I thoroughly enjoyed the film “Most Likely to Succeed” as it gave an inside look into “High Tech High” a school based in California. This high school followed a very unique structure compared to a more traditional school. The teachers were hired on a one year contract basis and given freedom on how to teach their classes which was interesting to see as it’s quite different from how teachers work here. The structure of a set curriculum is a far fetched idea at High Tech High. I feel like the creative freedoms allows the teachers there to really be passionate about their work as they can focus on their areas of specialty and interest. The idea of blending subjects into an inter disciplinary model reminded me of a program I participated in during my 4 years of high school.

From grade 9 to grade 12, I was IGS (The Institute for Global Solutions) which was a program designed to blend social studies and science materials together. The course was taught by team teaching, two or three teachers working together. This was a great example of seeing colleagues collaborating and bringing together their interests. For example one of the teachers was science focused and the other was social studies based so projects were very much intertwined between the two subjects. We would have to take a concept we learned in science which usually related to environmental challenges and apply it to real world issues and examples. This course was entered around thinking of big questions but specifically finding solutions. With the help of guest speakers, informative field trips and even a trip across Canada, we as students were given many opportunities to expand our world view and challenge the norms of school.

Instead of more traditional tests and assignments for evaluation, the majority of our classwork was very inquiry based and self led. For our grade 12 final project we had to create and present a “Do Good Project”. This was a very open ended project and we were able to chose an area of interest to take on and do some “good”. Some students chose to go to an elementary school and teach about gardening, others created school events and some created awareness within the class about certain current issues. The layout of this project taught me how to take initiative and search for resources on my own. These are valuable skills I have carried with me throughout my life after high school. I believe this is similar to the values that High Tech High leads by, being successful in real life vs success in school. Being a part of IGS for 4 years taught me more than any other class during my years of school as I gained skills, connections and mentors that have changed my life; High Tech High provides these same benefits through their adaptable, creative and innovation education.