Online Journal : From Now On - The Educational Technology Journal
Vol. 17 No. 2 November 2007
Learning Authentically in the Language Arts Classroom
By Jamie McKenzie http://fno.org/nov07/lang.html
This article talks about how teachers need to challenge students by involving them in situations outside of school where they will be exercising problem solving and communication skills. The article refers to middle school or high school students.
The article talks about involving them in internships, simulations or Interviews with people in the work force. If students are more involved in the real world they can do better
in the classroom. It makes sense if you allow students to see what the real world is about they will be more eager to get involved. I don’t think there is enough programs that involve students in situations that will prepare them for the outside world.
This program is based on Newman's model of instruction which
talks about the five standards of authentic instruction which are 1) high order thinking 2) Depth of knowledge 3) Connectiveness to the world beyond the classroom 4) Substantive conversation 5) Social support for student achievement.
Part of the teachers job is to survey a range of professions and jobs with the idea of identifying situations within each that might require problem-solving, decision-making and powerful communication.
The job could have some direct that directly involves the community in some way. The children think up questions to ask the person. The children visit the job site and interview the person or persons involved.
The students could visit the local park dept. office. They are told that there are not enough volunteers for some of the local programs. The students are asked to think of ways that the park department could can get more volunteers. This allows the students to get involved in real life situations.
Newmans philosophy incorporates 21st century skills and is a step in the right direction to educating our children.
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3 comments:
Linking the school to real life, as presented in the article, would be such an advantage for our students. I share your opinion that students need opportunities to get involved in different aspects of our life as part of their requirements for class. This way they would have a better chance to appreciate people and professions and it will help them in setting goals for themselves.
Real world involvement should help students understand their environments and the myriad of possibilities that await them.
I am surprised that Newman's model is being articulated today in an industrialized country of USA's caliber.I would have expected it to be part of the education culture.
I will share this article with the teacher responsible for students' internship in my school.I am certain that he will appreciate the info even if he has already known about it.
Great article. It is so important that students are given the opportunity to participate in real world situations. This allows students to see what interests them and to begin to determine what they may want to do with their life. They could get an early start on preparation for that. It also allows students to begin to develop the skills they will need in the real world because they will actually be using those real world skills,
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