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

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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?

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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.

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Nikki Wineera
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.

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