Most Frequently Asked ???s

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. Teacher responsible for student learning Moving from Conventional to Authentic Pedagogy Traditional (conventional) Democratic (authentic) • 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

4. Students feel powerless Moving from Conventional to Authentic Pedagogy Traditional (conventional) Democratic (authentic) • 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

5. Students learn by rote memorization Moving from Conventional to Authentic Pedagogy Traditional (conventional) Democratic (authentic) • 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

6. 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 it’s 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 Bisaccio’s science classes students had first been alerted to the potential of the dump. Dan, when offered such a great opportunity to teach science, couldn’t 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.

7. Example of Authentic Teaching “The kids were really excited about the issue,” relates Dan. “At first I don’t think that they really believed they could make a difference. But They were willing to try.” Several of Dan’s 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 area’s 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.

8. 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.)

9. Changing Roles of Schools “Proposed”

10. Change & Leadership Normal Best