The following article was originally published in The Gateway newspaper, Sicamous, BC, June 2014. I no longer teach at ERS, but the school continues to engage in innovative programs with some of the most skilled teachers in SD 83. When I left, half the teachers had Masters degrees and a third of them were published authors!
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SMALL BUT MIGHTY LEARNING AT ERS.
© Shawn L. Bird 2014
Eagle River Secondary (ERS) has been the educational heart of Sicamous since students began learning on the property nearly a century ago. In recent years, declining enrolment has required the school to become creative in order to offer programs that keep students in town. These successful innovations are causing a stir throughout the province.
The changes have included offering grade specific Core classes (English, Social Studies, Math, and Science) in the mornings and multigrade electives in the afternoons. The electives have embraced the teachers’ varied passions, allowing students to learn through classes in geo-caching, horticulture, international cuisine, cake decorating, hockey, outdoor education and guitar as well as more traditional classes like volleyball, biology and art. Of special note is the Social Justice class, which has students in the community helping at the thrift store and Meals on Wheels, harvesting vegetables for the food bank, gardening, and collecting for various charities.
A new focus on flexible learning by the Ministry of Education became the key to Eagle River’s innovations. The school has been given freedom to develop unconventional approaches to timetabling and course offerings. As a result of the success of these efforts, ERS has been recognized by the provincial government as a flagship school of the BC Ed Plan. Grade eight and nine students have had the opportunity to learn together in their choice of six mixed Science/ Socials classes throughout the school year; grade ten will be added in 2014-15. These courses have provided hands on, project based learning exploring local plants, controversial issues, water, astronomy, sound, electricity, revolutions, world religions, and cultural fashions among other offerings.
ERS is also very active in Career Education initiatives. Students are able to earn credits for their work experience in their jobs outside of school. There are two ERS students working in the community as Secondary School Apprentices, collecting hours with BC’s Industry Training Authority and gaining high school credit while they work as a marine mechanic or electrician. ERS works with School District 83 to provide two other students with dual credits (both college and high school) for career training as an automotive repair technician or a hair dresser. These students do a semester or year of training at another SD83 school, and will return to ERS tograduate with their friends.
Students also have the opportunity to parlay their own interests into Independent Directed Study (IDS) blocks. Students develop a set of learning goals, based on existing Ministry courses, and then leave the building to explore. Presently a pair of students is doing an IDS in fly fishing, learning about insect and fish life cycles, creating flies, fishing, and recording their findings. This is science and physical education for real life! Other students have created IDS courses in music, mountain biking, fitness, and long boarding. ERS partnered with UBC’s Okanagan campus to offer Maker Day. This was a chance to explore creative thinking and problem solving by students and community members working in small, multi-age groups to create prototypes of inventions. Maker Day is a movement dedicated to inquiry learning. Three ERS teachers are working on Masters degrees at UBCO, and the university is keen to have greater involvement with the school.
Eagle River’s innovations are making waves. Schools from all over the province are calling or coming to see what is happening within the walls. With only 150 students in grades eight to twelve, ERS may be small, but it’s mighty. Great things are happening for Sicamous’s kids, and the province is taking notice.
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You can find the original article in situ here on page 8. GatewayJun2014-SmallMightp8.
Shawn L. Bird BA, MEd.
Shawn L. Bird 
This is as it should be. The students are not being treated as guinea pigs, and the school is bringing traditional education well-along into the 21st Century. Those who hang on to the models of the 19th and early 20th centuries will find themselves shivering in the cold.
As a now retired teacher after 40 years, your article was very interesting to read. The innovations shown by a small school district were cutting-edge. I spent 22 years of my teaching career in a school district of a similar size in Montana. Thanks for publishing this article again as well as the link to the Gateway publication.
You might be interested in our district’s latest big innovation: an outdoor school. https://sca.sd83.bc.ca/
Thanks for the link. I will check it out.
Thanks for sharing! The IDS is a great idea in order for kids to work and learn practically. A good experience is also the maker lab where kids and teenagers can create the product they want. They can experiment and learn the innovation and the production process and they can test to create a Minimum Viable Product. It also support the development of their critical thinking skills…definitely an important skills today.
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