Start with a Question

It is not uncommon for educators to bristle a bit when asked whether they engage students in "authentic" learning. Without providing more context for the term, some might think they are being accused of developing and delivering lessons that are not genuine, or are fake. In education, authenticity means much more than genuine over fake. According to the Buck Institute for Education : In education, the concept has to do with how “real-world” the learning or the task is. Authenticity increases student motivation and learning. A project can be authentic in several ways, often in combination. It can have an authentic context, such as when students solve problems like those faced by people in the world outside of school (e.g., entrepreneurs developing a business plan, engineers designing a bridge, or advisors to the President recommending policy). It can involve the use of real-world processes, tasks and tools, and performance standards, such as when students plan an experimenta...

"I use the term beautiful work  broadly: ...Always, in all subjects, there is a quest in my classroom for beauty, for quality, and we critique all that we do for its level of care, craftsmanship, and value." - Ron Berger quoted from Buck Institute Recently a colleague of mine, a grade 7/8 math teacher, emailed me with his reflections from reading a book he borrowed from the bookshelf in my office. After a discussion about homework quality and quantity with his colleagues during the final professional learning day of the school year, he stopped by my office to share his thoughts about what makes student work worthwhile. I handed him An Ethic Of Excellence by Ron Berger and encouraged him to read it and dig a little deeper into those thoughts. About a month and a half into summer, he emailed me with his thoughts: "Beautiful work is the idea that schoolwork is about the process of producing something beautiful. In that process learners learn the lesson. It i...

Students who get to decide the questions they ask and the products they create are engaged, invested, and proud of their school work. Student-driven project based learning can make this dynamic possible in any classroom. Not every lesson or project in every class needs to take this form. Maybe reserve it for the big stuff. If every culminating end-of-unit or end-of-quarter activity is PBL, students will leave your class feeling as though they own their knowledge and know how they will use it moving forward. Here are 6 steps to guiding your students through designing their own learning experiences: 1. Personalize It Most learners are accustomed to being given directions, following them step-by-step, and producing a project that looks incredibly similar (or identical) to a model. In a traditional classroom, the teacher plans the project and the students make it. In a personalized PBL classroom, the students do it all. My favorite resource for defining and explaining per...

During my first year as a teacher, I taught the way I had been taught. It was tried and true. It had worked for me. I believed it was right. Generally, it worked OK. After a year or two of relying on these methods, I reflected more on my students' experiences and my own experiences as a student. Students work hard. They listen intently. They take notes and try to understand. They do all of these until they feel overwhelmed and give up. Some give up quickly because they get overwhelmed quickly. They are sometimes labeled "lazy." Some only give up on certain classes or projects that put them over the edge. None of this sounds like the type of learning I want my students, or my own children, to experience. I've said this before : "I don't just want them to learn. I want them to want  to learn." There is a difference. If our learners want to learn, they will dive deeper, think more, and be more creative. Instructional design, student voice, and ques...