Are We Confined?

"I understand preparing students for high school or whatever may be next for them, but again we can’t allow that to confine what we do. . . and we can’t allow a test to confine or paralyze us and what we do or don’t do." - Bill Powers (@MrPowersCMS) on his blog cmslearning1.wordpress.com

As I read a recent blog post by Bill Powers, this statement he made struck me and really caused me to think.  Are we confined by other's expectations?  Do we limit ourselves to the minimum acceptable standard in educating our kids?  If so, are we doing our kids a disservice? What impact do these 'confinements' have on student motivation?  How can we break through the 'minimum' ceiling and expose our kids to the exciting world around them?

I think that the answers to these questions must revolve around tapping into each student's passion and giving him/her ownership of their learning.  Only then can we truly customize and personalize learning in a way that makes it relevant to each student.  And if we don't do this, we most certainly are doing a disservice to our kids.  If we are only concerned about test scores and confine our students' opportunities to these areas, then we are definitely limited by others' views of education and what's important.

Look at the tweet below from Dr. Robert Dillon (@ideaguy42) to Eric Sheninger (@e_sheninger).

Are we using the confinement of standardized tests as an excuse?  If we break outside of the barriers that these tests create will our kids suffer or blossom?

I believe that it is through overcoming this confinement that we truly begin to serve students and provide them with quality preparation for their lives.  I would guess that if we focused more on student passion and the development of the 6 Cs - Collaboration, Creativity, Communication, Critical Thinking, Connection, and Culture - that the standardized tests would take care of themselves.  And if they don't, what have we really lost?

How will you break through the barriers that confine you today?