This week we had to watch the film “Most Likely To Succeed” for class.  The film is about a school called High Tech High where students learn in a very alternative way compared to the schooling systems we are used to. The focus on social responsibility and the students growing as people is something that really drew me in to this film. The students at High Tech High showed an incredible long term commitment to their work that you just don’t see in typical high schools. This level of commitment was clearly developed through practicing group work and cooperation. The film also followed students personal growth throughout the year and you could see them gaining skills in leadership, confidence, organization, self worth, and many more. For these reasons High Tech High seems like the completely ideal situation.

Although students growing as individuals seems like the most important thing, there were also some concerns about the fact that this schooling system doesn’t cover the complete curriculum. Students have opportunities to go through certain topics in depth but are not gaining the breadth of knowledge that is supposedly required to get into post secondary schooling. In the film it states that, regardless of these issues, 98% of High Tech High students have gotten into post secondary. I personally think it is because the students learn the skills to work hard to achieve what they want. They gain skills on how to critically think about topics and do research in areas that interest them. In addition to these skills, they leave High Tech High with a network of people that they can fall back on when needed. The classes in this school work as teams.

The question then is what can we take from this film that can help us in our teaching. As a music teacher, I think a lot of these concepts are already woven into my classes. A group of students work together to make/learn music. They each have responsibility to practice their own parts and to learn how their parts fit with each other. They even have to present these pieces to their peers, parents and community. Now of course there is a lot that can be done to incorporate some of these values more explicitly.  I could choose music that is more interesting and associated with content that could lead to inquiry projects. A lot of study on culture can be done through music. I could do more small group music so that each student is even more accountable. I could ask deeper level of thinking questions and let the students make more of their own choices when it comes to interpretation of music. This film has greatly inspired me and given me many ideas on how to make my music students into lifelong learners.