Learning almost never happens in any meaningful way in a traditional, compliance-based classroom. Students tend to learn the wrong things when high stakes testing and grades are the only motivators, and many teachers (including myself) will resort to shortcuts using rewards or punishments to try to compete with the the growing list of distractions. In The Natural Classroom, students tend to choose learning rather than have it chosen for them. They develop skills and attributes that stick with them for their entire lives. When learning how to communicate, learning needs to feel natural and be engaging, and sometimes, that learning needs to take place outside the classroom, in the outdoors. Better practices as an educator leads to better student learning, and ultimately, better performance.