Most Frequently Asked s

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Most Frequently Asked ???s

• What is Authentic Teaching?
• Teaching that promotes high quality learning.
• Teaching that requires students to
• think,
• develop in-depth understanding, and
• apply academic learning to important, realistic
  problems.

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Authentic Teaching Increases Student Achievement

• Researchers found that when teachers taught
  authentically, their students consistently
  out-performed those taught in more conventional
  ways (Newmann Associates, 1996),
• When teaching is focused on the development of
  understanding and meaning and on connecting
  lessons to students interests and experiences,
  rather than on memorization, students did better
  both on assessments of advanced skills as well as
  on standardized tests.
• These finding suggest that students who think
  carefully about subjects, study them in-depth,
  and connect them to their personal experiences
  also are more likely to remember the facts and
  definitions called for on standardized tests.

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Moving from Conventional to Authentic Pedagogy
Traditional (conventional)
Democratic (authentic)

• Teacher responsible for student learning

• Student responsible for learning and behavior

• Treats all students the same

• Treats students as individuals

• Students passive participants

• Students active learners

• Students empowered toward economic purposes to
  foster competition

• Students empowered to foster social
  responsibility and caring

• Student challenges seen as exploring and
  practicing democracy

• Student challenges regarded as disrespectful

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Moving from Conventional to Authentic Pedagogy
Traditional (conventional)
Democratic (authentic)

• Students feel powerless

• Students empowered to participate

• Students treated like mindless sheep

• Students act like responsible human beings

• Students receive one shot at learning

• Students attain mastery

• Knowledge resides in teacher delivered to
  students

• Knowledge constructed out of interaction of ideas
  and experiences of teacher and student

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Moving from Conventional to Authentic Pedagogy
Traditional (conventional)
Democratic (authentic)

• Students learn by rote memorization

• Students understand by connecting across lessons,
  subjects, or domains

• Testing norm-referenced multiple-choice basic
  skills tests

• Testing student work samples, essays, oral
  examinations, demonstrations

• Bottom-up collaborative decision making

• Top-down decision making

• Isolated teaching

• Team teaching

• Competition

• Collaboration

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Example of Authentic Teaching

• It was Friday afternoon and two kids come
  into my office and are really excited. They say,
  Hey Doc, you gotta see this. And they go
  around pulling down the shades in my office, and
  closing the door, and then they play the
  videotape. And its a tape they made of the area
  in Winchester where the state wanted to put a
  toxic waste dump. And what they had on tape was
  all the natural beauty of the area as well as the
  fact that there were several springs in the area
  and several varieties of protected plants.
• Of course, the students work had not gone
  on by accident. In Dan Bisaccios science
  classes students had first been alerted to the
  potential of the dump. Dan, when offered such a
  great opportunity to teach science, couldnt turn
  it down. Outsiders saw Winchester as a poor town
  with apathetic people who would jump at the
  opportunity of having one or two more jobs and an
  increase in tax revenues. How wrong those
  outsiders were.

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Example of Authentic Teaching
The kids were really excited about the
issue, relates Dan. At first I dont think
that they really believed they could make a
difference. But They were willing to try.
Several of Dans classes moved into action almost
immediately, and Dan describes their work

• One group quickly became involved with
  looking at some of the plants and animals in the
  area, and they found some endangered species
  which right away began to cast doubt on whether
  or not this was an area that was suitable.
  Another group actually took a perk test and found
  the soil was glacial sand and that even with the
  liners in the dump there would be a
  contamination problem. And then another group
  took a selectman and actually rented a video
  camera and filmed a spring on the site of the
  areas aquifer. The fourth group organized a
  hearing on the dump here at school. They invited
  proponents and opponents and key people who were
  leading both campaigns. The kids had been doing
  a lot of homework and reading about what was
  going on and they asked some really good
  questions.

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Example of Authentic Teaching

• Those questions were asked in front of a
  packed gymnasium, much to the surprise of state
  officials who attended. Those questions caught
  the attention of community members who began to
  ask hard questions of their own. Those questions
  ultimately ensured that no dump was to be dumped
  on the residents of Winchester.
• (Narrated by Dennis Littky, principal of Thayer
  Junior/Senior High School in Winchester, New
  Hampshire.)

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Changing Roles of Schools Proposed
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Change Leadership
Normal
Best