Day 4: We All Can't Climb Trees

    
       All individuals have a desire to learn and simply need the proper outlet and guidance in order to fulfill that need. While I am aware that not every student will excel in the classroom setting, I do strongly believe that all students have an innate desire to learn and simply need an outlet to showcase their skills and talents in a nonjudgmental space. 
      It is therefore imperative that we allow students to learn and grow in ways that showcase these talents each and everyday. While not every assignment will lend itself to the style of learning that best fits each and every student, we as educators must consider the importance of multimedia project and portfolio-based learning. This shift into project-based learning does not mean that the traditional forms of education should be packed away and forgotten. Instead we as educators need to become better at blending our teaching styles into methods that support our students futures and not the future of standardized testing. 
         No longer should educators be expected to teach students to simply fill in a bubble, but to explore what it means to be their own person. Standardized testing has been proven to be ineffective when it comes to proficiency-based learning and stifles our students natural born talents and inquisitive nature. Therefore, it is now more important than ever to stop asking our students to climb tress and instead begin to ask them to think about their futures. Not the futures we think are right for them, but the future that they want. Only when we stop thinking of our students as carbon clones and as talented individuals, will we begin to see a positive shift in classroom culture.