A young person who feels this way will not be able to move forward academically before his or her personal needs are addressed. Building a supportive classroom environment is important, if not essential, for learning to take place. Some teachers may want to incorporate team-building and challenge into the classroom but feel they do not have the skills or money to lead wilderness adventure activities. This should not be a limitation. Although wilderness and urban expeditions were our ways of creating an adventurous classroom, they are not the only ways.
Teachers can design many more experiences that challenge their students in a supportive environment.
We need to draw from our own interests and passions to create engaging and adventurous classrooms. We need to engage students by using their own lives and realities as a point of departure. We can create an environment that encourages positive risks, challenges students with relevant new material, and empowers them to use this new information as a tool to forge their own futures. With Chemical Bank, we developed a mentoring program, additional support programs for alumni, summer scholarships, and summer employment programs. We also established collaborations with the National Black Theater, the New York Shakespeare Festival, and other nonprofit arts organizations.