Have you ever been in a class and wondered, how exactly am I going to use this in my life? We have all been there. After reading chapter after chapter in our textbooks or completing yet another paper by researching articles on Google, learning can lose its authenticity. We begin to wonder why this is so important or why you have to devote so much time to something that does not have relevance to you. As someone who grew far too tired of the mundane “do it because you have to” form of learning, I want to bring back real-life, authentic learning to my students with real-world examples and relevancy.
Julie Lindsay’s The Global Educator explores this idea of “authentic learning with real-world partners.” Students who are in global classrooms expect to have authentic learning partners among all ages. In turn, they also expect to have an audience that is equally authentic to produce everything from blog posts to videos. This form of learning cannot simply be taught solely from the textbook and must expand beyond essays and research. Modern, living people can provide the most up-to-date information about how they live while books can quickly fall behind the times. Although textbooks are important, we must expand beyond them in certain instances so we can show students how they can use this information in their own lives. When we learn from each other, we get a live, real and genuine look into the lives of others and can base our understanding of real-life experience.
We should connect students with the world around them. When they see first hand how what they are learning matters, they will feel more inclined to work hard as now the work has an added meaning. When we collaborate with others globally, we are improving the education of the children on both sides of the communication. This can be done through virtial games with students in another part of the world or even giving presentations to not only the class but to someone in a different state. When we extend the reach of our classroom, we give students the thrill of communication, connection, and collaboration.
When students feel a personal connection to what it is they are learning, they are more excited to participate in their education. As an article produced by Lexia states, authentic learning “places students at the heart of real-life experiences” making them more motivated to explore and develop their educational skills through a variety of outlets (project based-learning, community connections, experiential learning opportunities). It is important to meld practical academic skills with real-life situations so students understand why they are learning. Below is a quote from the Lexia article that I thought was insightful on what exactly authentic learning environments are:
Students engaged in authentic learning are not memorizing content and demonstrating understanding through a multiple-choice test. Rather…they take the lead in identifying questions and problems, brainstorming solutions, and responding and adapting to failure until they are successful in addressing a need or creating a final product.
Geography is a subject most of us can agree on is not very “exciting” and students can quickly lose interest after 45 minutes of facts and maps. I found the idea of a mystery hangout and I know it is 100% something I am looking forward to introducing to my students in the future. In a mystery classroom, two classrooms from around the world interact with each other via Google Hangout. Using knowledge about geography, they ask each other questions to attempt to uncover where the other group is from. It is a fun activity that connects students from around the world while also applying a fun an meaningful experience. The mystery classroom gets students thinking about and interacting with people all around the world to not only increase their geographic understanding but their understanding of how life is like for the other class. This Hangout provides an authentic explanation for the importance of geography and will be a lesson they take with them for years to come.
Hi Malisa! I really connected with your blog about authentic learning in the class because I once was a student who would learn information for a test and after the test, I would forget the information. I think that authentic learning has lost its touch because now many teachers have to focus on teaching students the information they need to pass state testing. Teachers now have pressure on them to get good scores because it represents what kind of teacher they are. In reaction to testing, teachers can turn the material that needs to be learned for testing into real-life situations. For example, in math when the students are doing word problems have problems related to what the students are interested in that way they can remember the steps to do a similar math problem in the future. Also, I like your idea about doing a mystery hangout and I think all teachers should incorporate this into their geography curriculum. Since technology is becoming more known in the classroom do you think eventually all teachers will have to teach at least one lesson in a global learning way?
I really like and appreciate your post.Thanks Again.
Really informative post.Thanks Again. Will read on…