Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry

Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII) amazed me. I had no idea we have independent schools like PSII here in Victoria. I had always thought things like this were more often found in large cities where they have larger populations, therefore, more people interested in non-traditional learning. PSII lets students decide what they would like to learn and focus on throughout the year. The teachers help students create inquiry questions and organizes the school year around what the students want to research and learn. This concept still amazes me even after watching the documentary on High Tech High. I am so happy to be able to join the teaching field during a time when we are finally trying to move away from traditional learning.

During Jeff Hopkin’s video he talks about the students’ second step during their inquiry projects, which has students doing things to work on their inquiry either out in the community or within the school. Having students work collaboratively with community members or other students in the school is also involved in this stage of their inquiry. What amazes me is how students are given actual time to do this type of work. Usually, hands-on learning comes at the very end of a unit or not at all, especially in highschools. I have always found elementary schools to be more versed in hands-on learning and then once students get to high school everyone is just watching the teacher flip through slides and taking notes that they will forget after their test. I really do hope more schools like PSII and HTH become normalized within my lifetime, I would love to eventually have some experience working in such a school but until then I will work to incorporate inquiry into my own classrooms. I know that our traditional schooling systems only really benefit a certain type of learner and I think it is very important we have more options available as the years go on and as we learn more about different learning styles.

I really enjoyed his Ted Talk and just wanted to insert it here so I would be able to find it easily in the future.

Educational Tech Resources

This week in class we went over more resources which I wanted to discuss a bit further. One of the last things we talked about in class this week was the first thing I wanted to bring up. We discussed how while textbooks and paper resources are wonderful you are not able to search within them. This is probably the point that made me realize how outdated paper resources really are. While we can look things up in the glossary or table of contents, those are both things which take time and then half the time you don’t even find what you are looking for and then the whole process starts again. Our world is moving and learning at too fast of a pace for paper resources to continue being the main resource within classrooms. Within online textbooks, you are able to search for what you are looking for and you can be taken directly where you needed in a matter of seconds, this is more up to speed. As the world evolves teachers are left with more and more work which is why, to us, time is everything. As Earth keeps spinning around the Sun the human race gains more knowledge and we are expected to teach it all to the new generation although the one problem is that time doesn’t stop so yes, every second is valuable.

Another resource I would like to discuss is Youtube. I know within my first couple of years of teaching I will definitely have to create a Youtube channel where I can create a reservoir of resources for my students. I do think it is very important for students to be able to rewatch lessons online even at the elementary level. Think about all the sick days you took in elementary school or all the days your brain just wasn’t focussed and there was no way for you to be able to reel it in. I want to use Youtube as a resource because I want my students to recognize that I see them as people who have challenging days and need some extra help or time every once in a while. This also becomes an amazing resource for students who almost understood what was discussed in class but just want to recap it while doing homework. This can become an amazing resource for parents as well if they are trying to help their child with homework and just need someone to explain it to them. We also learned about how you can send links of youtube videos that start at a certain point in the video. This could be a super handy tool as a lot of the time we don’t need the whole video. Students can also slow down or speed up our videos on youtube. If I were making a lecture-type video and students needed to take notes on it I would recommend that they slow it down so that they are able to write as they listen without having to pause it all the time.

Teachers of TikTok

You asked for it so here it is. I did a dive into teacher TikTok tonight just to see what I could find and what was actually helpful. Also, I hope you’re ready to watch a bunch of TikToks because I found too many good ones that I just had to share.

This is probably so far my very favourite classroom management skill I have come across. I know anytime my elementary school teachers would say they had a really good student in mind I always thought it was me. This definitely seems like a strategy that would work.

I thought this was a great lesson that should be included especially in primary grades! Creating a short lesson on things such as cooperation sets the tone for your classroom and shows kids you will hold them accountable.

I realize this lesson is for high school students but I truly thought this lesson was perfect. It is also a great example of how TikTok can be an educational resource.

Found this TikTok which reminded me of just how much children throw up. I will be honest I am not excited for this part of elementary school teaching but I will definitely remember to remind my students about this at the beginning of the year.

I have noticed this type of TikTok quite a lot while looking through everything. I think doing daily affirmations with your class to boost their confidence is such an important idea. Showing your class that you believe they are strong, smart, good looking, and also want them to believe it as well can help create a positive environment for students (even though this teacher’s environment is online).

This video includes some really fun attention grabbers. I personally used the shark bait one all summer long with my kiddos and they enjoyed it quite a bit. It grabs everyone’s attention on a positive note rather than yelling at them.

This seemed like such a great strategy to ensure you are able to check student understanding and it encourages students to stay focused on their work during class in hopes of getting a prize.

Students spend most of their time at school. The place is already scary enough and sometimes they just need to be able to feel comfortable to thrive in class. Creating a bin or drawers which all students have access to can make them feel like the classroom really is a safe space for them. This is the type of thing I would set up in my classroom and ensure everyone knows they do not need to ask to take anything right at the beginning of the schoolyear.

Lastly, this was way too funny not to share. Also, if I can convince my students to do this I probably will.

Anyways, as you can see TikTok is a great resource and there is a great community of teachers on there. Also a lot of the teaching videos I found have millions of views, it is nice to see how supported teachers are on TikTok. These videos also only barely scratched the surface, I found a teacher who does 60-second lessons to cover what she did in class that day for her students to watch at home and plenty more. I am excited to see what videos the algorithm puts on my “for you page” tomorrow after I just spent like an hour on teacher TikTok liking and sharing a bunch of videos.

That’s all for this week! Thanks for reading!

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