Dive Brief:

• When teachers take risks and think outside of the box with unorthodox teaching methods, the boosts to student engagement can be plentiful, according to a new column published by EdSurge. 
• The column, written by former KIPP teacher Warren Hawkins, encourages educators to take risks, arguing that the display of critical thinking and problem-solving will help students develop those necessary 21st century skills.
• In one classroom highlighted n the piece, a teacher with low student engagement realized many of her students were into sports, so she created a fantasy basketball league for her class and required students to track and graph the statistics. The project ultimately became more complex as predictive analytics and statistical correlations were incorporated, according to EdSurge.

Dive Insight:

Hawkins brings up many important points in his essay about the need for classroom teachers to take risks, but he places much of the risk-aversion on teachers. Many want to take risks, however, they are forced into structured, scripted curriculum situations by administrators who feel pressure from the state and federal governments about test scores. Instead of writing the essay for teachers, it almost makes more sense for administrators to get clued into the idea of encouraging their teachers to take risks.

The reality is students won't do well unless they feel motivated and are active participants in class. Encouraging teachers to think outside of the box can pay dividends in getting students who are active members of the classroom community. Of course, there is also the argument that instead of teaching to the test, we should be teaching students to think critically. If students can think for themselves, they can likely do well on any exam. 

Recommended Reading

EdSurge : When Risks in the Classroom Lead to Rewards