Problem-based tasks provide the real-world authenticity for learning; the next step is to make deliberate connections to students' lives. Science teachers launch into the study of genetics by having students analyze their own genetic traits. Health teachers have students study their own nutrition. In designing problem-based tasks, consider the activities or requirements that could be used to connect the learning to students' lives."
Dr. Nancy Sulla - Students Taking Charge
Listen to this NPR Podcast on learning with real world connections.
Reflection Questions:
What real world connections have you used to engage and motivate your students?
How can you best organize your curriculum to most effectively take advantage of connected learning?
As music teachers, we have the opportunity to teach the elements of music (melody, rhythm, harmony, form, timbre, and texture) through popular music.
ReplyDeleteI make real world connections on a daily basis for my students through our community based work experience program. We write resumes, search for job openings, go on interviews and the students get hired for real world jobs. So we not only research various career interests, but the students get hands on experience in high school. Eveything that we do in the classroom is then practiced on a daily basis in the students lives and their local community. In math we learn money and banking skills and then the students open accounts,ATM and debit cards and do their personal shopping on a weekly basis.
ReplyDeleteThe curriculum is already aligned to teach functional life skills and apply those skills to their leives now.
It is rare, at least in the English curriculum, to miss an opportunity to make connections between the lives of the students and that which would raise awareness to the self and the world around them.
ReplyDeleteBecause I am an English teacher, and literature is a response to life, this connection to real life events is often so obvious that we fail to realize it. When students identify with characters and their issues, that's connected learning. Still, it's nice to be AWARE of these connections, as well as those to history, current events, etc. For instance, I just finished Animal Farm with my 10th graders and was able to draw on their knowledge of the Russian Revolution to enhance their study of this allegory. We also had several interesting discussions about human nature which led to a deeper understanding of why communism often fails on a practical level, even when it sounds wonderful on a theoretical level. Using group work dynamics as an example, we discussed why it often frustrates students (e.g., there are a few workers, like Boxer, who take on more than their share, so that the "slackers," like Mollie or the cat, reap the benefits without earning them).
ReplyDeleteWorld language students are able to connect the learned content to their daily experience "Skypeing" or blogging in the target language all over the global village.
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