The Unique Advantages of a Non-Traditional Educational System

By L. G. Sanchez, Headmaster & Teacher Trainer

Tom Robbins said, “If you do what you’ve always done,

you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.”

    It is interesting that the United States, ranking so low in international education standings, has not made major changes to its teaching methods.

    So, here’s the part where you say, “Okay, I understand what’s wrong with traditional education but…now what?”

    Well, before I get to that, let me just ask you, “Have you gone to any of those “Teacher’s Conventions”? You know, the ones where they show you strategies and techniques. Do you remember how hyped up you were to go and put them into practice? Heck, I remember I wanted to go to the classroom directly after a conference. But what happens? After a week or two, the flame flickers out. You see, in theory, all the strategies taught do work but, while you learn the “what”, you aren’t taught the “how.” After a while, the conventions just become a free day, a change of pace, but you really don’t pull anything of lasting merit from them.

Zig Ziglar said, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing. That’s why we recommend it daily.”

    He’s right. I have come to realize that to be successful, ya gotta wanna be successful. But you can’t just “kinda want it.” You have to desire it badly. THEN you’ll be successful. If you truly understand the advantages of non-traditional learning, and I mean deeply understand it, you will maintain a strong motivation to achieve SUPER TEACHER status. Determine before you begin to be successful and, with the right tools, you will be successful. Students won’t want to leave your class. Students will be motivated to work and you will have less stress, fewer worries, and you will finally enjoy what I believe is the noblest of all professions, teaching.

 It is important to work with the three primary learning areas with students. These are the Cognitive (knowledge), Psycho-motor skills (physical movement), and Affective skills (attitudes, emotions). Traditional teaching has focused primarily on the cognitive, at the expense of the others. Our method will encompass all three in a genuine and palpable manner.

    As you begin to understand and implement non-traditional teaching methods, your classroom will become dynamic and fun centers of real learning. Dare to be different!

21st Century students need to master new and different skills

    In the past the necessary skill sets were different. In order to obtain a job, students had to know how to write, basic math skills, how to read, and how to follow instructions. By doing this, the student was prepared to enter the workplace.

    Today these skills are not even in the top ten required skills. Today’s students need to master the “4 C’s” of 21st Century Learning: Creativity, Collaboration, Communication, and Critical Thinking. These are the skills that tomorrow’s future employers will be seeking. Non-traditional education provides the students with the opportunities to develop these skills and, therefore, prepares the student for gainful employment with the necessary skill set.

The employee of the 21st century contrasts with the employee of the 20th century

    The employee of the 20th century worked from 9-5, worked in a corporate office, used company equipment, is focused on inputs, and climbed the corporate ladder. Today’s employee works anytime, from anywhere, using any device, focuses on output, and creates his own ladder. He has a flexible work environment, can customize his/her own work, uses new ways to communicate, can become a leader, shifts from knowledge worker to learning worker, and learns and teaches at will. We do a disservice if we do not prepare our students for this new work paradigm.

Workplace Skills Requirements are Changing!

    As our society progresses and technology brings many new and unheard-of job opportunities, the skills required by today’s young students also change. We cannot teach for the job requirements of our time period. It is estimated that 42% of today’s current jobs will not exist by the time our students hit adulthood and are ready to enter the workplace. Therefore, schools must adapt and prepare the student with the skill sets required by future jobs. 

    When discussing work-skills, the shift has gone from cognitive memorization to higher-order thinking skills. Teamwork, problem-solving, interpersonal skills and creativity are gaining ground. When we look at the future 2020 and beyond, the projections are that a huge percentage of jobs in existence today will not exist within the next 10-20 years. That means that our educational system must educate today’s students for jobs that currently do not exist. Talk about difficult! However, there is an obvious trend in the job market skills our young students will need. Traditional education cannot reinforce these skills, but a non-traditional system can. Since my non-traditional system is constantly evolving, it can always respond to the changing needs of our young students.

Non-traditional education allows the student to learn and understand deeply.

Albert Einstein said, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.”

    Besides the fact that in traditional teaching, we are teaching archaic things which are not pertinent to the students, they do not learn these deeply. Students who learn under the traditional method learn most of the material superficially and by rote memorization. A clear example should be enough to demonstrate this. Summer learning loss students experience during summer vacation is one such example. In literature and language arts this loss may be as little as a month, but in math it can be as high as three months. This learning loss has to be recovered at the beginning of the new academic year and teachers find that they spend the first 2-3 months just reviewing the information that the student already learned and forgot.

Students who learn using non-traditional learning strategies learn the material, they learn it deeply, they understand it deeply, and because they understand it, they can explain it.

“As the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead declared long ago, “A merely well-informed man is the most useless bore on God’s earth.” Facts and skills do matter, but only in a context and for a purpose. That’s why progressive education tends to be organized around problems, projects, and questions — rather than around lists of facts, skills, and separate disciplines. The teaching is typically interdisciplinary, the assessment rarely focuses on rote memorization, and excellence isn’t confused with “rigor.” The point is not merely to challenge students — after all, harder is not necessarily better — but to invite them to think deeply about issues that matter and help them understand ideas from the inside out.” [1]

Non-traditional education is hands-on education.

    A student who is engaged learns more than one who is not. Therefore, a teacher who is working with non-traditional education spends more time creating an environment where the student can do things. A non-traditional class is a class of “doing”. The entire process of learning is based on this “learning by doing” philosophy. So teachers must plan with a view towards creating environments that allow the student to actively do things.

Students learn better when they are actively engaged

    In my role as a school administrator, I have the wonderful blessing of visiting all the classrooms. Since all our educators are continuously trained in non-traditional education, I see first-hand the difference it makes in the classroom. No longer do I visit classrooms and see students bored out of their minds, sleeping, or barely engaged. Every day, in every class, there are dynamic activities going on, and to see 100% of the students engaged makes me realize that choosing to teach was my calling in life.

    Students are involved in the learning process and can see how it applies to daily life. The single most important facilitator goal is to increase student interest in the subject matter. When this is achieved, wonderful things occur!

 “… students play a vital role in helping to design the curriculum, formulate the questions, seek out (and create) answers, think through possibilities, and evaluate how successful they — and their teachers — have been. Their active participation in every stage of the process is consistent with the overwhelming consensus of experts that learning is a matter of constructing ideas rather than passively absorbing information or practicing skills.[2]”

    Needless to say, parent feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Many have stated that this is exactly what they have been looking for their child: a place where the child will “fall in love with learning.” Every classroom in America should be such a place!

Non-traditional teachers change their roles from teacher to facilitator    

In fact, I refer to them as facilitators. Teachers need to redefine and understand their new role in this modern age. As facilitators, we do just that: “facilitate” student learning. It means that we guide, we support, and we permit students to learn. It is hard for teachers to surrender “teaching” and allows students to learn. Yet, this “Less Us, More Them” mentality is precisely what we are called to do. When students learn together, discover together, share together, and teach each other, they learn more. Needless to say, there is less stress on the educator as well.

    The teacher does not have the need to know everything, but rather the job description changes. You now are creating learning environments, places where learning can occur. You are also observing the student; how they work, how they relate, and how they learn. This is very much more fun than the daily conflictive relationships created when teachers try to “make” students learn. It is about truly enjoying the work you do now. It is why you became an educator in the first place.

Facilitators create an environment where students can “discover”     

Therefore, non-traditional education can be called “discovery education.” A non-traditional teacher does not speak very much, does not give much information, he allows the students to discover things on their own. This is hard, especially for old school teachers who are accustomed to talking the entire class period. During my training sessions I recommend that teachers speak less than 10% of the time and allow the students to speak 90% of the time. In a one-hour class, that means that the teacher only speaks for 6 minutes.

    In our last school survey involving students from 4th grade through 12th grade, 99.63% of the students indicated that they discover something new everyday!

Discipline problems are reduced or non-existent

    Several years ago, before we implemented non-traditional education, things were very different. In one semester, in the middle school level alone, we had 59 academic problems, and just about as many disciplinary problems. Last year, we had ZERO (0) disciplinary problems and ZERO (0) academic problems. I have seen students who struggled in traditional settings become excellent students in the new non-traditional setting. When you understand this direct cause and effect relationship, the wise teacher will endeavor to create classrooms where students are 100% engaged. When this occurs, schools experience fewer student problems and fewer teacher burnouts! 

There are many options in non-traditional learning

    The most fascinating part of non-traditional education is the many options available. You can mix and match as many as you wish. The system focuses primarily on five: Project-based Learning, Game-based Learning, Flipped Learning, Cooperative Learning, and Problem-based Learning. There are so many activities available in each that you never have to repeat the same activity twice in the entire year. Differentiated learning allows you to keep students actively engaged in their classes. REMEMBER: An engaged student is a student who learns.

Non-Traditional Education is Student-Centered

    One must part from the premise that every child wants to learn. Unfortunately, traditional education destroys student initiative and curiosity, as it seeks to create students who conform to a pre-set plan. By allowing students to express their many different intelligences, the students have the freedom to develop naturally and learning is enhanced. The non-traditional classroom promotes student curiosity, allows for the student to discover their learning, and engages the students in the learning process (but you don’t have to tell them that!)

Non-Traditional Education Promotes Creativity

    Traditional teaching strategies are making learning a task no one enjoys. The educator is stressed and the student is bored. There is no excitement in this learning style. Students are not expressing their creativity, nor are they allowed to. This is having a negative effect on our young people.

    Traditional education is set up to diminish creativity. It establishes the definition of “good” as staying in your seat, remembering everything the teacher says, and regurgitating this information as “knowledge” on a written test. “Bad” means doing anything else. This insistence in sitting still, memorizing information, and being tested on your memory has been a trade-mark of traditional education. Few, if any, have dared challenge traditional education. However, today the critique of this educational methodology is being heard in all the halls of knowledge. Stalwarts are wont to change, but today’s reality is forcing a change.

    Still, most education today has memorization as the best manner to obtain “good” grades. It is being touted as the way to enter a good university and get a degree. Of course, everyone knows that a degree guarantees you a job and happiness. (NOT!)

    Today’s young student does not want to follow this pattern. It is a flawed ideology. Today’s young people are looking for something more. They inherently understand that traditional education is not preparing our young people for today’s job market. In the meantime, we force millions of our potentially creative minds into a system of uniformity and conformity that destroys the creative element within each and every individual. Today’s students will no longer accept this, and, if we cannot respond to their concerns, we will continue to confront problems in the classroom. We will come to realize that we are not preparing our students for the future.

Non-Traditional Education allows for individualized attention

    When correctly applied, NTE offers students an individualized education. Facilitators see and directly interact with individual students and groups. As observers, they are keenly aware of the classroom dynamics and processes. They can guide students to discover answers in the way they form questions for inquisitive research by the student.

Failure is encouraged as part of the Learning Process

“Failure is instructive. The person who really thinks learns quite as much from his failures as from his successes.” - John Dewey

    In our progressive approach, we see the individual child’s curiosities, abilities and learning style as important factors in designing, differentiating and assessing each student’s learning. We encourage children to follow their interests, pursue problems in a way that makes sense to them and defend their conclusions by explaining their thinking in a variety of ways. We engage students with hands-on investigations, projects and design challenges across the grades and subject areas inspiring greater interest, depth, and understanding. Our approach values the skills involved in formulating one’s own questions, as well as answering those of a teacher. We view mistakes as important opportunities for both learning and assessment. ­

Today’s Students Need More!

    I believe that each child learns best, not by reliance on standards, written tests, or just being passive receptors in the classroom. Each child learns best by actively constructing their own understanding based on his or her knowledge, skills, and experience. Genuine educators create the learning environment for this to happen.

    More than a century of educational research and, on a personal level, 25 years of teaching experience, have demonstrated that this progressive approach to teaching yields fantastic results. Students become life-long learners, loving the process.

    While 21st-century education does require mastering the content of core academic subjects, there are other, just as important skills that must be taught. These include such skills as innovation, collaboration, and leadership. These are essential to the foundation that students need for long-term academic success, personal growth, and involvement in civic issues to promote positive change in the interest of equity and justice.

    Our approach develops essential 21st-century skills in three important categories:

·       Learning and innovation (creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration)

·       Information, media, and Technology skills (effectively using, managing, and evaluating information from all sources, including digital technology and communication tools)

·       Life and career skills (flexibility and adaptability, self-direction, teamwork, appreciation of diversity, accountability, and leadership)

When the learning process is most important, learning comes naturally

    Non-traditional educators will encourage the use of all senses, training the students in both observation and judgment; and instead of encouraging memorization only, will spend most of the time teaching how to use various sources of information, including life activities as well as books; how to reason about the information thus acquired; and how to express forcefully and logically the conclusions reached.

    It is essential that the teacher should believe in the aims and principles of non-traditional education. They should provide the leeway for the development of initiative and originality.

Use of Multiple Evaluation and Assessment methods

    Students are not just a grade on an exam. Each student possesses skill sets that need to be tapped in order to have each child learn to the optimum level. Traditional education compares each student on how she or she does on written exams. NTE promotes the holistic growth of each student. Students are encouraged to learn how they naturally learn. By doing this, each student learns more because the student becomes fully engaged in the learning process. An engaged student is a student who learns. Therefore, we must break away from the paradigm of grades and standardized exams as the only method of assessment and evaluation. Our non-traditional educational system promotes multiple and varied evaluations and assessment methods that allow students to demonstrate their knowledge in many ways.

    Understanding that each child is a complex being influenced by physical, mental, moral, and social experiences, it is obvious that the current grading system does not recognize this complexity. Students who are in this traditional system soon learn what is expected of them and do precisely what is required to obtain a good score. Many, who never achieve academic “success” have simply failed to conform to the traditional standards, but have as much, if not more, acquired knowledge. Information on each student in an NTE environment should serve as a guide for the treatment of each individual student and should focus the work of the facilitator on development rather than simply teaching subject matter.

Cooperation between School and Home

    The school should provide all the natural interests and activities that children demand, especially during the elementary years. Children should be encouraged to learn through play, should have a varied educational environment, should go home and share with their families in a non-conflictive manner (not the eternal “did you do your homework?” “Do it now!” fight), building bonds of trust between themselves and their parents. The school should promote this at all times. When parents and school work together effectively, the student grows. The school should help parents de-emphasize the focus on grades and emphasize the focus on developing a love of learning.

Non-Traditional Learning is not a free ticket or an easy grade

    Many traditionalist teachers I have encountered have told me that they think the system of Non-Traditional Education learning is a simple way for students to get good grades. Actually, it is just the opposite. The students must use many different skill sets (many of which they are developing for the first time) to achieve the learning process. My impression is that these teachers are more concerned with teaching than having their students learn. The non-traditional system holds the students accountable for their learning and, in the truest sense, fully engages the student. An engaged student is a student who truly learns. It is also true that, for the most part, traditional educators rely solely on the results of a few summative evaluations to determine the learning of their charges.

    I hold this to be totally unfair on so many levels. Not all students learn the same way (see Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences). This type of learning demands discipline, but not the type of discipline to which traditionalists are accustomed. Students should not be seated all day listening to a teacher drone on and on about science, math, or what have you. This is an unnatural state that is not conducive to true learning. I have given conferences where adult educators could not sit still for one-half hour. They end up enjoying the activities we include in our workshops as much as any child would. This is evidence enough that we need to rethink teaching. We are demanding of our students what we ourselves are not inclined to do.

    The system promotes facilitator focus on the process of non-traditional education. The results will come naturally. When teachers focus on the end results, they push and lose focus of the student as a person. It is this concept that is a major stumbling block to the implementation of this, or any system of education. Standardized testing has done more harm to the educational system than just about anything else. Teacher accountability should be determined by how much the teacher has engaged the student in this learning process and how he/she has fostered student curiosity and enthusiasm, rather than some standardized test. The practitioner must believe that students will learn more if we allow them to learn the way they do naturally.

The practitioner also understands that learning occurs on many levels and that there are three areas we must work with learners: the cognitive, the affective, and the psycho-motor. The intellect would fall under Bloom’s Cognitive Domain. This includes the knowledge and skills the students acquire over the length of their education. The emotion corresponds to Bloom’s Affective Domain. It includes social-emotional learning and emphasizes how a student feels about his relationships with others and the world around him. The will corresponds to Bloom’s Psycho-motor Domain and is the outward expression of the relationship between the cognitive domain and the affective domain. It is that motivation that leads to action. A facilitator who understands the relationship between these three components of every human being can prepare classes that will stimulate a different component in all his students.

    In a non-traditional learning environment, the students are engaged and are learning the material. They will, by nature, learn deeply. When they learn deeply, what they learn has pertinence and relevance to them. Deep learning beats superficial learning every day of the week.

    The main goal of the System is to engage 100% of the students ALL THE TIME. This is a very difficult task, but I have seen facilitators achieve just that goal. There are occasions where I can go for days visiting groups and not see one bored or disengaged student. It just works!

[1] Progressive Education: Why It’s Hard to Beat, But Also Hard to Find By Alfie Kohn

[2] Ibid