Breaking the Rules: How Giving Students More Choice Transformed My Teaching

By Nikki Wineera

I was once the kind of teacher who followed all the rules. I delivered lessons the way I had been trained: structured, sequenced, predictable. I didn’t question it—after all, I’d completed a Master’s of Teaching, not a Master’s of Education. The emphasis was on methodology, not philosophy. It was all about how to teach content well, not how children actually learn.

But somewhere along the way, I started noticing the limits of that approach. The more I stuck to the structure, the less engaged my students seemed. I was doing everything “right,” but felt that the spark just wasn’t there. I wanted them to be motivated, to care, to take ownership of their learning. But how could they, when every part of it was being handed to them?

Nikki Wineera

Nikki Wineera is an educator, writer, and founder of a holistic learning community in Mexico. With a background in traditional schooling and a heart rooted in Indigenous wisdom, mindfulness, and play, she now advocates for education that honours children’s autonomy, emotional well-being, and natural love of learning.