After listening to Will Richardson’s blackboard collaborate talk I had to reflect on what it is that I would really want my ideal school to look like. I believe this will be an ongoing reflection as I continue to engage in my own process of learning in this digital age.

I believe I am very fortunate to be working in a self- directed learning model. I love the way students learn at Bishop Carroll High School. This model has been in action for over forty–years and is fantastic, but still evolving.

As I really reflect on what it is I would like to see in a school, the school counsellor comes out in me as my first thought is a school filled with HOPE.

Do hope and technology go hand in hand? I believe they most certainly can.  This video I discovered after receiving a tweet demonstrates the importance of HOPE. Shane Lopez’s interview expresses why I want my ideal school to be full of HOPE.

http://www.gallup.com/video/123893/Engage-Students-Improve-Community.aspx

The next video called, “If students designed their own schools” made me want what these students have done in their school to be a part of what I would want in my ideal school.

What might my ideal school look like? :

• Hope filled
• Engaged students and staff
• Mutual Respect
• Low student teacher ratio where all students can be heard and helped
• Creativity is encouraged and abounds
• Grades would not matter
• Teachers would not ever feel they had to teach to tests
• Counsellors would be essential in every school starting in elementary to high school
• Counsellor to student ratio would be low and every school counsellor would not have to teach a class, but would engage students through workshops or through resources online or groups or whatever the schools and most importantly the students needs were
• Exercise would be a part of every students and teachers day
• Positive Connections would be evident
• Capable, confident students would emerge and have opportunities to move in the direction of their dreams
• Students would have available to them a variety of resources and opportunities
• A students needs and personality would be highly considered
• Safe Learning Spaces
• The building would feel more like a comfy home than an institution
• Students and staff are in a constant process of being technology savvy and literate
• Professional development is ongoing and supported. Funding is readily available
• Breaks where students and staff were nourished and had time to connect happen on a daily basis
• Celebrations of staff and students occur on a regular basis
• Passion is evident

I think I could go on and on, but for today I will stop here.

HOPE abounds in my ideal school, but what will schools look like in the future? I really am not sure.

After watching the video The Future of Education: Epic 2O20.  I have to really wonder are schools really prepared for what education might look like in 2020.

What do you think?

For today, my ideal school is right where I am.  I love working and counselling in a Self- Directed High School.  It makes me very happy and it is a very hopeful place where  I belong.