The first week and a half of this program has been fast-paced and thought-provoking! One of the most memorable times was watching the documentary “Most Likely to Succeed”, which profiles High Tech High (trailer here). High Tech High is a school that has reimagined the traditional classroom and created a heavy focus on student-led inquiry.

I have done a lot of reading around inquiry in the past, but I had never seen it in action quite like in this film. The documentary helped to illustrate the excitement that was generated around the student’s projects and the meaningful growth that resulted. The projects encapsulated the idea of authentic assessment for me; rather than writing a test or a paper that had no real impact, these students were creating something real in the world that would be showcased to a large audience. The result was clear: they were fully invested.

Watching the documentary, I couldn’t help but think how I would have responded in such an environment. My school experience was more traditional, and I mostly learned how to be a decent test-taker and paper-writer. In university, these skills helped me, but I lacked confidence to participate in discussions during seminars, and found myself learning in order to do well in the class, not for any intrinsic excitement or interest it brought me. It was only years later that I began to discover a genuine love of learning, and I wonder what role the public education system played in that. Perhaps if I had been at High Tech High, I would have discovered passions and strengths in myself that I didn’t know were there.
 

It is that potential for wonder and excitement that is so powerful about this approach to education. I had a wonderful professor, Garfield Gini-Newman, who is an expert in inquiry-based learning and believes deeply in the educator’s role to ignite wonder in their students. His TED Talk is here and I would recommend to anyone who wants to learn of others taking similar approaches.
 

What seems to be the primary tension of this “High Tech High” style of education is the unfortunate reality that post-secondary institutions are not set up in the same way. A number of students as well as a mother expressed concern that they would not be properly prepared for college admissions. It is sad to think that a major obstacle is the rigidness of post-secondary institutions. I thought it would be interesting to hear how the students in the documentary fared after leaving high school, but unfortunately could not find a follow-up piece.

I tried to boil down some of the lessons I’m taking away from this film:

  1. Critically question what is important to teach
  2. Live with teaching less if it means going deeper
  3. Create authentic assessments for students that will drive their internal motivation for their work
  4. Create a culture in which mistakes are learning opportunities