chatting alone or it may be a more interactive experience if you are on campus with many others. 

The Second half of the class was spent listening to presentations by peers. There were presentations on google apps, technology for students with disabilities, mindfulness apps and technology for assisted learning. The most exciting part of the class was seeing a bot in action. We learned about the different kinds of robots such as the Bean. The bot was designed to allow students to video chat into lessons.

October 21, 2019

Today our class went to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII) a private school created by Jeff Hopkins. PSII’s s serve as teachers, counsellors and principals helping run the school. The school has a 95 (student) to 7 (educator) ratio which allows the educators to develop a good relationship with their learners. Inquiry is essentially answering an open-ended question that can lead to more questions. It is a personalized learning plan students create on their own to explore a subject in depth. Using inquiry allows the students to learn what they are passionate about. Going to the High school was a super unique experience that I am extremely grateful for as it can change the way I teach my students. Generally speaking the current education system is very structured. Inquiry eliminates the structure and allows for exploration. One of my favourite parts about the high school was the sensory room which was filled with objects directed to calm students. Examples of the sensory toys are fidgets, sensory objects, and weighted blankets.

Inquiry is an amazing concept Trevor Mackenzie along with many others came up with. I was fortunate to have Mr. Mackenzie as a high school teacher where he introduced the idea of inquiry. At first I found the idea very scary as a person who likes structure. I always want to have a more well rounded knowledge base and found it difficult to wrap my head around. At PSII I found it hard to imagine doing a project on ouster space being equivalent of Chemistry 11 although the teacher might ask them to add a section on titration I still don’t see how they would learn everything they would need for university. It was also crazy the students didn’t have blocks or time for lunch they just ate when they wanted to and took breaks when they needed to.

A potential issue with inquiry is that a student may miss key learning points that lead to future understanding in a subject/field. Another possible problem is that elementary school learners may not know what they are passionate about yet or they do know and wont want to learn about other topics. Therefor I see this system potentially fostering ignorance on certain objects. Another potential issue with the program is that if a student doesn’t like a subject an example being math they may not do it or may not be able to do it without specific instruction. The last downside I see is if a student is not motivated to learn they may not be able to work independently without guidelines. One of the biggest challenges with inquiry in the elementary level is you could spend your whole year teaching inquiry to your grade 3 class but then next year their grade 4 teacher will teach without inquiry and students may lose the skill.

I love the anecdotal report card system they use at PSII. Anecdotal report cards describe your progression throughout the year. Students only get a grade at the end of the year. Another positive to this learning style is maximum student engagement as students are passionate about the questions they attempt to answer and use self regulation to do work. I believe this system is super beneficial to teach children critical thinking and creativity skills transferable to future careers. One of my issues going through school is I would always follow the teachers instruction and information without questioning it. It makes me wonder if I grew up with inquiry based learning would be a more independent thinker? I believe if I was teaching inquiry I would use a structured inquiry approach and perhaps tell them to do a project an animal. They can write whatever they want about that animal but give examples (examples are write about the animals habitat or alimentation). Starting with structured inquiry is important as students should be taught using scaffolding. Students will slowly be learning expectations and techniques to complete thier work before throwing them in the deep end of inquiry.

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