Ashlee's Dream School

If I could create my own school and make up my own rules there are many things that I would do to enhance children’s learning, as well as autonomy. 

First of all, the atmosphere would be very laid back. Each student would have their own computer device to work on throughout the day. The students would have the opportunity to work at their own pace. I would give each of them guidelines and potential paths they were to follow throughout each subject, but each would end up at the same standard, they would just get to choose how they got there. I would allow the students to walk around freely. There would be no “Mrs. Rush can I go to the bathroom,” every 5 minutes. They would have free rein. I would have a ratio of 5 students to 1 teacher. Teachers would be in charge of teaching content and then students would go off on their own and work through their own programs, designed to meet their needs.

I would also have a class that focused solely on future careers. Each day, as a class, we would explore a different career. We would talk about the disadvantages and advantages of the job. We would do job shadows and have individuals with those careers come in and talk to the class. We would talk about personality traits that are associated with each career. I think often kids are focused on the money aspects of careers and aren’t really aware of the extra time and effort that these careers require.

I love the idea of a micro society. I would do a unit on a micro society. Kids would build or create something that they think would sell, or that they would like to have. They would create an advertisement for it, which would hit the art standard. They would create a label which would use require their writing skills. Then they would try and sell it at the school store and figure out profit margins. I think this project could be elaborated and taken in many directions and it would be up to the students where they wanted to go. 

I think autonomy is huge for kids and if they know that they are working at their own pace and they are calling the shots, they will be more motivated to grow and challenge themselves.