One Size Fits All? Not in Education !

Question.  

Do you….

1. Choose your own drink at Starbucks?

2. Customize your burrito at Chipotle?

3. Decide which book you would like to read?

4. Pick your ideal speed and incline on the treadmill?

5. Choose where you’d like to sit?

As adults, we make choices all the time. Most of the time, without even thinking. We love to customize and personalize our items, games, food and drinks down to the last detail. (At least I do.. and I know I’m not alone in this).

I brought all this to the front of your mind because I want people to realize just how self-directed and personalized our lives are as adults in the real world.

Since (part of the focus of) our educational system is meant to get scholars ready for college, careers and life in general, why not do exactly that? In the “real world” adults make their own decisions, are self directed, set goals, and personalize their experiences. However some classrooms are purely teacher-centered and students don’t have the opportunity for self-directed independence, personalization of classwork, activities or seating.

Education is not a “one size fits all” scenario. Personalization is a must. In a future post, I’ll go into detail about what personalization means to me. For now, consider the following question from George Curos’ (@gcouros) book, The Innovators Mindset.

Would you like to be a student in your classroom?

#education #GrowthMindset #innovation