Our recent visit to the Pacific School of Innovation and inquiry was a great experience, particularity because it was so different in virtually every way from any other school environment . The physical design of the space was particularly surprising, especially in terms of how much fit into such a small space. I was also exited about how open they were with their resources, and was very interested in their inquiry process flowchart.

The students at PSII all seemed excited to be there, more so than in any other schools I have visited. This was wonderful to see, but it also made me think about how this education model might be suited to a specific type of learner. Even the choice to attend a school like this is in itself a type of self selection, so the students who attend it have decided that this educational setup might work for them based on who they are and how they learn. I would be curious to see how a program as self-directed as this could work in a public school.

A few of us had an interesting conversation with a student about the issue of accessibility and some of the projects the student had been working on in the local community, from dealing with an inaccessible neighboring business to communicating with local politicians about policy changes. The student was also working on an accessibility themed embroidery piece as part of a collaborative project with another student who was focusing on embroidery more specifically. This was really impressive to hear about, and it sounded like the teachers at the school were doing an excellent job of facilitating these community connections while still allowing the student to take the lead.