and thank you for the opportunity to
share my story about my vision of the
future of learning which is an
invitation to connect schools to
community I would like to acknowledge
that for 25 years my my work and my life
and my learning has been on the
traditional unseeded territories of the
Squamish and seashell First Nations
Kipps ins Harbor a short ferry trip away
from Vancouver and this class is going
to school it’s not a field trip
they’re going to school the framing of
my talk is kind of a story within a
story I have a personal experience to to
share with you about how I first was
curious about my practice and then the
story is sort of nestled in a month
amongst a number of other initiatives
happening around the same theme and so
this classroom very typical of an
elementary school teacher I would have
charts on the walls to articulate what
cooperative and learning looks like and
it sounds like I’d have books picture
books science materials math hands-on
things tucked in bins a bit of a mess
yes but I felt I was some just doing my
job I am a teacher I am an educator I am
the holder of knowledge students come to
me your children my job is to make them
smarter so that’s fine I I accept that
there was always a sense of I’m not sure
if I’m reaching all the students are
they really engaged and when going on a
field trip you would see them come alive
you would see that excitement and
novelty of being out of the box one day
by the sign-in book in the staff room
there was a notice and the notice was an
invitation to come to what was called
aqua school and so I’m curious I have a
passion for science I open up the
brochure and it’s some first looks like
a field trip and then I realize it’s not
a field trip it’s a week at the aquarium
and I’m involved as a co planner this
was exciting to me and I thought well
that’s let’s try this this is a bit
daunting there are all kinds of reasons
not to go busing permission slips all
the structures that we have in place
reasons not to go but I thought let’s
try it so my introduction to this model
was going to the aquarium to be involved
in planning with the staff in place our
week was co-designed so if you can
imagine your students at an aquarium at
a museum at a Science Center for a week
what could you do what subject could you
not address in that time so we had
planned to talk to marine biologists we
got the behind-the-scenes tour down
behind the shark tank watching the staff
cut up the food we got to be in the wet
lab we went to the rowing club for lunch
we dissected squid in Stanley Park into
the gazebo amazing amazing experiences
this was the classroom so what happened
on the second day this is kind of the
pivotal moment for me on the second day
we had done like I’d mentioned it into
interview with a marine biologist and we
had asked her fairly frank questions in
a nice sort of intimate setting
and then after lunch we gathered by the
beluga tank at the time there’s a coffee
shop there it’s outside and the students
have their journals and their pencil
boxes and someone had stopwatches
dangling out of their back pockets and
the coordinator framed this session by
saying now it’s time to choose and now
it’s time for you to find your place to
observe 45 minutes you choose total
personalized learning students the
choice of where to go they could look at
cockroaches in the Amazon gallery they
could look at the sea otters and they’re
lying on their backs so off they go and
what am i doing standing there next to
the cappuccino machine wondering what to
do I’m no longer the gatekeeper I’m no
longer the holder of knowledge I’m in
the midst of a place-based learning
experience where I now have to
facilitate
interactions of the students with the
place so my role had shifted so let me
show you for a few seconds what it might
be like I find that quite soothing you
have a student who has a passion about
fish they’re interested in fish they’re
interested in scuba diving they’ve maybe
seen a video or done some some work
around marine life and here’s their
chance to sit for 45 minutes and journal
and draw and ask questions about what
they’re seeing so this is what it looks
like on a grade seven boy who had
interest in sea lions so given choice
given time slowing down he was allowed
to observe and his choice of
observations were the Lapp recordings of
the male in this case how many laps
within a minute would it do in the tank
and lower down on the right side you’ll
see a sea lion bark was his second
observation so he was given four days to
choose and sit and record and and be
like a scientist and then we can have a
very deep and informed conversation on
pros and cons of captivity which is very
topical has been in the moment
in Vancouver what are the pros and cons
he’s talked to a marine biologist he sat
there and watched these creatures he’s
watched the interactions of the
creatures and the public and he can come
up with a very informed opinion and I
would argue his mind has been stretched
and so was mine so I had immersed myself
in this experience for a week and had
seen the power in that learning model so
we turned the page because in a sense
this story within a story now moves to a
different chapter my roles over the
years changed and now I find myself
advocating for this model for this
community as classroom model and that
distinction is important it’s not it’s
not classroom to community which it does
involve it’s the classroom as
in the community it’s there so we leave
the room we leave the box we move
ourselves into place and for a week we
are informed by our environment and the
people there so Chilliwack very exciting
just yesterday I met with the staff at
the Museum in archives they are running
two classes this year coming in for a
week and the teachers are co-planning
with the site staff Sunshine Coast
Museum and Archives for ten years we’ve
had the luxury of the privilege of
having Jillian who began this work in
1993 shown here with the students on the
floor and they are journaling with some
artifacts in the museum so in that case
the students would come for a week to
lower Gibson’s they would work with
Matthew the coordinator and they would
then design their learning around the
curriculum students interests the place
and the people so a student given time
and choice is interested in some of the
marine history of Gibsons so this is her
work and she’ll be given this
opportunity four times in four days
mixed up with other activities and
opportunities in the lower Gibson’s area
on the left side you see some students
dissecting owl pellets and we could do
that in class we could order pellets and
take them apart on our desks and glass
but we could do it in place and we could
have somebody from Wilde BC come in and
bring pelts and talk about the
interactions of humans and creatures in
their community and how do we mitigate
those downsides to growth an expansion
of our of our town many field trips
would involve walking by things so at
the aquarium you might walk by the shark
tank and go that’s cool wow that’s huge
and then off you go so the novelty
effect never really stops for the
half-day that you’re there this boy
who’s interested in blacksmithing is
sitting in the display he’s inside
across the rope he’s in there using
these journal prompts to expand his
thinking and do some deep inquiry so we
turned the page to Chilliwack we see the
landing page on the website two classes
coming in to visit this facility
and very exciting just around the corner
happy to say that the staff are
completely on board and it’s a different
approach so okay traditionally as a
classroom teacher I could be you know in
late August preparing for my my students
coming in I’m thinking social studies
I’m thinking history I’m thinking
community and government and I would
turn and they would go to the shelf
behind my desk and put it pull out a
teacher’s guide pull out some textbooks
pull out some resource books I think
will help us I look on the Internet in
this model we might pull out the
experiences guide for the Fraser Valley
and think where could we place our
students who could we connect them to in
the community to develop powerful
learning experiences so place equals
textbook connections our student
engagement and the partnerships open up
opportunities polygon gallery North
Vancouver we had two classes from Queen
Mary come down last year we supported
them we supported them at the
presentation house in experiencing this
model so what was their choice well they
chose to look at architecture because
the polygon gallery at the time was
being built so that became one of the
themes for the week so students upon
returning to the classroom because there
is a strong connection between the class
and the site both before and after
drafted their dream museums including a
water slide which I totally agree with
it there should be a water slide in all
museums and galleries and then as things
emerge in this model is very fluid it’s
a framework it’s not this is how you do
it it’s more of an open-ended framework
they designed in 3d what their dream
galleries or museums would look like and
then the site staff thought well this is
interesting we’re going to getting
something here let’s have an
installation let’s bring all the student
work back to the presentation house
gallery let’s install it and
serendipitously it was second report
card conferences so the students could
all dressed up and he stood in front of
their creations and parents came in the
students own the site it was their place
they were proud and now the the text you
see on the slide is from the web
cite the polygon gallery now open is
advertising gallery school for students
and teachers to come in and this text is
significant because this is the words of
the museum staff the gallery staff
inviting educators in to make a
partnership I have a few quotes from
grade 3 grade 4 and grade 11 students
and we’re going to play a little bit of
music here from the curator of the
school and Gibson’s
as you read these quotes
[Music]
Thank You Matthew for the permission to
use your song those quotes were taken
from campus calgary and the open minds
program so for 23 years if you can
imagine district a district the size of
Vancouver in Surrey combines has had a
hundred and twelve thousand students
learning in place they’ve gone to
museums to art galleries to City Hall
and the responses have been from the
site staff incredibly positive we
welcome that connection and those
students those quotes taking the
community authentic environments making
that connection amazingly powerful we
have total permission these are quotes
from the BC Ministry of curriculum
written by your colleagues my colleagues
for the Ministry giving us permission to
innovate giving us permission to connect
to community move the learning
out-of-the-box into place and the
research I think all education sort of
shifts or change or innovations should
be grounded in some research something
that firms are our own intuitive sense
and this is it Jillian’s work seeing the
world in 3d published 22 years ago now
sets a framework in place and that is
echoed by the Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development just
published 2017 networked learning
systems we need to consider the power
and learning by bridging between the
formal education structures and the
informal hybrid learning what does that
look like and BC I think we we could
look at this framework as a way of
moving forward so I see this invitation
to sort of unpack our thinking a bit to
move from the classroom to the community
and in the words of that great for a
student the power of that learning model
the connections the sense of belonging
is so strong so thank you for your time
and thank you for considering [Applause]