Our class visit to the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry was great for gathering insights into cross-curricular and multimodal approaches to education. The student led emphasis of the school holds a lot of potential for engagement and in depth understandings of subjects of interest. The depth instead of breadth approach can also provide excitement for student to explore their interests. I appreciated the open community based aspects of the school with different spaces that are conductive for collaboration or individual focus. The quiet meditation room was a positive space to see, where students can go to feel calm and refocus their energy. I was slightly concerned about the elitist aspect of the school as people have to be able to afford to send their kids their, but it was good to hear that the administration is trying to figure out ways to have a wider socio-economic spectrum at the school.  The music room looked great with a lot of fun electronic equipment, it was also interesting to see a loom in the building. I would be interested to know more about the various ways that the arts are embraced in the school as I did not notice much focus on visual arts. The school seemed to have a big focus on entrepreneurial development which is positive if students have the resources to explore these possibilities but problematic if they do not come from a wealthy family. The tech focus on web design and video games was interesting to hear about, as these are areas that youth are very interested in although I wonder if this focus may compromise other aspects of their learning.

It was great to see a student I tutored last year at the school as well. They were having difficulties at a public French immersion school partly from mild dyslexia when trying to read and write in English. They seemed really excited and happy to be at the school, which speaks to the relief some students must feel when they can explore their interests outside of traditional classroom learning frameworks. Overall it was a great trip to the school that provided insights into alternative approaches to teaching that embrace the multimodal and cross curricular focus of the new BC curriculum.