In the beginning of today’s class we got the hear from guest speaker, Jeff Hopkins about the school he started, Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. This school is focused on allowing students to determine what they learn and how they learn it. It reminds me a bit of High Tech High with the fluidity of class schedules and the direct focus on students preferences.

As someone who likes having an organized schedule and an exact day by day plan, at first this structure of a school scared me a bit. As educators, we are required to teach various subjects and concepts developed in the curriculum. I worried that by not having required times and classes, students at PSII would not be meeting the requirements needed to graduate. What Jeff explained that helped ease my worries a bit was explaining that students are still accomplishing what they need to, but in a way and timeframe that fits their schedules. For example, in math class, rather than having a course that runs 4 days a week for an entire semester, students can go to as many classes as they need to get any help while working through the material when it works for them. There seems to be a ton of one-on-one support at this school as well which means that even if a student can’t attend a “class” they can still attend one of the drop-by hours or meet up with the math teacher another time.

Another benefit of PSII is that students can focus their learning on a topic(s) that they are actually passionate about. The amount of times I have completed a project because it was required not because I actually was interested in what it was on, is far too much to count. PSSI avoids this by allowing students the freedom to choose their inquiry topic and then guide them along as they work towards completing it. Through this method, learning becomes more quality based than just quantity. Core competencies are still met but more focus is put on the actual “knowing” and understanding not just “knowing about”. When students are more interested, they become more engaged, which leads to a deeper understanding of the subject, themselves, and their surroundings.