Running Head: CRAFTING AUTHENTIC LEARNING



Running Head: CRAFTING AUTHENTIC LEARNING

Crafting Authentic Learning Experiences

Through a Career Curriculum

in a High School English Classroom

Kärin Renner

University of South Dakota

Abstract

A current focus in education is preparing students for the real world through the use of authentic learning experiences. This paper will seek to define authentic instruction and provide a rationale for its use in the classroom of the 21st century. It will also outline examples of authentic instruction being utilized in the author’s classroom. The roles of the teacher and of technology in a high school English classroom that incorporates authentic learning experiences through a comprehensive career curriculum are discussed.

Crafting Authentic Learning Experiences through a Career Curriculum

in a High School English Classroom

Over the course of the past three years, I have had to become an architect of the new learning environment in my high school English classroom. After sixteen years, my traditional classroom with desks and textbooks was transformed into an English lab with computers for all of my students, a projection system, and numerous peripherals. This transition required daily—even hourly—reflection on my part about how best to educate my students in this new setting. In his book Educating the Reflective Practitioner: Toward a New Design for Teaching and Learning (1987), Donald Schön outlined the reflective practitioner model, an approach to decision making and problem solving for teachers. According to Schön, when effective teachers are faced with problems or challenges in the classroom, they experiment with and modify possible solutions until they solve the problem. He said that a solution happens as result of knowing and doing. This ‘reflection in action’ process rejects the textbook approach to teaching. By evaluating the teaching event afterwards, a process Schön called ‘reflection on action,’ teachers can go a long way toward improving the learning that occurs in their classrooms and can build a ‘repertoire’ of experiences they can pull from in the future (as cited in Munby & Russell, 1989). I believe that it is this reflective practitioner model that I have been practicing in my classroom for the past three years.

Throughout this process of reflection, I have had to re-examine my learning style and beliefs about how I and my students learn. I have also had to engage in teaching and learning practice intended to prepare my students for their futures by encouraging and empowering them to construct their own knowledge. In addition, I have had to learn how to let go and step back—to become more of a facilitator and organizer than a leader and lecturer. I’ve had to re-invent my teaching style so that now my students are actively engaged in discussions and projects on a daily basis. They are responsible for their own learning and for the learning of their classmates. Because my students are motivated to learn when they can see the relevance of their schoolwork to their real lives, I organized and crafted a series of authentic learning experiences in the form of a comprehensive career curriculum to help bridge the gap between what happens in my classroom and what occurs in the real world.

Defining Authentic Learning

Students in American high schools today may feel disconnected and disinterested because the curriculum and teaching methods lack “authenticity.” In its broadest definition, authentic instruction, also called authentic learning, is any instructional technique or strategy that helps students learn something useful or relevant to their lives outside of school and gives them real-world experiences (Crafting Authentic Instruction, 1993). Wiggins (1997) advocated authentic tasks that allow students to conduct real-world engaging work using high order thinking skills (as cited in Blank & Harwell, 1997).

Authentic instructional strategies share many of the following characteristics. First, students are physically and mentally active, collaborating and conversing and investigating to solve problems using higher order thinking skills. Professionals know that in order for students to succeed in real-life problems, they need practice working in collaborative teams. Connectedness to the real world is a second characteristic of an authentic learning task. Students need to be able to see the impact of what they are doing and realize that each new experience is building on a previous one (Blank & Harwell, 1997). Authentic learning also focuses on developing a depth of essential knowledge that occurs in a classroom where a teacher is focused on quality instead of coverage or quantity. Fourth, for learning to be authentic, there must be real-world accountability for students. They need to be given opportunities to publicly present or publish or share their work, which is then evaluated by relevant benchmarks or authentic assessments (Gordon, 1998). Finally, a truly authentic learning environment will stress high expectations and risk-taking, coupled with mutual respect and encouragement (Blank & Harwell, 1997).

The Rationale for Utilizing Authentic Learning Experiences

Few people would argue that much of the content that students are taught in high school is not very connected to the knowledge they’ll need to be able to thrive in the 21st century. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills suggests methods teachers can use to help students prepare for the 21st century. They suggest “making content relevant to students’ lives, bringing the world into the classroom, taking students out into the world, and creating opportunities for students to interact with each other, with teachers and with other knowledgeable adults in authentic learning experiences” (Learning for the 21st Century, p. 12).

One of the primary reasons for utilizing authentic learning in a classroom would be to break away from the traditional methods of curriculum and instruction. Decades of research has suggested that working alone at a desk, taking lecture notes, and memorizing random facts does little to stimulate cognition. John Dewey’s theory on learning stressed that students learn better when they are “doing” and “acting” to solve real-life problems instead of learning about them in a textbook (as cited in Phillips & Soltis, 2004). Dewey said, “School should be less about preparation for life and more like life itself,” (as cited in Bransford, Brown, & Cocking, 1999, Chapter 3, Transfer Between School & Everyday Life section, ¶ 6).

Furthermore, a recent survey on students’ perspectives on their high school experiences suggests that students felt more engaged in their learning when their teachers utilized authentic learning experiences that connected them to life outside of school. They most enjoyed hands on activities that allowed for discussion and debate, deep investigation of a topic, and answering interesting and relevant questions (Certo, Cauley & Chafin, 2003). Other benefits for students involved in career-based authentic learning experiences include higher graduation rates, improved academic achievement, better attendance rates, and increased likelihood that students take college entrance exams (Visher, Bhandari, & Medrich, 2004).

Authentic Learning Experiences & the Teacher’s Role in the Author’s Classroom

Because I am the one teacher in my high school that sees every junior every day, it was logical that a career program become part of my classroom curriculum. My guidance counselor and I attempted to craft learning activities that would have real-world relevance and that would match real world tasks and activities of professionals in the workplace as closely as possible. As a teacher in this environment, I play many roles.

In my roles as “business partner” and “collaborator” (Brown, 2002), I work with faculty, administrators, business leaders, parents and educational service agencies. In the fall, I expose students go the real world by organizing field trips to college/career fairs and tech days at the Washington Pavilion and Southeast Technical Institute. Every October, I invite representatives from the Armed Services to come to my classroom to administer the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) to all of my students. A week later, the same representatives return to break down the results. The ASVAB allows students to use their test results, an interest inventory, and personal preference to help them identify occupations that might suit them.

Because we are located in a small town, I ask the managers of 20 local retailers and businesses to open their doors to my students. I set aside two class periods to allow students in pairs to visit the businesses during class and ask questions regarding policies on attendance, dress code, education, the role of technology, and special workplace skills required. They complete a worksite questionnaire then use Excel to create charts or graphs and present their findings to their classmates.

In addition, I help coordinate day-long job shadows in the greater Sioux Falls area for all of my students. West Central contracts the services of a job shadow counselor through East Dakota Educational Cooperative who makes all of the business contacts for placement, but all of the paperwork is handled through my classroom. Students write resumes, cover letters, thank you letters, and a diary or journal all relevant to their job shadow. On the shadow, they ask questions, take notes, shoot video or take digital images if allowed. As a culmination of the shadow unit, they present information to their classmates in the form of a PowerPoint or i-movie presentation. These presentations open their eyes to career possibilities they might not have considered. The job shadow program helps students clearly see how the skills they gain in the classroom can apply to the workplace.

Also with the assistance of East Dakota, we have developed an apprenticeship program for our aspiring electricians, plumbers and florists. These young apprentices complete required coursework at WCHS then learn by doing in paid employment, eventually receiving a state certificate of occupational proficiency.

Every two years in the spring, we survey our student body to determine career interests and then host a Career Fair featuring approximately 30 guest speakers who present concurrent 20 minute sessions in our classrooms, giving students the opportunity to learn about numerous career opportunities.

Finally, at the end of the year I encourage the young men and women who have job shadowed in construction trades, architecture or drafting to participate in Southeast Technical Institute’s Academy for the Construction Trades, a month-long summer program combining classroom and hands-on training with summer or long term employment with area contractors. We typically place four or five of our students in the program.

Ultimately, the key to any learning in a classroom is the social interaction between the students and the teacher. In my most important role as “coach” for my students, I provide structure and encouragement, ask guiding questions, offer suggestions and facilitate learning (Brown, 2002) as my students engage in written and multimedia projects, video-taped performances, construction of models, demonstrations, operation of audio and video equipment, conducting of interviews, and practice and application of listening and teamwork skills. Integrating the academic curriculum and career curriculum helps students “bring meaning to the classroom in the form of relationships between subject matter and careers, and elevates the level of learning by all students” (Berns & Erickson, 2001, p. 5).

Academically, I have learned to incorporate workplace themes when we study novels such as Terkel’s Working and Sinclair’s Jungle, about the Chicago meat-packing industry at the turn of the century. Students discuss inhumane working conditions and employee rights. We read Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men and The Grapes of Wrath and focus on the hardships of farmers and migrant workers. We also read poetry with workplace themes such as Whitman’s “I Hear America Singing;” Sandburg’s “Chicago,” “Work Gangs,” and “I am the People, the Mob;” Daniels’ “Factory Jungle;” and Collins’ “Song of the Factory Worker.”

I have shifted the focus of my students’ writing assignments so that they are intended for a “real” audience. In addition to a resume, cover letter, thank you letter, and diary of the job shadow experience, they also write persuasive essays about changes they would make either at the business where they shadowed or the business where they work. Students are often so proud of these pieces that they share them with the managers of the businesses.

The Role of Technology in Authentic Learning

Experts debate about how significant of a role technology should play in an authentic learning environment. At one end of the spectrum are scholars like Roger Schank. In his book Engines for Education (1995), Schank, a Distinguished Professor in the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon and one of the world’s leading researchers in artificial intelligence and learning theory as it applies to virtual learning environments, and his co-author Chip Cleary, suggested that teachers and textbooks are responsible for the “boring and irrelevant educational system” (p. 72) that can be revitalized with interactive individualized computer mediated instruction. Schank & Cleary believe that “since we cannot afford to have a full-time teacher dedicated to each student, the solution rests with technology that allows students to learn naturally aided by one-on-one instruction” (p. 67). They suggested that “for massive educational change to take place in this country, the computer will have to be the medium of change” (p. 72). Frighteningly, they envisioned a future in which “children will never want to get off these new full-video-connected computers, and their parents will be happy to see them so intellectually involved” (p. 216). At the other end of the spectrum are theorists who advocate social constructivist learning that simply cannot take place if students are receiving individualized instruction at a computer.

Cradler (1994) maintained that “technology helps prepare students for the workforce when they learn to use and apply applications used in the world of work....Workforce skills are mastered with technology use….technology increases mastery of vocational and workforce skills and helps prepare students for work when emphasized as a problem-solving tool” (as cited in Learning for the 21st Century, p. 10). The use of technology in a classroom does not necessarily guarantee that learning will occur. But Bransford, et al, (1999) believe that “an important use of technology is its capacity to create new opportunities for curriculum and instruction by bringing real-world problems into the classroom for students to explore and solve” (Chapter 9, New Curricula section, ¶ 5). They maintain that newer technologies being utilized in the classroom, such as e-mail, video-conferencing, chat rooms, discussion boards, and presentation software, make it possible for students to learn how to use tools they’ll use in the workplace (Chapter 3, Transfer between School & Everyday Life section, ¶ 3).

Toward that goal and in my final role as “technology advocate” (Brown, 2002), in addition to using e-mail, discussion boards, presentation software and digital portfolios with my students, I have incorporated the use of a computer simulation called Finance Center, free for attending a three-day training session, which allows my students to actively apply skills across the curriculum to navigate through real-life situations such as balancing a checking account with help from a teller; visiting an accountant to learn how taxes impact their income; choosing a profession and creating a monthly budget based on their net pay; estimating the total cost of a year of college or technical school, preparing a budget and exploring sources of financial aid; and writing a business plan for a product or service they create. I believe that Finance Center has helped my students better appreciate the practical application of some of the skills they are learning in school.

Another technology enhancement I requested for our school district was the purchase of the Choices Career Planning Program, now accessible to all high school students through our school server. Choices is an engaging career exploration system presented in a flashy interactive magazine format. Through its use of day-in-the-life career video clips, college and scholarship website links, interest inventories, resume builder, comprehensive six-year portfolio plan, and peer written articles with interactive features, it brings real-world context to my classroom, making our career curriculum more relevant and authentic. There is no “best” way to incorporate technology for authentic learning. But more and more theories about the range of uses that teachers should consider for utilizing technology are emerging. What is most important for an educator to remember is that technology-based lessons need to be concrete and need to relate to students’ needs and future goals.

Conclusion

The goal of 21st century schools in America should be to prepare, motivate and engage students to ensure their success in the global market. Authentic learning experiences must be utilized to help students connect classroom skills to real life. “The evidence that is emerging suggests that career exploration programs are one way to accomplish just that” (Visher, et al, 2004, p. 135).

References

Berns, R.G. & Erickson, P.M. (2001). Contextual Teaching & Learning: Preparing Students for

the New Economy. (Report No. CE 081 643). Columbus, OH: National Dissemination

for Career and Technical Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 419

247).

Bertrand, Y. (2003). Contemporary Theories and Practice in Education (2nd ed.). Madison, WI:

Atwood Publishing.

Blank, W.E. & Harwell, S. (Eds). (1997). Promising Practices for Connecting High School to the

Real World. (Report No. CE 074 042). Tampa, FL: University of South Florida. (ERIC

Document Reproduction Service No. ED 407 586).

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L. & Cocking, R. R. (Eds.). (1999). How People Learn: Brain,

Mind,Experience & School. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.

Brown, B. L. (2002). Professional Development for Career Educators. Columbus, OH: ERIC

Clearinghouse on Adult Career and Vocational Education. (ERIC Document

Reproduction Service No. ED 472 602).

Center on Organization and Restructuring of Schools. (1993). Crafting Authentic Instruction.

Washington, DC: Educational Resources Information Center.

Certo, J.L., Cauley, K.M. & Chafin, C. (2003). Students’ perspectives on their high school

experience. Adolescence, 38, 705-725. Retrieved June 22, 2005 from EBSCOhost.

Gordon, R. (1998). Balancing real-world problems with real-world results. Phi Delta Kappan,

79, 390-393. Retrieved June 22, 2005 from ProQuest.

Munby, H. & Russell, T. (1989). Educating the Reflective Teacher: An Essay Review of Two

Books by Donald Schön. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 21, 1, 71-80.

Partnership for 21st Century Skills (2003). Learning for the 21st Century. Retrieved June 21,

2005 from .

Phillips, D.C., & Soltis, J.F. (2004). Perspectives on Learning (4th ed.). New York: Teachers

College Press.

Schank, R.C. & Cleary, C. (1995). Engines for Education. Hillsdale, NJ: L. Eribaum Associates.

Visher, M., Bhandari, R. & Medrich, E. (2004). High School Career Exploration Programs: Do

They Work? Phi Delta Kappan, 86, 135. Retrieved June 24, 2005 from Infotrac.

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download