My Ideal School

I have always operated under the assumption that all kids can learn and it is my job as an educator to find a way to reach them and their potential. My school would be a place where every student is expected to learn and perform at their own pace while still meeting standards and improving themselves in order to become successful and productive citizens. I envision teachers and students working together collaboratively instead of teachers being the “keepers of knowledge”. I see students being engaged in their learning and having ultimate choice over what they focus on. My school would focus on making our students happy, well adjusted individuals who are confident and motivated to be lifelong learners.
The curriculum would be based on skills students would need to know for the ultimate goal of being successful and productive citizens. Instead of focusing on specific facts they need to know, I would instead focus on teaching them how to find out new information and delve deeper into things that interest them and things that come up as they year progresses. I have experienced several times when current events have come up that I wanted to share with my students, but I couldn’t teach them because it didn’t fit into my curriculum plan. If the curriculum is open like this, it allows for changes based on student interest and new things that are introduced frequently into our lives.
My school would be structured using flexible grouping based on the need of students. I would like them to be responsible for their own learning and be able to see their own progress, so I would have them be in groups until they mastered a specific skill. These groups, by nature, would be multiage and not limited by time. Students could move as fast or as slow as they needed in order to really grasp a concept. Graduation and commencement would not be limited by age so students that needed to move on faster or slower would not be limited by social norms.
In my school I would keep student to teacher ratios low so that student would get more individualized attention and instruction. In addition to employing people trained as teachers, I would also contract the help of experts in various fields to provide authentic learning experiences for my students out in the community. Adults would be seen as resources for more knowledge instead of someone that either knows everything or spends their time forcing kids to sit down and be quiet.
I see all students and adults working both collaboratively and independently, based on the task at hand. All learning would be project based or internships with students creatively showing their learning in a way that works for them instead of a high stakes assessment with the ultimate goal being a “meaningful diploma”.
Physically my school might not look too different from a current school layout. The classroom sizes would vary depending on what the room is being used for. I would repurpose spaces so that students would have more opportunity to engage with technology and different forms of learning. I would have rooms set up with tables so that work could be spread out and looked at by groups of people. My one school would house grades K-5 in a traditional elementary school setting but the actual students would not be divided as such. I think that having the school divided by departments/subjects would be best for collaborative working among students and staff. For example, I would have a wing just for science labs, where students could work on experiments and scientific research, regardless of their “level” and have access to all the materials my building has to offer.
In terms of virtual space, this is a question I have a hard time answering. I know that I would ultimately like to have access to the latest technology and allow students to explore it and use it to both help them and display their learning. I could say that currently I would like them to make use of global learning by connecting with students across the world and that they would be exposed to publishing via blogs and podcasts. Beyond that, I would hope to stay up to date with budding technologies and make them available to students to work with in creative ways.
I wonder when I can start building...