Authentic Teaching

Authentic teaching and learning connects students to what they are learning to the real world. Instead of having multiple choice questions or papers to write, student would do a project or complete an activity that will be beneficial to the real world. This allows students relate to what they are learning to the real world which engages students while learning. When students are engaged while being taught they remember more. During fieldwork when students had a real life scenario they were more engaged in the lesson. For example during the inquiry lesson when I said that the library flooded and needed their help to put articles back together they were so eager to help and solve the problem Also, during the cooperative learning lesson when I said that we would be able to patent their inventions and make it available for the world, students worked really hard to make their invention the best.

Link to video.http://www.learner.org/workshops/socialstudies/session6/index.html

While watching the four videos I noticed many different methods teachers used for authentic instruction. For example, when teaching how the earth rotates the teacher did a hands on activity. First, she asked questions and then asked why after every answer which is good because it allows students to reflect on why they are thinking that. Then, she did an activity that allowed students to experience a concept to understand it abstractly.  During this activity the teacher shut all the lights and had students sit around her in a circle while she was holding a globe. She then held a flash light acting a sun to show the relationship of day and night because of the earth’s rotate and rotation. This allows students to see the physical relationship and what is actually happening between the sun and the earth.

Another activity that I liked from watching these videos was how a bill becomes a law. Students were to make a flip book of the steps on how a bill becomes a law. However, first the teacher wrote the steps out on a path on the board and modeled what was to be done. This is very important because it shows and clarifies exactly what is to be expected. Before students started to complete their flip books the teacher reminded them about helpfulness which is to help peers if they are stuck. This encourages student interaction and social skills as well as being able to learn from peers. While creating the flip books students had to illustrate the step in the front then write about it in the back. Having students write and illustrate the steps requires higher in depth knowledge and differentiating learning. While completing the activity the teacher asked a student to share what she completed because she was doing a good job. I think this is a brilliant idea because it lets students learn from their peers and see what is to be expected of them. This activity was authentic because it connected to the world and students got to model the exact steps that the government has to go through to get a bill passed as a law.

The third video shows students completing a jigsaw activity on explorers. Students were placed in groups and assigned an explorer and then had to answer questions about that explorer and how they influenced the world and history. After students answered all the questions in their groups they had to share their findings with the whole class. This activity teaches students learning how to learn because they have to research to find facts to answer questions. This is an authentic activity because students get to work together and socialize and answer questions about why the world is the way it is today because of explorers in the past. They then get to present and share their answers instead of having to do research on all the other given explorers.

The fourth clip shows first graders completing a time wheel comparing two books. While teaching social studies he also likes to inquire other subjects such as art and literacy so students see how everything is related to one another. After they are completed this in groups he allows students to share their work. I noticed that all these activities have students working as a class or in groups. They also share their findings with each other and teach the class. These are key points in authentic learning because students learn from their classmates and are engaged in the activity when they get to work with their friends.