This past week our guest was Meghan Carrico, who is an online inquiry teacher for Island Discovery Community, a school operated through qathet School District, District 47. Meghan seems to have a long history with alternative forms of education, as she, herself, attended, what became, Windsor House School, an alternative school eventually adopted by the North Vancouver School District. Having experienced both alternative and public schools as a student, a teacher, and a principal, Meghan is now an alternative education consultant and a teacher of inquiry in an online forum. Meghan was very passionate as she described her interactions with the education system.

She shared her screen and us brought us through her Google Drive, as she explained her day-to-day experiences of using inquiry to work with students in an online classroom. (With the permission of her students) we were able to see a few assignments, what discussion forums looked like, and how she assessed student learning. Within her Google Drive there were a few intriguing resources of which I hope to receive at some point. For now, however, I will settle with the list of resources offered on her personal web page.

Especially for an online class but also as a supplement to a face-to-face classroom, I really like how organized Google Classroom. Meghan walked us through her dashboard and folders, and it seemed extremely user-friendly. I have yet to use Google Classroom, but I can see myself using it with grade 4/5s and up, sparingly at first and increasing use as the students get older.

That the COVID global pandemic is still fresh in our minds, I think it would be beneficial to have an online forum always present, so that, if ever the transition to online learning needs to happen, it can happen smoothly with everyone understanding how to use/access the forum.

Again, I am not a huge proponent of completely online, or even mostly online, but because we are responsible for ensuring students practice the skills they need, having some online presence makes sense to me.