Topic 7 Weekly Reflection – PSII Visit
I was looking forward to this opportunity to visit PSII, but when I got there, it exceeded my expectations completely. The passion that the two principals showed for this way of learning was infectious, and I feel like I learned a lot. The two main things I will discuss is Trello, the tool that they use for organisation, and the motivation and behaviour of students.
Trello
Trello is a tool for organisation that is not only useful for the learner, but can also communicate to a teacher. Students sort tasks by priority, as well as by completeness, moving tasks between unstarted, on the go, and complete. Teachers can track this progress, and it tells them when something is ready to be assessed. This tool is essential for this way of learning because students are in charge of their own topics of inquiry. Students are encouraged to have three inquiries on the go at once. These inquiries can be short two week intensive things or upwards of a full year of learning. This tool allows the timeline of each student to be unique while still staying organized. If I have to teach a course such as careers in the future, I could see myself taking a non-standard approach and using this app.
Behaviour and motivation
I was curious how students behaviour and motivation would be affected by this level of freedom. A cynical side of me thought that students would abuse the freedom, becoming lazy or misbehaved, but the opposite happened. When we arrived at the school, students were occupying the tables quietly and working despite school not starting for another 20 minutes. The principal told us that this wa normal, and they would often have to encourage students to leave at the end of the day so that staff could go home. It is clear that these students are considerably more motivated than their standard school counter parts. As for behaviour, the principal told us that many of their students have a severe behaviour desigation according to the ministry, with many receiving a category H. However, he encouraged us to “try and find them” since their bad behaviour has completely disappeared in this environment. The students are in a supportive environment, and all of the competition that is involved in standard school is removed with the inquiry model, leading to little to no adverse behaviour.
