Class Reflection #1-

When observing the current school system, many concerns are often repeated: Student Anxiety, Teacher Burnout and Assessment Difficulties. These concerns point me in the direction that something about the education system needs to be tweaked, not a full overhaul as I think that’s unreasonable and not feasible. I do think however that by implementing more inquiry based learning such as in High Tech High, it at least remedies some of these issues by shifting towards student agency, well-being, and critical thinking. I am very interested to see how a similar school operates on our upcoming fieldtrip to observe the pros, and potential drawbacks it may have.

Now what do we do once we have the idea to change the system? It would be almost impossible to overhaul the system within 1? 3? 10? years as it wouldn’t just be changing the curriculum content. A change in almost all education systems in Canada would be needed from elementary schools, all the way to teachers education programs so that the students would be able to seamlessly transition from system to system. Along with this issue, each teacher, and each subject is different and requires different approaches. A science class might find it harder to transition to a full inquiry system as sometimes its necessary for the students to have a test of knowledge. You may also see pushback from those who think our current pedagogy is working, or from parents accustomed to the current pedagogy.

Lastly I want to examine Lesson Plans vs. Learning Plans. A Lesson Plan like a GPS with a strict route, it tells the teacher exactly what to say and do every minute of the class. The big advantage is that it’s super organized and makes sure you check off everything the school requires. The con, though, is that it doesn’t leave much room for detours. If a student gets stuck or wants to take a detour, the GPS just keeps yelling at you to get back on track. On the other hand, a Learning Plan is more like a map with a destination but no set path. The advantage is that students get to help pick how they get there, which makes them way more interested in the trip and leaves room for self exploration. The con is that it’s a lot more work for the teacher to manage and when schools have deadlines, its hard to ensure each student will reach their destination by the end of the term.

Resource found at: https://kathleenmcclaskey.com/personalization-vs-differentiation-vs-individualization-chart/