Author: lboucher (Page 4 of 4)

Hello fellow bloggers!

Today, my EDCI 336 class had the opportunity to visit the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry located in Downtown Victoria. Upon arrival, I had no idea what to expect. My first thought was that I thought it was odd having a school in the heart of downtown. Can students just go off to the mall during lunch? Is it dangerous to be in an area where some dangerous affaires take place? I am not sure.

My peers and I sat down in a classroom and we listened to principle Jeff Hopkins explain how the school works. Basically, the 96 students at this school learn at their own pace, learn whatever they want to learn, whenever they want to learn it. Learning is taught mostly through self-guided inquiry projects and is supported by the teachers. There is no set schedule, routine, or structure. It is all up to the individual student to decide what his/her week will look like and what they will accomplish. Students can choose to work collaboratively, individually, and with or without teacher help.

My first thought when Jeff was explaining the school system was “what about if students want to go in the Sciences for Post Secondary Education, how do they learn Chemistry 12 or Physics 12 to get themselves ready for University level science courses through self-guided inquiry projects?” Jeff Hopkins answered my question by stating that the learning in the school in not strictly taught through self-guided inquiry projects. There are time slots where students can choose to go to certain “sessions” such as Math, physics, or any necessary academic class needed to graduate high school. This now made much more sense to me and reassured me that the students attending PSII are learning information needed for some post secondary schools.

I really enjoyed this visit. It really opened my eyes as to how learning can be done. It does not have to always be done the standard way where teachers stand in front of the classroom and students simply sit and listen. It can be engaging, self-drawn, and interesting. Although I do thing PSII is not flawless, I do believe it allows for students to make their learning journey their own unique journey and as a teacher, there is no better feeling than that. In my future classrooms, I definately want to incorporate self-guided inquiry projects into my teaching.

See you guys next week!

LOBO

Hello fellow bloggers!

Today in class, we watched a super interesting documentary called “RiP A Manifesto Remix” and we also learnt about Creative Commons.

I learned a lot today in my Tech class.  “Creative commons was born to set culture free” (RiP Remix Manifesto Remix, 2008). It allows artists/producers of any sort to distribute work that anybody can build on, remix, etc without any copyright allegations. I find creative commons a very interesting and beneficial license. It allows for people to be creative and work collaboratively to make songs, articles, etc.  Our society is a society that works and builds off of each other. Without one another, we could not survive. Therefore, why is it so harmful using somebody’s beat in a song, remixing it, and making music for other people to enjoy? Personally if I were an artist, I would be honoured and humbled to know that people are using my beats for their own use. I just do not see the problem. OER’s are a great example of a Creative Common. As a future teacher, this is an excellent resource for me. I will be able to use resources without having any fear of stealing somebody else’s work and getting copyrighted.  As a teacher, what more could I ask for?

In other news, I wanted to talk a bit about Twitter. Personally, I have a twitter account. I never tweet, I only use it to follow my favourite celebrities and I always take the time to look at whats “trending” as I enjoy keeping up with the news in one way or another. I never thought of using Twitter professionally however, I am not closed to the idea.

Here is a link to the documentary “RiP A Remix Manifesto” we watched in class: https://www.nfb.ca/film/rip_a_remix_manifesto/

Hi, fellow bloggers!

Today, I sit and wonder: Do we need to re-imagine education? My answer to this question is both yes AND no. Why?

Education is forever evolving. Picture the education system 100 years ago. Curriculum was not even a thing in schools, boys and girls were not treated the same, there were unqualified teachers, little to no hands-on work and so much more that is different from our education today. Is our education system perfect today? Absolutely not. We constantly have to be re-evaluating our education system because if we do not, we will never evolve or grow as a society. After watching the documentary “Most Likely to Succeed”, I realize just how different each around the world school is. There are so many schools with so many different ways of teaching and educating. Imagine if all schools worked together and bounced ideas off of each other. Could we form the perfect school? No school has the perfect education system. There are pros and cons to all ways of teaching. This is why it is SO important to always re-imagine our education system.

This question reminded me of a quote I really appreciate. It is “never forget where you came from, but never lose sight of where you are going” (unknown author). We must never forget how far we have come with our education system, however we must never stop imagining where we can take it.

What do you think?

Laurence (AKA LOBO)

Today in my first in my technology class, I created my first ever blog page.  At first, I was terrified. Technology and I are not exactly best friends.  I usually get frustrated an give up quickly when technology gives me any kind of trouble.  I am trying to be optimistic and view this technology class as an opportunity to grow and expand in an area I am not too fond of.  Will I be able to succeed in this class and expand my knowledge of technology? Hopefully in this blog post, I will be able to track my learning and reflect on my learning experience. I think a blog post can be very useful for any type of project, including inquiry projects. It is a good way to track your progress and it is a good way to ensure you do not fall behind, which i very useful.

Making a blog page was surprisingly straight forward. Although it did take a few minutes for my password to be emailed to my UVic email, it went pretty smoothly. I am excited to design my site and make it aesthetically pleasing for me and my audience.

To answer this burning question, making a blog page was a pleasing experience. Will it always be pleasing? I can not answer that question. If I had to guess, I would say that no, it will not always be pleasing but, nothing worth it in life comes easy!

See you next week for my next blog post,

Lboucher