Parkour has been defined as “the sport of traversing environmental obstacles by running, climbing, or leaping rapidly and efficiently.” Educational Parkour, a concept by Bill Genereux, entails using all elements of education as a type of leverage to get us to where we would like to be.  In “Who is Ed Parkour?” he compares this sport to the field of education: We should be seeing structures as paths that allow us to move forward in more creative, explorative ways. If so many teachers are seeing the standardized tests as a road block, then why not find a fun way to get students over that obstacle? Using this parkour concept, we can get students to see elements of education in a whole new way. Together, we can all learn to use tests, grades, curriculum and other aspects as stepping stones in a “pursuit of mastery.” Even if the students and educators stumble and fall, there can be no failure because all paths that allow progress lead to authentic learning. I thought this was a great metaphor and this new world orientation may lead to strides in the field. Being able to work with the obstacles in place to turn them into leverage is what will create life-long learners in our classroom. Getting the students from point A to point B with the resources we have can be enough to shift the way we think about learning.

This “Office” clip was actually my first exposure to parkour and it puts a comical twist on the increasingly popular sport. Hopefully things in our classrooms would be a little smoother than this parkour experience at the office!