Keeping it Real :: Education Teaching Learning Essays

Keeping it Real Why teach students non-applicable skills? Why teach them using boring lessons that wont be memorable? Why non tap into students natural curiosities? (Daniels and Bizar 1998). Throughout the readings, these were the underlying questions I repeatedly asked myself active reading. I came to the conclusion that education must be authentic. As educators, we have to make students finger as if their education is a living, breathing thing. Its something alive that they can cultivate and grow. We have to constantly be assessing our teaching in order to find slipway to keep education veridical for our students. Im a firm believer that students come to class with a great deal to offer both peers and educators. They are resources that separate students can access. They each have their own cultures, own communities, families, and life experiences that may differ from their peers. As educators, we must utilize this, helping our students cultiv ate their own education from each others and their own lives. Authentic education is just one way to help students access each other in and out of the classroom. Authentic education is hands-on, real application to life. When students find information meaningful and relevant to their lives, or when they find their education practical and usable, they tend to engage more. Why not draw upon community resources, authors, artists, and other professionals outside of the classroom? This is just one way to get students involved in whats really going on in the world- which is where they spend a majority of their time. There are so many exposable issues in the real world that students can connect to in an English classroom. For example, today we are go about with ecological concerns and environmental issues in which action must be taken. There are also so many great writers that have written about nature and its fragile existence. Why not take students outdo ors to read? Why not have them connect to nature, develop an appreciation for the environment, and learn at the same time?