How an Ottawa teacher is helping students unlearn learning

CameronLamoureux, 18, never felt smart in school despite being a strong writer and an avid reader. He felt stuck, he said,in an education system that disabled him from choosing his own path.

It wasn't until aGrade 10 history class atJohnMcCraeSecondary Schoolthat things changed.

Theteacher toldhim something noone else ever had that he needed to guide his own learning.

It was up to him to choose whetherhe would learn, what he would learn and what impact his learning would have on the world.

"When we are given the opportunity to learn whatever we want and not having to be told what to learn, it's huge," Lamoureux said. "That really hit me hard.I just started learning as much as I could about anything that interested me."

Inspired to start blog

That somewhat unorthodox instruction,encouraging students to pursue personal betterment rather than grades, inspired Lamoureuxto start a blog with his thoughts on education and thebooks he's read.

"I felt like I wasn't able to completely develop in the current system," he said."I struggled a lot with the idea of getting grades.... I felt like it was worthless."

Thehistoryteacher who changedthings for LamoureuxwasRebecca Chambers, who has embarked ona crusade to help students as she puts it unlearn learning.

Her methodhelps students unlearn traditional school structures and encourages them to be responsible for their own learning. Students use Twitter instead of paper, assess themselves through reflection, and choose bothwhat they learn and how they learn it.

Fostering confidence, resourcefulness

The aim is to fosterconfidence and aset of essential life skills that allow themto be self-motivated, to take risks and to be self-regulated.

"[Students]have this idea of what school is, and for the most part it's, 'Be quiet, wait for instructions and then we go from there,'"said Chambers,who teaches world issues, history and anthropology, psychology and sociology.

"I'm going through the process of breaking them of that."

A handful of schools across North America have implemented the alternative teaching methods like unlearning, but uptake has been slow,especially in mainstream public schools.

A day of unlearning in social issues class

8 years ago

Duration 1:19

History teacher Rebecca Chambers says she wants students to take on issues they're passionate about and then look at how they can help solve a problem.

'A lot of collaborating'

At first glance, the students in Chambers's world issues classappeareddisengaged on a recent visit. Some curledup on couches, most staredat their phones and the classroom was only half full.

The reason for the low attendance, however, was that many of themhad goneto a retirement home to start a care program for elderly residents.

Lamoureuxsat on the couch reading AlbertCamus.

"[Normally] alot of people find my class loud.I like to describe it as controlled chaos," Chambers said. "Students are all working on so many different things, so it's really hard for them to be quiet, and there is a lot of collaborating, brainstorming and discussing."

'Change your philosophy,' student says

Two students recorded their first podcast abouttheir experiences in the Ontario Hockey League and the mental health challengesassociated with the sport.

Another group ofstudents crafted compost bags to sell at a fundraiser.

Chambers said her class is structured but enables individual growth and engagement.

"You definitely have to kind of change your philosophy and the way you think in order to be successful [in the class]," said Mandela Mahatma Singh-Sharp, a Grade 11student.

"[Your] success isn't really based on your mark, it's based on how much progress you make and how much change you can create."

Unlearning in Ottawa

The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board(OCDSB) is home to five alternative schools that use non-traditional teaching methods and smaller classrooms for a select number of students who are either at risk or have specific needs.

Ahandful of private schools in the city also employalternative learning methods.

So for the vast majority of students, the classroom and the learning that happens there followtraditional methods.

Students sit in rows, teachers lecture fromthe front of the class, and tests and exams are the primarymeans of evaluating progress. Nearly everyone is required to learn the same thing at the same age, and the freedom to choose what to learn is almost nonexistent.

"Traditional schoolingneeds to be absolutely rethought.Having kids sit still in class and take down notes from a board and listen to lectures ... I think that's a proved disaster,"said AngusMcMurtry, an education professor at the University of Ottawa.

Teachers are increasingly adopting unlearning methods, he said, but there are many who find it difficultto unlearn old habits.

A 'troubling' education system

Chambersadopted the unlearning methodbecause of her own difficult experiences in school, she said.

Alot of teachers become teachers because they loved school.I was the total opposite.- Rebecca Chambers

"Alot of teachers become teachers because they loved school.I was the total opposite."

She vowed to change things for other kids.

One of the most troublingmanifestations of traditional learning, Chambers said,is that it often fails to help students recognize their skills and abilities, andnor does it always encourage positive feedback. Chambers remembers being told by a high school teacherthat she was writing at a Grade 8 level.

Whenshe asked Lamoureuxto starthis blog, he initially told her he didn't want to because he never thought of himself as smart.

"[When] he ended up putting the blog together ... [he]had people from all over the world looking at it and influencers in Canada promoting it," she said. "It broke my heart.... He's a great writer.He's brilliant."

Lamoureux said Chambers's class taught him how to learn for himself.

"That's probably the biggest advantage that I will gain in this class I've learned how I learn, and a lot of students don't get that opportunity."