Post 1: Planning My Journey Toward “Authentic Learning”

This term has been floating around my head, bouncing around the twitter and blogosphere, and plopping itself into scholarly articles and educational conversations of various types. It’s high time I “catch it,” think about it, reflect on it; let it “flutter” a bit more, respond to it, incorporate it into my practice, share about it, and ultimately collaborate with others who consider “it” an essential component of education. So what is “it” and why should we care?

I do not have the answers, but I do hope that through a series of blog posts throughout the year I will understand, embrace, and incorporate “authentic learning,” into my professional practice as a teacher and administrator.  Collaborating and learning from my PLN most certainly will guide me along this journey.

I always battle between how simple and complex we make things. It’s not rocket science right? Authentic learning is ensuring that the learning experience is relevant for students. OK, lets just move on and do it, right? That’s just not good enough. How do I know what is relevant for the students or teachers under my care? When planning lessons and faculty meetings – what do I or should I do to ensure relevancy. Does relevancy come down to not wasting time? Hmmm, more questions than answers. Sounds like an interesting journey.

So I threw the question out on twitter a week ago. I received one answer. 

But then yesterday in #sunchat the topic was: What is authentic learning? Here are some of the ideas that continue to surface and certainly fluttered throughout #sunchat.

Authentic learning is:

• Learning how to learn.
• Understanding why we learn what we learn.
• Digging deeper into a topic.
• Acknowledging the way students learn best and meeting their needs.
• Problem posing.
• Problem finding.
• Being able to take it outside the classroom and use it.
• Learning for a lifetime.
• Creation of questions.

Clearly, authentic learning incorporates a flowing river of more and more questions!

What are your thoughts on authentic learning, and where will you begin on this journey?