After watching the movie “Most Likely to Succeed,” I thought a lot about the schooling system. The movie brought to light the flaws that the current educational system has, as it seems like from a young age we go through school with the goal of doing well on tests and assignments so that we can get into university. In my opinion, the school in the film have a better grasp on what the purpose of education should be: as teachers, we should be preparing students for their future, while also allowing them to pursue their interests.
In the film, one scene in particular stood out to me. Towards the end of the movie, two math teachers were having a discussion with their class about what the students want their teachers to prepare them for; did they want to learn how to ace tests so they could get into good colleges, or did they want to learn about things that will help them when they are in the real world with a job. Almost all of the students answered the former, stating they need to ace tests in order to get into good schools. This showed me how difficult it is for teachers to change the way a class is structured.
Even if the teacher thinks they know what is best for their students, it seems like there is no way to make everyone happy. Between the students’ and the parents’ differing opinions, it seems like a difficult task to switch up the traditional routine of schooling.
A Professional Learning Network is an important tool for anyone, but especially for teachers. In another EDCI class I took a couple of years ago, we talked a lot about PLNs and how to develop them. We were tasked to create a professional social media account across all platforms, and connect and engage with other creators in the same field.
Something that I was able to participate in was a BC Ed Talk on Twitter, and it was a really valuable experience. There was a moderator who tweeted out a question every couple of minutes, and then everyone participating in the talk tweeted out their answers. The questions were mostly geared towards current teachers, so I did not have too much to contribute, but I was able to respond to some of the questions and interact with some of the other teachers in the talk. The cool thing about that was that a lot of the teachers seemed to know each other, even though they all were teaching at different schools across the province. I can definitely see the value in having a network of professionals who have the same passion giving each other advice and talking about current issues and events in schools.
I look forward to growing my PLN throughout this course!