Dr. John Abbott spoke to
the combined staffs of Quamichan, Mt. Prevost middles and Cowichan Secondary in
lieu of our monthly staff meetings last week. As expected, the feedback was
mixed with some people liking his approach, others not as much. That said, his
talk on "Personalized Learning" was a success in my mind based on the
number of conversations I had with different people coming from different
angles in the days that followed. This got me thinking, are the barriers to
making some significant changes breaking down?
Firstly is the
willingness of teachers to look at curriculum differently. This process has
been evolving slowly for many years, contrary to those who say we are in the
same schools from 1950's. While the buildings may look similar on the outside,
the pedagogy, programs and expectations on the inside are much, much different.
Kids are given opportunity to work at different rates and skill levels as
structures like the IEP (Individual Education Plan) have become a regular part
of practice.
The expectations of
parents is the next important step. The default position of most parents is to
want school to look like it was for them, especially when their experience with
school was a positive one. This is where the tension between experimenting with
the system to make potential improvements can conflict with the parents' view
of "thats great, but I don't want chances taken with my kid's
education". So how does the system take chances without damaging
individuals along the way?
The answer is not to
"blow up the system" but to give the freedoms to make changes a bit
at a time. If we are leaving Math and Science stable, could we combine English
and Socials as an experiment? The integrated curriculum could free up time to
go deeper into concepts while building skills, and if it works we continue if
it doesn't then we rework the concept. If we had done that with the whole
program, any problems would lead for calls to abandon all of the changes.
Could we look at
delivering electives in a package format where the kids naturally rotate
between disciplines as opposed to a rigid 8 to 10 week time period? The package
could be Stage Craft where 80-90 students are assigned to three teachers who
will split them up into Drama, Wood Work and Art to create a big production
with acting, set design, back drop and lighting. The school Yearbook could
again be structured the same as kids move between Computer Studies,
Photography, Creative Writing and Art. Music, Video and Technology can be
worked into kids learning to play instruments, produce recordings and create
music videos that could be posted. Does Marketing fit into any of these
projects?
In this case, the
"boiled frog" analogy can be a positive one. Regular, graduated
changes can lead us to one day waking up to the realization that the system
around us has fundamentally and permanently changed for the better.
