This week we had the pleasure of listening to Jeff Hopkins showcase his Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry. He did a really amazing job of conveying the importance of inquiry-based education. I appreciate how he highlighted the power we have as elementary school teachers to follow inquiry-based teaching methods in our classrooms. I was inspired by his story of how much hope and trust he put into this school when founding it. I was even more inspired when he said “we hope that we go out of business” when referring to his hopes of the ministry of education switching their curriculum and ways to inquiry-based learning. I think it truly showed his dedication to this topic.
When Jeff showed us the website that one of the students has designed for selling local art, I was totally inspired. It was so amazing to see someone at such a young age doing such amazing things already. This girl’s accomplishments prove how unique inquiry-based learning is since, in a traditional school, students would not have this autonomy over their learning. Overall, I have really appreciated these last two sessions as they bring life to the book I am reading for my free inquiry (Inquiry Mindset).
Here is Jeff Hopkins’ school site: https://learningstorm.org