Something To Aspire To

I love this image. Dr. Yong Zhao presenting at the BCSTA Academy 2015 in Vancouver. He was the keynote speaker at the conference (aka. edu-superstar) where he had talked about the state of education and the need to shift from a state of “sausage making” to an “entrepreneurial mindset.” Where are the Steve Jobs of the world?

Best of all, he holds a coffee cup doing while inspiring a crowd of school trustees, superintendents, and other executive staff. For me, this is something to aspire to. Yong Zhao is such an engaging speaker. I saw him speak a few years ago at a BCSSA Conference and earlier this year at the BCEd Plan relaunch in January at the Wosk Centre, “Focus on Learning.” I love his message, approach, and research.

Yong Zhao’s message is aligned to the direction and intentions of the new BC curriculum. His passion, willingness to question, and courage to challenge the school system are admirable and honourable. I am aligned to this mindset. Let’s create. Let’s innovate. Let’s focus on our strengths and follow our dreams. As Yong Zhao asks, how can we get our children out of our basement and into the real world?

One has to wonder… What does it mean to pursue your dreams and make a living doing so? I’m still trying to figure that out… and 100% grateful for those who are out there helping me. It’s a crazy journey. We spend so much time in schools “making the same” (aka. sausages). How do we really know what we’re passionate about? Why do we strive to be the same? We even evaluate (or rank) students on how well they have achieved this sameness. This bothers me as an educator, student, and parent.

How can we honour student learning that is personalized? How can we acknowledge the achievement of competencies, not content? These are the BIG IDEAS that school districts from around the province must grapple with. Some teachers and some schools are doing this as we speak. On the other hand, there are many teachers and many schools who are not doing this and struggle with the lack of learning outcomes, recommended learning resources, and prescribed implementation.

This is a HUGE philosophical and pedagogical shift. And in the same hand, this is a HUGE opportunity to embrace professional autonomy, to create an education system that best fits student learning, and to innovate in ways that challenges the status quo of education as COLLECTIVE ACTION. The need or want for change will not be perceived as an outlier, but expected in a culture of learning. This excites me.