Growing with Groh Public School Principal, Helmut Tinnes

I met with Waterloo Region District School Board principal Helmut Tinnes last Wednesday to talk about Groh Public School, a new elementary school opening this fall in Kitchener. I was keen to learn more about Groh and in particular its vision:

Groh P.S. will be a world class school with a community of autonomous learners engaged in meaningful inquiry and project based learning opportunities on a globally-oriented campus.

To create this vision, there will be a combination of three essential elements to prepare students for secondary school in advance of preparing them for the workplace:

• a freedom-based, open and inclusive learning environment

• enhanced project-based learning opportunities through inquiry

• interaction with the larger world – to collaborate with students around the world

Tinnes and I talked for more than an hour about numerous topics in education, including inquiry and project based learning, global competencies, growth mindset, curriculum, homework and building relationships.

He shared a prezi with me that he created to explain Groh's approach to teaching and learning to perspective teachers. If you're interested in the topics that I mentioned above, take some time to check out Tinnes' prezi and be sure to refer to the transcript, which provides insight into his philosophy of education.

Coincidentally, later Wednesday evening while I was reflecting on our conversation I came across the website for the education documentary Most Likely to Succeed, based on Tony Wagner's book of the same name. I discovered that the film was scheduled to show the following night at Fanshawe College in London -- about an hour's drive west of Kitchener.  

I made the drive and found my way to a small lecture hall where there were close to 50 people, including teachers, parents and some local entrepreneurs. The film follows several students from High Tech High, a school in California, as they navigate their first year of high school. The catch is that HTH is not a typical school. In many ways, it looks like a high tech start-up. There are open spaces, students working on different projects, integrated subjects and, one of my favourites, no bells. The message of the film, however, transcends HTH and parallels Groh's vision. That is, our education system needs to change; we need to provide opportunities for our students to become "autonomous learners engaged in meaningful inquiry and project based learning opportunities on a globally-oriented campus." 

I'm excited for Tinnes and the future staff, students and parents who will attend Groh this fall. I hope that the teaching and learning which takes place at Groh excites and inspires students in the same way it does for HTH students. I hope that Groh students discover their passions and are motivated to do their best, not because of a mark but because they are curious and want to learn. I believe that under Tinnes' leadership and guidance that all of this will happen...and then some.  

It was a great week of learning!