Writing is my artistic expression. My keyboard is my brush. Words are my medium. My blog is my canvas. And committing to writing daily makes me feel like an artist.
Yesterday over 70 former grads came to visit our little school that only had its first official graduation 8 years ago. We originally thought about half that many would be able to join us.
I can’t express how wonderful it was to connect with former students, to see what they are up to now, and to have an opportunity to chat with them. Two students from our first grad are now married and brought their baby. Several more are married or engaged. Many are still in school. Some are working for big companies, some following their artistic passions, and of course a few are still finding their way in the world.
It was a a very special event and it made me appreciate what a wonderful community we have created. I couldn’t be luckier, being able to stay at Inquiry Hub since its inception in 2012.
Last night I got home after 8 pm. Today will be my early day home around 5:30. Wednesday I’ll get home after 8pm, and Thursday will be 10pm if I’m lucky.
While many people are counting the days until Christmas, I’m just looking forward to the end of the week. Some of the events keeping me late are fun for me, one (a dance) is great for the students. I am happy to participate in these events, but I can honestly say that I’m tired already, and it’s only Tuesday morning.
It’s weeks like this that I feel my age. I realize that younger me would have skipped through this week like it was a minor blip. Yesterday I got home and did absolutely nothing until falling asleep on the couch around 9:30. I went to bed soon after and my alarm woke me up just like it has for the past two weeks… whereas for the two weeks before that, I probably only heard it 2 or maybe 3 times, with me waking up before my alarm most days.
It’s Tuesday morning and I see a very long road ahead of me to get me to the holidays. I need to psych myself up to stay strong, and get my sleep in too. Because so often in my career I reach the first weekend of a break and I get sick. My body stays strong to make it through this final week of school and then when I can finally relax my physical health crashes. I’m determined for this to not happen (ever again). It really sucks when I finally get a break and my body ‘lets go’.
I’ll take my vitamins, maintain my healthy habits, get a lot of sleep, and slowly travel this long road to the holidays.
At Inquiry Hub we don’t just have genius hour where students spend an hour a week on a project. Instead we have a full for-credit course that students take to follow their learning passions and interests. Yesterday I got to see a couple progress presentations, where students shared where they are on their current learning journey.
I’m always surprised by the diversity of questions students choose to tackle. Students find both creative topics and also creative ways to express their learning. But what I enjoy most is seeing the enthusiasm with which they go about learning. Having a specific course that lets students pursue their interests and actually get credit for it, rather than it be something extra that they do, adds an element of purpose to the project.
Imagine being an inquisitive student who spends their entire day learning what is on someone else’s agenda. Go to class, get the work for that specific subject, then go to the next class and repeat. Then lunch, then repeat for two more courses. The courses could be engaging, the teachers can be fantastic, but the choice of what to study is completely predetermined.
I think genius hour is great when there isn’t a full inquiry course to take. So are assignments where students have choice to make the assignment follow their interests. But maybe students should have inquiry/passion project time every week, at every grade… Scaffolded more in the younger years, but provide to every kid, every week.
Who owns the learning in a school? Who should own it? If you think students should at least partially own their own learning, then at some point in the school day or school week, they should be allotted time to do so. School should be a place where students have a say in what they get to learn.
Last night Inquiry Hub Secondary had our open house to introduce our school to potential new students and their parents. It’s a bit of a challenge being a very small program that requires students to decide not to go to their closer, local high school and commute to another school away from their friends. But then we run an event like this and we hear speeches from our Grade 12’s, who share how rich their experience has been, and I realize why kids come here.
For me it is the student participation on a night like this that charges my battery. They come to share their interests, their inquiries, their time and labour, to showcase our school… their school.
It makes me feel lucky to be their principal; to be part of this community; to work with an amazing staff. An event like last night’s open house leaves me in full appreciation of the job I have, and the work that our team does to support students, who are also our amazing school ambassadors.
There is no doubt that Artificial Intelligence (AI) is going to influence the way we do school in the very near future. I have been pondering what that influence will look like. What are the implications now and what will they be in just a few short years.
Now: AI is going to get messy. Unlike when Google and Wikipedia came out and we were dealing with plagiarism issues, AI writing is not Google-able, and there are two key issues with this: First, you can create assignments that are not Google-able, but you are much more limited in what you can create that is un-AI-able. That is to say, you can ask a question that isn’t easily answerable by Google search, but AI is quite imaginative and creative and can postulate things that a Google search can’t answer, and then share a coherent response. The second issue is that AI detectors are not evidence of cheating. If I find the exact source that was plagiarized, it’s easy to say that a student copied it, but if a detector says that something is 90% likely to be written by AI that doesn’t mean that it’s only 10% likely to be written by a person. For example, I could write that last sentence in 3 different ways and an AI detector would come up with 3 different percentages of likeliness that it is AI. Same sentence, different percentage of likelihood to be AI written, and all written by me.
So we are entering a messy stage of students choosing to use AI to do the work for them, or to help them do the work, or even to discuss that topic and argue with them so that they can come up with their own, better responses. We can all agree that the three uses I shared above are progressively ‘better’ use of AI, but again, all are using AI in some way. The question is, are we going to try to police this, or try to teach appropriate use at the appropriate time? And even when we do this, what do we do when we suspect misuse, but can’t prove it? Do we give full marks and move on? Do we challenge the student? What’s the best approach?
So we are in an era where it is more and more challenging to figure out when a student is misusing AI and we are further challenged with the burden of proof. Do we now start only marking things we see students do in supervised environments? That seems less than ideal. The obvious choice is to be explicit about expectations and to teach good use of AI, and not pretend like we can continue on and expect students not to use it.
The near future: I find the possible direction of use of AI in schools quite exciting to consider. Watch this short video of Sal Hahn and his son, Imran, working with an Open AI tool to solve a Math question without the AI giving away the answer.
When I see something like this video, made almost 6 month ago, I wonder, what’s going to be possible in another couple years? How much will an AI ‘know’ about a student’s approach to learning, about their challenges? About how best to entice learning specifically for each student? And then what is the teacher’s role?
I’m not worried about teachers being redundant, on the contrary, I’m excited about what’s possible in this now era. When 80% of the class is getting exactly the instruction they need to progress to a grade standard in a class on the required content, how much time does a teacher having during class time to meet with and support the other 20% of students who struggle? When a large part part of the curriculum is covered by AI, meeting and challenging students at their ideal points of challenge, and not a whole class moving at the class targeted needs, how much ‘extra’ time is available to do some really interesting experiments or projects? What can be done to take ideas from a course across multiple disciplines and to teach students how to make real-world connections with the work they are studying?
Students generally spend between 5 and 6 hours a day in class at school. If we are ‘covering’ what we need to with AI assistance in less than 3 hours, what does the rest of the time at school look like? Student directed inquiries based on their passions and interests? Real world community connections? Authentic leadership opportunities? Challenges and competitions that force them to be imaginative and creative? The options seem both exciting and endless.
The path from ‘now’ to ‘the near future’ is going to be messy. That said, I’m quite excited about seeing how the journey unfolds. While it won’t be a smooth ride, it will definitely be one that is both a great adventure and one that is headed to a pretty fantastic destination.
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Update: Inspired by my podcast conversation with Dean Shareski, here.
For most people Halloween is a kid thing. Kids dress up, go to school, and go trick or treating in the evening. For educators Halloween doesn’t end in your teens. No, it means dressing up year after year after year.
I love seeing students come up with imaginative and elaborate costumes. But if I’m honest, I am a bit tired of dressing up every year. That said, I’ll do it and I’ll make the most of it. I’m not grumpy about it, it will be fun. But if I’m honest, I’m looking forward to not making the effort anymore when I hang up my hat and retire.
Still, the day brings joy when I see other people so excited about the day. I’ve seen shy kids come out of their shell, artistic kids truly express themselves, and some kids will take it to the limits and really ‘wow’ you.
Although I’m in a high school, almost all the students will be dressed up. And on that note, for those of you that see older, high school aged kids coming to your door tonight for trick or treat… let them be kids!
Please don’t comment, “Aren’t you a bit old for this!” Or anything like that. Are they dressed up? Did they knock on your door? Great! Let them be kids and give them some candy. What’s wrong with an 18 year old celebrating Halloween? Would you rather they were at a park setting off fireworks and underage drinking?
Halloween is one day a year when older kids just get to be kids. Let them celebrate without feeling judged. It doesn’t matter if a kid is 5 or 15, if their costume looks amazing, let them know. If they are playing along, you play along too. Let every kid enjoy Halloween.
Principal Dave Truss of Inquiry Hub and Coquitlam Open Learning as he discusses revolutionary approaches in education, student agency, and personalized, student-centered learning environments. Gain insights into the challenges and triumphs of running innovative educational models that support self-directed, passionate learners. Explore the impact of technology and AI in modern classrooms, and learn about fostering both student and teacher autonomy for effective teaching. Hear personal reflections on the importance of mentors, lifelong learning habits, and discover local hiking treasures like Bunsen Lake.
00:00 The Drum Set Decision 00:59 Defining the Ideal School 01:40 Introducing Principal Dave Truss 03:01 A Day in the Life of Principal Truss 03:47 The Birth of Inquiry Hub 05:10 Student Projects and Independent Studies 06:14 Collaborative Learning and Student Agency 09:09 Challenges and Opportunities in Alternative Education 17:55 Teacher Autonomy and Professional Development 21:20 The Evolution of Innovation and Technology in Education 29:00 Reflecting on Teaching Challenges 29:10 Embracing Technology in Education 30:18 Student Presentation Skills 31:15 The Role of AI in Learning 32:14 Teacher Comfort Zones 33:29 Leadership and Technology Integration 39:31 Balancing Leadership and Management 44:51 Personal Reflections and Advice 47:03 Hobbies and Interests 51:28 Hidden Gems in Coquitlam
I’m very excited to share this episode with my long time friend and colleague Dave Truss. Dave is the principal at the Inquiry Hub and Online Learning schools in School District No. 43 (Coquitlam) What he and his team have created is pretty special. Shout outs to Dave Sands and Stephen Whiffin who he credits for mentoring and leading this work as well.
Today I’m headed to Surrey to meet with other principals in charge of Provincial Online Learning Schools. My commute is less than an hour, some of my counterparts from around the province had to fly or drive in last night to get to the meeting on time this morning. We will be meeting with a representative from the Ministry of Education in the morning, and also have a full agenda for the rest of the day.
In many ways I have more in common with these colleagues from other school districts than I do with most colleagues in my own district. Being a principal of an online school has very unique demands, policies, and challenges which make our jobs unique. We don’t fit in the box of a traditional school principals, and often when I come across a challenging situation it is these distant colleagues that I turn to for support or clarification.
When we meet as a group it is usually online. But today we connect face-to-face. I can’t express the value it has provided to connect with these principals in person. Over the years I’ve made some valuable friends, and gotten to know some amazing educators thanks to these meetings. I’ve built relationships that would have been much harder to make if we only ever met through a screen.
There is a lot of power in physically getting together for a meeting rather than just doing so online. As a principal of an online school, that’s an important thing to remember and reflect on.
It takes thought and intentional action to build community in a classroom or a school. The chances of it happening organically are small, and even if it does build this way, it is likely to be uneven. Community building takes effort, it takes vision or at least cooperation in a focused direction… And even then it isn’t guaranteed.
It’s easy for students to form small groups and these groups can be open and accepting or they can be closed and cold. The art of community building is creating scenarios or activities where students must work together outside of these naturally forming groups. But that’s just the first step. The next step is to ensure that these scenarios or activities are ones where these organized groups can and will find success working together.
The next step is around expectations. It’s about explicitly showing and helping groups work together through conflict. Whether students or adults, there are times when we need to work with people who are a bit challenging to work with. They can be bossy, lazy, distracted, distracting, and even annoying. Not everyone is easy to work with. How is conflict handled? Are groups left alone to sort it out for themselves? Or is problem solving both provided and explicitly taught?
In teacher organized groups, are roles clearly defined? This can be done by the group, not just the teacher, but division of roles in a group help to provide the group with guide rails. This increases individual accountability and reduces the opportunity for conflict. And when groups of people can find mutual success in a project, that helps to build community.
Common goals, common practices, high expectations about how we treat each other, and planned opportunities to share common positive experiences all contribute to fostering and building good community. It doesn’t happen on its own. And if there’s one more thing that can help build community it’s food. Opportunities to eat together and celebrate together enrich the community’s familiarity and collegiality. Expecting community to build without consciously working to develop it will usually end in a disappointing way. And while the effort to build community may not always be rewarding, it is much more likely that the effort is rewarded far more than just expecting community to build organically.
Arianna Huffington is 74 years old and she just recently started a new AI business. She started the Huffington Post at age 55 and sold it 6 years later for 315 million dollars. In this The Diary of a CEO podcast interview with Steven Bartlett she shares this gem of a story.
The moral of the story is simple: Leaders need to take care of themselves, and get enough sleep, in order to be at their best. She says, “All the science now makes it very clear that when we are depleted we are going to make bad decisions.”
Then quoting Jeff Bezos, “I sleep 8 hours a night… I’m judged by the quality of my decisions, not the quantity of my decisions.”
As the new school year begins, take this as a reminder to take care of yourself first, if you really want to take care of your staff and students. It’s not good enough to only exercise, and eat well, and get enough sleep when you are not busy. You owe it to yourself, those you serve, and your job, to treat yourself well. It’s not selfish to put on your oxygen mask first, it’s how you get enough air to take care of others.
Build good habits and take the time to care for yourself first, when you are busiest, and it will become very easy to do so all the time. You will benefit as a person, as a friend, as a partner, as a parent, as an employee, and as a leader. It starts with you taking care of you.
