Cover of Imagine This - Ideas & Stories for Creative, Meaningful Teaching

Imagine This - Ideas & Stories for Creative, Meaningful Teaching

Imagine This - Ideas & Stories for Creative, Meaningful Teaching

By: Dylan Ismail
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Imagine This is a podcast about what’s possible in classrooms. Each episode features conversations with teachers who are building meaningful, creative (and sometimes boldly real-world) projects — the kind that help students create work that matters beyond school. From documentary field trips and immersive role-playing games to student-made podcasts and more, we explore ideas that make learning feel alive. Hosted by Dylan from Classmate — a team that partners with educators to co-create fun, collaborative learning experiences — the show blends reflection and storytelling. Some stories come from classrooms we collaborate in; others come from schools and educators we meet along the way. Each episode includes a teacher interview alongside reflection from the Classmate team on what worked, what surprised us, and what we’re still learning. This show is for K–12 educators (and really anyone who cares about learning) who want school to feel more meaningful, more imaginative, and more real.©2026 Classmate
Episodes
  • Student Agency, From Someone Who Experienced It with Finny Bicycle

    Student Agency, From Someone Who Experienced It with Finny Bicycle
    15 Sep 2026

    What does high school feel like when students get two full weeks to work on one thing they chose themselves?

    In this episode of Imagine This, Dylan sits down with Finny Bicycle, a recent graduate of Imagine High in Chilliwack, BC. Imagine High is a public integrated arts and technology school of about 300 students, where English is paired with another subject like 20th century world history or outdoor ed, teachers get shared prep time to build projects together, and twice a year every regular class stops for two weeks so students can go deep on one thing. Finny spent every one of those deep dives building miniature dioramas: a run-down city street where the pedestrians have tiny blue LEDs glowing in their hands, a forest fire made of stuffing and airbrush sitting next to the highway that helped cause it.

    Finny describes what integrated learning actually looks like from a student desk, why the public exhibition at the end of a deep dive changes how hard students work, and what it was like to stand back and watch strangers find the message buried in the details of his own artwork. He also walks through the Grade 11 social justice assignment that turned into a school newspaper club, kept running for two more years, and published three issues a year of original student writing and school journalism.

    At the Deeper Learning Conference this summer, Finny co-led an hour-long workshop for a room of principals, teachers, fellow students and educational leaders, running them through the same brainstorming process focused on student agency that his class used. He starts at the University of the Fraser Valley this fall, taking history and sociology with a teaching program to follow.

    This conversation is for educators who want to know what student agency looks like from the other side of the desk, and for anyone who suspects the fastest way to find out whether a school is working is to ask a student.


    About Finny Bicycle

    Finny Bicycle is a recent graduate of Imagine High. He has been profoundly impacted by his experience with project based real-world learning. He plans to become a high school social studies teacher and integrate his teaching with different subjects and connections to the real world, with a focus on social justice and areas students care about. He loves art and building dioramas, in his free time and at school.



    In this episode, you’ll hear:

    • (00:34) - Introducing Finny Bicycle, Imagine High and its learning philosophy and the Deeper Learning Conference
    • (02:59) - Integrated learning across subjects at Imagine High
    • (05:38) - School culture, schedules, and collaborative teaching as experience by as a student
    • (11:25) - Deep Dives and the freedom to pursue meaningful work at Imagine High
    • (12:46) - Finny’s creative journey through creating dioramas during Deep Dives at Imagine High
    • (14:11) - How Finny uses art to explore social justice and climate issues
    • (18:27) - Why public exhibitions make learning meaningful to students
    • (21:35) - Connecting the school to the wider community
    • (26:30) - Students as peers at the Deeper Learning Conference and Finny’s experience as a participant and presenter
    • (32:48) - How student agency drives engagement
    • (33:14) - Creating and growing the newspaper club
    • (39:05) - Facilitating ideas for students and solving real, local community problems
    • (43:01) - Creativity, teaching, and the future of learning
    • (46:22) - Why Imagine High unlocked Finny’s creativity
    • (50:05) - Closing thoughts and reflections on the conversation

    Check out Finny's Dioramas

    • Student Spotlight - A collection of artist statements and works of art by diorama artist, Finny Bicycle


    Resources discussed in this episode:

    • Imagine High School - Chilliwack, BC SD33
    • Deeper Learning Conference
    • Ron Berger - Educator and Speaker
    • Babel, or the Necessity of Violence by R.F. Kuang

    —


    Contact Classmate:

    • Website: Classmate.team
    • Instagram: @classmate.team
    • Classroom Chronicles
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    53 min
  • Beyond the Band Room: Making Music More Accessible with Stephen Band

    Beyond the Band Room: Making Music More Accessible with Stephen Band
    1 Sep 2026
    What can students understand about music when they can see it, not just hear it? In this episode of Imagine This, Dylan and Jen sit down with music and fine arts teacher Steven Band to unpack a GarageBand project that gives Grade 6 and 7 students a new way into music. Instead of beginning with years of instrumental practice or dense music theory, students use iPads to explore beats, chord progressions, song structure, recording, and music production.Steven and Jen share how the project evolved over two years, from an ambitious experiment in recreating pop songs to a more carefully scaffolded experience that starts with the highly visual beat sequencer before moving into chords, recording, and mixing. Along the way, students discover that technology can make music more accessible, but it doesn’t eliminate the need to practice, problem-solve, listen carefully, and develop new skills.The conversation also explores what happens when students move from simply consuming music to understanding how it is built. Students make mistakes, give each other feedback, remix familiar songs, and begin developing the language to explain why something sounds right, or why it doesn’t. For educators interested in creative technology projects, this episode is also a reminder that you don’t have to build the entire experience at once. Start with a beat, a chord progression, or a single section of a song, and see how far your students want to push it.About Steven BandSteven Band is an elementary school teacher at Star of the Sea in Surrey, BC, where he teaches music and fine arts. He holds a Bachelor of Music from UBC and has experience directing both adult and children’s choirs. In his classroom, Steven looks for ways to make music engaging and approachable while still giving students opportunities to develop meaningful technical skills and a deeper understanding of how music works. In this episode, you’ll hear:[00:00:33] What can learners understand about music when they can see it?[00:01:27] How a GarageBand music-production project came to life[00:06:34] The original challenge: recreating a familiar song without instruments[00:08:29] Using smart instruments to make chord progressions accessible[00:11:51] Helping students hear the connection between chords, timing, and song structure[00:15:17] What happened when students first got their hands on GarageBand[00:17:41] Why playing virtual drums proved harder than students expected[00:20:37] Do students need to play an instrument to make music?[00:23:09] Music production, experimentation, and the limits of figuring it out yourself[00:26:02] How the project changed the second time around[00:27:47] Level one: using the beat sequencer to understand rhythm and tempo[00:32:55] Why getting something wrong can be an essential part of learning[00:34:00] Covers, arrangements, and making someone else’s song your own[00:38:44] Setting realistic expectations for student-created music[00:40:46] Building songs in layers with guitar, bass, drums, and piano[00:42:38] The “levels” of learning music production in GarageBand[00:45:04] Student collaboration, sharing, and the unique experience of giving audio feedback[00:48:01] Reflection checkpoints and feedback throughout the project[00:51:06] Using checklists and questions to help students work more independently[00:53:44] Choosing songs students love—and figuring out which ones are actually achievable[00:56:39] Why recording becomes the project’s biggest technical challenge[00:59:12] Building technical skills as a foundation for creativity[01:00:57] Advice for music teachers who are apprehensive about trying a project like this[01:05:31] Why you don’t need to teach the entire project to make it worthwhile[01:08:54] Creating an engaging “growth edge” where students want to keep learning[01:11:09] How far could you push music production in your classroom?Classroom Chronicles articles mentioned:Volume 93: The Sound of Learning Resources discussed in this episode:GarageBandSeesawGarageband Examples Created by Stephen Band—Contact Classmate: Website: Classmate.teamInstagram: @classmate.teamClassroom ChroniclesContact Steven Band: Email: stevirkel@gmail.com
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    1 hr and 3 min
  • Teaching Students Better Online Research Skills with Ken Boyd

    Teaching Students Better Online Research Skills with Ken Boyd
    18 Aug 2026
    How do we help students become confident researchers in an internet shaped by algorithms, AI summaries, and endless scrolling? In this episode of Imagine This, Dylan speaks with Ken Boyd, Director and Educator at CIVIX, about CTRL-F, a Canadian digital media literacy program that helps students evaluate and verify information online.The conversation begins with a common classroom challenge: while students are often taught how to create digital projects, they are less frequently taught how to research effectively. Ken explains why traditional approaches like the CRAAP test struggle in today’s online environment and introduces lateral reading—a fact-checking strategy that encourages students to leave a webpage, investigate its source, and compare claims across multiple reliable outlets.Dylan and Ken also explore how these skills translate into the age of generative AI. From Google’s AI summaries to tools like ChatGPT, they discuss why students must learn to verify not just answers, but the sources behind them. The episode highlights why good research requires intentional friction—and how educators can build stronger, more critical researchers through inquiry-based learning.About Ken BoydKen Boyd is a Director and Educator at CIVIX, a national Canadian charity dedicated to strengthening the skills and habits of citizenship among young people. Ken leads professional development work and helps develop educational resources and programming focused on digital media literacy, constructive dialogue, and civic participation. His work includes CTRL-F, CIVIX’s digital media literacy program, which teaches students practical strategies for finding and evaluating information online.Ken holds a PhD in philosophy from the University of Toronto and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Philosophy and Science Communication at the University of Southern Denmark. He has taught at universities in Canada and Denmark.In this episode, you’ll hear:[00:00:40] Are Students Actually Ready for the Open Internet?[00:03:06] Why Digital Literacy Has Become Essential[00:12:08] Lateral Reading: Stop Reading the Page You’re On[00:15:02] Why the CRAAP Test Falls Short Online[00:18:53] How to Fact-Check Something Online[00:24:43] We Need to Teach Research Skills Like We Teach Tech Skills[00:28:23] Give Students the Job of “Fact-Checker”[00:31:43] Don’t Click the First Result: Practicing “Click Restraint”[00:32:33] When AI Search Gives You the Wrong Answer[00:35:00] How to Fact-Check ChatGPT[00:41:16] Good Research Should Have Friction[00:41:59] Are Chatbots the New Infinite Scroll?[00:44:15] Social Media Bans Don’t Teach Digital Literacy[00:45:42] You Don’t Magically Become Digitally Literate at 16[00:50:52] “I Have a VPN”: The Problem With Simply Blocking Access[00:57:48] AI as “Normal Technology”[01:00:44] AI Isn’t Magic—And That’s Important to Teach[01:02:40] Where Educators Can StartResources discussed in this episode:CTRL-F — CIVIX’s digital media literacy programCIVIX — Canadian civic education organization and creator of Student VoteStudent Vote — CIVIX’s parallel election program for schoolsCTRL-F Example Bank — Timely examples educators can use to practise verification and lateral reading with studentsWikipedia — Discussed as a useful first stop for quickly establishing context about an unfamiliar website, organization, or creatorSnopesAFP Fact CheckPolitiFactThe Walrus—Contact Classmate: Website: Classmate.teamInstagram: @classmate.teamClassroom ChroniclesContact Ken Boyd | CIVIX: Website: civix.ca Email: ken@civix.caLinkedIn: Ken BoydInstagram (English): @civix_canadaInstagram (French) @civix_canada_fr:
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    1 hr and 11 min
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