Author: paytonmorros (Page 2 of 2)

Week 4 Reflection – Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry

October 7, 2025 / paytonmorros

For week four our class took a field trip to downtown Victoria to visit the Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry or PSII for short. This was probably one of the most interesting and intriguing learning environments that I have seen. It was very clear from when we walked in that this was not your typical high school. There wasn’t really any classrooms and there was a lot of open collaboration rooms where students could work. There are no bells, set schedules, and no clear separation of subjects like math, science, and social studies, they are all interconnected in their inquiry projects. Walking through the building students were just working at their own pace on projects based on an inquiry question which was very cool. You don’t see that often where a large group of students are able to work together and stay on task.

What stood out to me the most was how calm it felt, there was barely and “big lights” such as fluorescent lighting, they used other things to light up the rooms like lamps, string lights, and other warm lights. It felt very stress free. The students have a lunchtime at 12pm but they were allowed to take it whenever they want basically. So for example, if they were working on their project and didn’t want to stop for lunch they could take their lunch break after.

Another thing that I found very interesting is how the teachers handle grading, assessments, and subjects. The students work on inquiry projects and the teachers help find ways to connect them to curriculum areas like math and science. If the teachers find that a students project doesn’t include something that they may need in order to graduate then they gently guide them to include that subject area. Instead of receiving letter grades, report cards, and exam grades the students are assess based on competencies throughout the year and then do a summative assessment at the end of the year. Doing assessments like this makes it very stress free for the students, instead of worrying about studying for tests they are able to work on a project that genuinely interests them and at the same time meets the BC curriculum. Some students have a lot of trouble with tests and may do worse on them because of test anxiety. So this approach allows for students to give authentic grades.

Overall, visiting PSII really reminded me of the documentary that we watched called Most Likely to Succeed. Both schools have similar structures where they value creativity, trust, and most importantly student based learning. It showed me that there is this whole new world of how learning in a school can look and how learning can be different for everyone. This school system is definitely not new but it is new to me. Even though I don’t think every school could look like this I definitely think that certain aspects of it could be added to classrooms like flexible learning spaces and using technology in a meaningful way. Instead of restricting them teachers could teach their students how to to use it properly and encourage students to use technology for things like research.

Week 3 – Learning to stretch: Spinal flexibility

October 7, 2025 / paytonmorros

Guiding Question For This Week:

Because my back always feels tight especially when trying to keep a straight back in other stretches, can following videos and doing spine stretches throughout the week help me loosen up my back and improve my posture in other stretches?

This Week’s Focus:

For this week I chose to do spinal flexibility as it is something that I have struggled with. I have been working on my hamstrings and hips, so this week I thought that spine flexibility and back mobility ties into most stretches so by improving it will help with future stretches and build off of ones I have already done. My goal is to make my back feel looser and reduce stiffness.

What I Did:

This week I did the following stretches for about 10 minutes. I found that instead of doing the stretching routine once I decided to switch it up and do it multiple times until I reached 10 minutes. I liked this idea better. Although I was getting more flexible by doing the routine once I thought it would speed up the process by doing it longer. The stretches that I did were:

Cat-Cow Pose: On hands and knees, alternating between arching and rounding the back.
Seated Spinal Twist: Sitting on the ground with one leg bent over the other and twisting gently.
Cobra Pose: Lying on your stomach, lifting chest up, can have arms bent or straight.
Thread the Needle: On all fours put one arm underneath the other and rest your shoulder and head on the ground, gently twist.
Seated Forward Fold: Sit with Legs extended, hinge forward as much as you can.
Low Lunge: From your knees step one foot forward, gently lay other leg on the ground and sink hips down.

Reflection on my Learning:

My back has always been very stiff, I have noticed it during my previous stretches that require a straight back or to lean forward and many people can get low to the ground but I cannot. So I thought for this week I would look up spinal stretches. At the beginning of the week my back felt tight, doing the stretches my back was very arched and I couldn’t really lean forward without arching. Doing these stretches thread the needle became one of my favourite stretches, it felt very relaxing. You may notice that I added one stretch from week one as well as week two because I thought it would be a good idea to still stretch those areas inserted of doing them once and never revisiting. That way those areas can stay flexible.

Resources I Used:

I chose this YouTube video because I thought it was a great spine/back stretching guide. As a beginner to most of the stretches I have done so far, having a video to look at while doing the stretches has been great. It helps me make sure my hands and legs are in the right places as well as making sure I am doing the stretch properly so I do not injure myself. Although my routine and this video are both 10 minutes long, I didn’t follow this routine exactly. I took inspiration for a lot of the stretches like cat-cow, thread the needle, cobra (she calls it sphinx), and the seated spinal twist. I took yoga in high school so some of these stretches I am familiar with such as thread the needle. I really enjoy this pose so when I saw it in this video I was excited, with that though I didn’t particularly like how she did hers so I did what I was comfortable with. Instead of threading the needle and immediately coming back up over and over, I threaded the needle and laid there twisting my spine for about 30 second on each side. I felt a lot more stretch doing it this way.

Next Week’s Plan:

Next week I plan to focus on shoulder, neck, and wrist mobility. I thought that because each of these areas are pretty small I could combine them all into one week. I have noticed some tension in my neck and shoulders as well as my wrists. Every once and awhile I get wrist pain and I have noticed the past two days it is staring up again so I thought it would be a great opportunity to do some wrist stretches. My goal is to hopefully reduce my wrist pain and get the tension out of my shoulders and neck as they are a bit stiff.

Week 2 Reflection – Most Likely to Succeed Documentary

October 6, 2025 / paytonmorros

For week two we watched the documentary Most likely to succeed (only available to watch through UVic with a VPN). This documentary explores High Tech High, this school is located in California. This school completely transformed how students learn in a typical high school. Instead of having lectures, bells, tests, and set schedules, the school took a more casual approach it emphasizes project based learning, teamwork, and collaboration. Watching this documentary was very cool because I did not know that these kinds of schools existed and it also intrigued me because I really wondered “how does this work?”.

One of the main things that stood out to me is how much freedom the students were given and how much the teachers trusted them to stay on task and work on their projects. The documentary showed the students working on projects that involved problem-solving, creativity, and teamwork, their projects also included multiple subjects like math, science, and art. The students projects would later be showed at an exhibition at the end of the year where they would get a summative assessment based on what they showed at the exhibition. Seeing the confidence that the students had while showing their projects just showed that they had learned way more than just the facts they learned skills like problem solving and communication. It was cool to see the different roles that the teachers played, instead of being a typical teacher and talking infront of the class they acted more like mentors, helping and supporting the students as they needed. It was shocking to see how engaged the students were when working on something that they were actually interested in..

In most school students are marked mostly on grades from tests and worksheets but at High Tech High their learning is based off of their growth and effort. Instead of cramming for tests the students show their learning through projects and presentations which honestly feels more authentic as you can also see their personality through their projects. This documentary connects very well with the ISTE standards because it emphasizes empowering learners and using technology to enhance creativity. It also connects with the UVic TEP outcomes about prepping future teachers to create inclusive and engaging environments that support all learners. Another thing that stood out to me was how difficult it must be to grade the students, to me it seem like a nightmare. Having to grade each student based off of their final project as well as collaboration, problem-solving, and communication, I’m not quite sure how you would go about doing it but it seems very time consuming and difficult.

With all of these positives there is also some negatives that I noticed while watching. Some negatives is how some students may need more guidance and structure in order to stay on task and motivated. With that though I question “if you need more structure why come to a school like High Tech High?”. I also wonder how materials are distributed evenly to students and if there are ever any issues where a student can’t work on their project because of budget issues not allowing there to be enough supplies for every student. Since many students have never been to a high school like this before students may find it challenging to make the transition from a structured school to one with a more casual setting and freedom. With that though would students from High Tech High have trouble tranisitioning from a less structured environment to one that values structure, deadlines, and standardizes tests/exams like a workplace or university? I find with this there will be pros and cons to anything and based on what I watched everything seems to be going smoothly, the students are learning, and everyone seems happy. I found that I had to remind myself one thing, that it would not be running if it didn’t meet the expectations of for example the BC curriculum or the core competencies because I don’t totally understand how they learn everything that is required in this type of school.

Overall, this documentary really challenged how I think a school looks like. It showed a successful school with successful students that school doesn’t have to be about studying and memorizing facts, it can be about creativity and curiosity. While I don’t think that I would thrive at this type of school I do believe that many students can and will benefit from this type of learning.

Week 1 Reflection – Most Likely to Succeed Documentary

October 6, 2025 / paytonmorros

For week two we watched the documentary Most likely to succeed. This documentary explores High Tech High, this school is located in California. This school completely transformed how students learn in a typical high school. Instead of having lectures, bells, tests, and set schedules, the school took a more casual approach it emphasizes project based learning, teamwork, and collaboration. Watching this documentary was very cool because I did not know that these kinds of schools existed and it also intrigued me because I really wondered “how does this work?”.

Week 2 – Learning to Stretch: Hip Flexibility

September 30, 2025 / paytonmorros

Guiding Question For This Week:

Will focusing on hip mobility help me feel less stiff in this area and make the rest of my stretching journey easier?

This Week’s Focus

For this week my focus will be on hip flexibility. Tight hips can affect posture, movement, and even hamstring stretches. Loosening them up now will help me in the long run. My goal this week was to explore a few stretches that target the hip flexors, glutes, and inner thighs. Stretching the glutes help make stretches like squats and forward folds easier helping flexibility in the hamstring area. Not stretching your inner thighs can make lunges and butterfly harder so by stretching these muscles helps with flexibility in the hip area.

What I Did

Low Lunge (with side stretch): Step one foot forward, sink your hips down, then reach arm overhead for a deeper hip flexor stretch.
Butterfly Stretch: Sit down with feet together, gently press knees towards the floor, sit with back straight or lean forward and put head towards the floor.
Pigeon Pose: From a plank position bring one leg forward and lay your shin on the floor to stretch your other back leg.
90/90 Hip Stretch: Sit with one leg bent in front at 90 degrees, the other leg bent behind you at 90 degrees, then lean forward over your front shin.

I did these stretches for 5-10 minutes for the past week

Reflection on my learning

When I first started the 90/90 hip stretch was probably the most difficult, I found it very hard to get the proper position. the butterfly pose was also very difficult for me to do, it felt so tight and I could barely get my knees to the floor.The low lunge was fairly easy felt a nice stretch same with the pigeon pose, it was very relaxing. After the stretching I felt more mobility in my hips which felt nice.

Next Week’s Plan

For next week I plan on focusing on spinal flexibility and back stretches. By doing these stretches I hope to see how it affects my overall flexibility as a lot of stretches require bending and straight back etc and those things I do not have. My goal for next week will to do a short routine of beginner back stretches everyday and record how my back feels at the beginning of the week compared to the end.