MOOSE JAW — Vanier Collegiate recently completed a two-week project that allowed students in different grades to take together courses that ranged from public speaking to having philosophical discussions about superheroes.
The inaugural mixed-grade collaborative sessions occurred from Nov. 25 to Dec. 6, with more than 400 youths participating in one of 15 courses — they could submit three choices — for 35 minutes. This time block would normally see students taking a grade-specific course under the Graduation Planning and Life Transitions (GPLT) program, such as career and health, leadership, or life transitions.
The sessions included cooking basics, strategy games, superheroes, video production, Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), SAT prep, restorative yoga, portrait photography, football 101, indigenous culture, cosmetology, public speaking, creative writing, pickleball and sports injury management.
Grade 12 student Annique Boyer focused on cosmetology, which gave her the opportunity to learn beauty techniques — such as hairstyling — from her teacher and staff from Elite Hairstyling and Esthetics Training Centre.
Boyer said she was “a big fan” of this method of learning, while she appreciated that it was interest-based so she could determine if this was a desirable career path.
“I chose this class because I was somewhat interested in becoming a nail tech and going to Elite … ,” she continued.
“And it actually pushed me to where I think I’m going to enrol in Elite and then go to Saskatoon (in) the second semester because I was kind of in-between which one (hair or nails) I was going to do. And I’ve decided (that) I can do both.”
Boyer considers herself an artist and was drawn toward attending art school. However, she recently began painting nails and realized that is another artistic outlet. She has also appreciated learning how to style hair, how often to wash makeup brushes, and how to perform basic cosmetology activities without ruining someone’s hair or nails.
Grade 9 student Gavin Hack participated in the sports injury management session, which taught students how to tape wrists, ankles and other injured joints. He thought the session was fun, especially since he’s an athlete and appreciated knowing how to address injuries.
“I play soccer a lot, so I bend my ankle back a lot,” he chuckled. “So, (the course) helped me do the ankle wrap so I can get back into (the game).”
While Hack thought the sessions were different from typical classroom learning, he enjoyed how active they were, working with others and not sitting at a desk. He also appreciated meeting new — and more mature — students and seeing how they worked.
“It’s a fresh start, that’s for sure, especially coming … from elementary school with kindergartens,” he added. “It’s fun.”
The mixed-grade collaborative sessions offer students flexible learning pathways and a choice in the content they could learn, explained vice-principal Gillian Muench. Furthermore, the learning occurs with youths from different grades — not normally done — and gives them the opportunity to be hands-on instead of just receiving content.
For example, instead of being taught strategies for time management, students can apply those skills in a real-world situation, such as making choices in D&D. They can also put their new skills into practice immediately.
“We’re doing what we’re teaching, but the students are experiencing it. So, that’s our hope out of this,” she remarked, noting teachers could choose what they wanted to lead and could share their passions with students.
Muench, who isn’t teaching this semester, “had the joy” of walking around the school and seeing students making friends, meeting others with similar interests, taking charge of their learning, learning new life skills and developing a lifelong hobby.
“When you’re excited about what you do in the day, it spreads,” said Muench. “We’ve noticed a really nice feeling in these two weeks … but I don’t have the data yet (so) I’m looking forward to it.”
Muench noted that attendance has increased during this program, while school administration hopes — based on the feedback — to run this initiative several times each semester.
“We’re sad to see this end … (but) we really enjoyed it,” she added.
