Practice 2: Authenticity

Authentic teaching refers to learning that is genuine and connected rather than something that is fake and fragmented. Teachers who practice authentically help students connect learning to life. They judge students not by a test but by the quality of their lives. Authentic teaching actively engages students in developing new understandings and knowledge.

It connects teaching and learning to tasks and products that students see as having a value beyond the classroom. For example, one middle school class turned what many people consider a nuisance (thousands of birds in their chimneys) into a science project. Teachers realized that nature had provided that project one day when what looked like smoke billowing from the chimney turned out to be a dense cloud of birds. The teachers used the birds’ visit as a lesson in scientific method and environmental education. Students became junior researchers clocking the birds’ schedules, habits and characteristics. They contacted a Cornell University ornithologist by e-mail and logged meteorological data to detect any connection between the weather and their bird counts.

Researchers found that students learn more when teachers teach authentically; pursue a clear, shared purpose for all students’ learning; engage in collaborative activities to achieve that purpose; and take collective responsibility for student learning (Newmann & Wehlage, 1995; Newmann, 1996, 2003). 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 findings 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 call for on standardized tests (O’Hair, McLaughlin, and Reitzug, 2000). Theory on student engagement emphasizes that students’ learning experiences are optimized when instruction is authentic, challenging, demands skills and allows for student autonomy (Yair, 2000)
Action Plan Example for Practice 2: