Let’s start with a test. No googling or emailing a friend allowed.
| Question 1. | Is the earthworm a prokaryote or a eukaryote? |
| Question 2. | Conjugate the French verb “être” in the present tense. |
| Question 3. | What’s the capital city of Malaysia? |
Are you racking your brain? If you’re like most people, you probably learned this stuff in school. You used to know. But unless you’ve been practicing for an appearance on the game show Jeopardy, you might not be able to recall these facts immediately.
Here’s another question that a professor of education once asked my curriculum design class.
Think about the things you most love to do in this world. How many of those things did you learn to do in school?
Hmmm…yea, school usually doesn’t come out so well in this equation.
I love school. I love it so much that I became a teacher. I’ve taught hundreds and hundreds of students from K-12, but when I think about the ways we sometimes teach kids, my heart sinks. Like the questions I asked at the start of this post, schooling can be so decontextualized, and so disconnected to our students’ lives. There are plenty of reasons for why this happens and plenty of reasons for why it shouldn’t.
Here’s what I know for sure: when learning means something to students, they remember it. There are millions of educational professionals – teachers, counselors, advisers – who work tirelessly to make learning authentic for their students. Regardless of the subject they teach – whether it’s how to pick a college or how to write an essay – teachers who help students apply new knowledge in meaningful ways are never forgotten because the lessons themselves, endure.
How do you make learning come alive for the students you serve?
What authentic learning experiences do you remember?
What about the case for authentic learning in schools? Where do you stand?
Share your thoughts with the EduGuide educator community here. And, if you’re an English teacher using our free curriculum tools, encourage your students to submit their articles to us. We’d love to publish them. It’s one way EduGuide is trying to support authentic learning.
Cheers,
Michelle Schira Hagerman
Director of Training, EduGuide
P.S. 1. Eurkaryote
2. je suis, tu es, il est, elle est, nous sommes, vous êtes, elles sont, ils sont
3. Kuala Lumpur