Today we visited the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII) where we had the ability to explore the school and had a talk with the principal of the school, Jeff Hopkins. PSII is a private high school located in Downtown Victoria where students learn through Inquiry. Students develop interest areas that cover the requirements of BC curriculum and the students dive deep into their learning through multimedia sources, and demonstrating their learning using whichever method they choose. Students don’t have specific courses they are in for set times during the day, however the teachers will host master classes in certain subjects for which students can sign up. The goal is for students, in learning through interest, to understand the required material rather than just knowing.
I really appreciate the way they grade and provide feedback to their students. Rather than giving number grades throughout the year, students’ learning is placed on a continuum from Emerging to Mastery. The students don’t receive a number grade until the end of grade 12 or until they have completed a subject to their and the teacher’s satisfaction.
Leave a Reply