Nancy Healy

If high school students made a school, most would look for flexibility and self-directed learning opportunities based on their personal interests and/or future career ideas. There would be different academic tracks that students could choose from and they would take courses according to the track they chose. There would be academic tracks for students interested in the arts, engineering, writing, and so forth. And students would be free to change tracks if their interests or thoughts on careers changed.

Within the courses, high school students would be more involved in deciding what and how they would learn. They would be active participants in project based learning opportunities and 'real world' activities that emphasize independent and/or collaborative exploration, hands-on investigation, and creativity. Students would be encouraged to set learning goals and then develop and follow a plan to achieve the goals.

The physical space in the classroom (and school) would look different from a traditional classroom -- and maybe the ‘classroom’ would be outside of the school walls. Within the school walls, there would be no desks and chairs in straight rows. Instead there would be comfortable, mobile furniture that would adapt to different learning needs and activities, such as collaboration, independent work, and feedback discussions. There would be areas for interactivity, design and experiments. Students would be encouraged to use their own devices for their coursework and there would be few limits placed on access to technology and online resources.

The school day would be flexible, too. Students would attend school during the times their courses are offered and would be free to leave the school at other times. Some courses might not be scheduled every day if the students’ physical presence wasn’t necessary (i.e., online work for a blended learning course). Students could also choose to study, collaborate with peers, or ‘hang out’ in a commons area in the school building where they would feel safe, supported, and comfortable.

The design of your imaginary school did a great job of starting with things like "self-direction", "flexibility", and "student choice" and then layered in the pedagogy (PBL, inquiry, etc.)to support those things. It finally followed up with the idea that the environment has to support those kind of things (comfortable spaces and flexible time).

This progression from students having agency to pedagogy to how this shapes the physical environment is thoughtful way to approach the transition to a more personalized environment.

Something I would consider expanding on are learning opportunities outside the school walls. Our school is starting to push a job shadowing program. The few students who are involved with job shadowing this year are reporting some positive things. One student talked about learning how to handle customer service issues. Another student mentioned how much math was involved in the business he was shadowing.  And one more student loved to go to his job shadow because he got to be outside working with wildlife. The classroom is a great place for learning, but there is also a lot to be learned outside school walls as well

Also, as I give this more thought, there are some students who prefer or need a more structured learning environment, even if they don’t admit it. In this case, it would be important to connect learning to something that really interests the student to keep him/her engaged and active in the learning process.