Keeping it Real :: Education Teaching Learning Essays

Keeping it Real Why teach students non-applicable skills? Why teach them using boring lessons that won't be memorable? Why not 'tap into students natural curiosities?' (Daniels and Bizar 1998). Throughout the readings, these were the underlying questions I repeatedly asked myself about education. I came to the conclusion that education must be authentic. As educators, we have to make students feel as if their education is a living, breathing thing. It's something alive that they can cultivate and grow. We have to constantly be assessing our teaching in order to find ways to keep education real for our students. I'm a firm believer that students come to class with a great deal to offer both peers and educators. They are resources that other 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 cultivate 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 what's 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 faced 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 outdoors to read? Why not have them connect to nature, develop an appreciation for the environment, and learn at the same time?