Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Questions Raised When Viewing "Most Likely to Succeed"

I consider myself fortunate to have been able to attend a viewing of "Most Likely to Succeed" hosted by the Student Experience Lab at the Business Innovation Factory yesterday in Providence.

https://pixabay.com/p-259710/?no_redirect
While viewing the film I had many questions, while some were about the film itself, the ones that are sticking with me have to deal, not with the film, but rather about what we currently do/don't do in our schools. 

Like an itch that won't go away, I feel the constant urge to ask myself, my teachers, my children's teachers these questions as we begin a new school year:

  • In your class/school, when do students get a chance to make make decisions? When could students get to make decisions?
  • How would student performance differ if we gave students the final exam from last year again right now? Is that okay? Why?
  • Is relying on assessments that measure a student's ability to memorize information just a way to reinforce our culture's need for immediate/short term rewards and therefore are an embodiment to reinforce our culture's hierarchy and status quo?
  • What would students learn if we didn't give grades? What about educators?
While I have not yet asked these questions to many of the educators listed above, hopefully this post will serve as the catalyst for that conversation.

As always, I would love to get your feedback. 

Thanks for reading.