Weekly Tips Newsletter

It is said that experience is life’s teacher. Why is that? I suppose that many of us are, as my mother put it, bull-headed enough that we must learn our lessons the hard way. We don’t really know how to survive on our own until we are by ourselves in a new apartment in a city away from our parents. We don’t really understand exactly how a VCR or DVD works until we plug it in and use it. For some it takes a major health issue or near-death experience before we realize that we need to eat healthy and exercise. Some of the lessons we learn in the “real world” are easy and some are hard. Nevertheless, we tend to remember those lessons and use what we’ve learned to help us deal with the next challenge life throws at us.

As teachers we want to impart the knowledge we’ve gained as well as the knowledge of others to our students. For the most part this is done through lecture, reading, and activities. In some classrooms the activities simply repeat what was heard or read. This kind of learning tends to “go in one ear and out the other.” Our kids know the information long enough to pass the test and then it is either lost or forgotten. What we want is for students to retain the information so they can use it in other classes and in other parts of their lives. We are striving to prepare them for college, for the working world, and for life in general. Yet our students often do not see the relevance of what we are teaching to their own lives. This is where bringing the real world into our classroom comes into play.

How can we make learning relevant to our students? Below are a few ideas to help you get started:

Bring in objects that relate to the topic – This is especially important with younger students, but even our older students enjoy seeing actual artifacts and items that relate to the topic at hand. A cotton pod is perfect for a lesson on farming, clothing, the cotton gin, Reconstruction in the South after the Civil War, and stages of plant growth. Bring it in and ask students to identify it. How does it relate to the topic being studied? This makes for a great discussion starter.

You can also ask students themselves to bring in objects that relate to their learning. Young students might bring in an object that starts with the letter they are studying that week. Older students might be challenged to bring an object from home that relates to the math or science concept being taught. Can students find something in their home that the main character in their novel might have used? How does the student use this object?

Use Newspaper Ads and Catalogs – Students can calculate tax, purchase items within a specific budget (including tax), determine prices after a discount, compare and contrast prices between different companies, etc. You can also use advertisements to show examples of different types of persuasion, ways the media captures interest of different markets, and determine safety issues of different products available. How does a particular product enhance our life-style? What products are “needs” vs. products that are “wants”? How do we determine the difference? You can also use these ads to find items that relate to the topic at hand.

Guest Speakers – Invite people into your classroom to talk about their career. What skills are used in a particular job? How did they get interested in their profession? Many parents of your students have interesting careers and would probably love to speak to your class. Do you have any small business owners? Authors? Doctors? Lawyers? Computer Technicians? Farmers? Perhaps you have a mother who makes a fantastic cultural dish. You might encourage her to speak to your class about the history of the dish and how to make it. Send home a form to the parents and ask about any topics they might be interested in presenting to your class.

Making Products – People used to make everything by hand. Now we purchase what we need from the store or on the internet. Students enjoy making items that relate to their learning. You might have students make butter, candles, adobe bricks, a garden of fresh vegetables, or a structure of some sort. I’ve even seen a person make chocolate play dough that children can play with and then eat! What a great product when studying about plants or the location where cocoa beans grow. When studying simple machines, a third grade class in Plano has their students create a carnival game using a combination of simple machines. Then the students attend the “carnival” playing each game. When planning your lessons, go online and type in “make” or “create” and the keyword for the topic you are studying. You’ll probably find several websites that give “How To” instructions for the product you want your students to make.

Experiments – There is nothing like a good experiment or demonstration to bring experiences to students. There are so many wonderful experiments that you can do no matter what subject you teach! Experiments are not just for science classes. Is the main character of your story caught in a flood? Do an experiment that shows what happens when a flood occurs. In math you can show students how to use Quicken or another program to track finances, keep a budget, and graph expenditures over a period of time. You can also participate in stock-market simulations. Asking the question, “What would happen if…” and then get students involved to create an experiment to find the answer. Again, there are so many resources for easy and fun experiments to do in the classroom. Do an online search with the topic keyword and the word “experiment” or “project” and see what pops up.

Projects – With older students especially, projects are a fantastic way to bring the real world into the classroom. You can do service projects where your class picks a cause (homeless shelter, fire station, nursing-home, food bank, etc.) and then volunteers time to help. This can be as easy as serving food, collecting food donations, cleaning up/weeding a garden, etc. You can have students work in groups to develop an ideal society or develop a new product that meets a need or work together to bring about a change in the community. Projects should encourage students to apply the skills and knowledge they’ve learned in a way that is meaningful. Student choice is important so that the project is meaningful to their life rather than just a parody of what they think you want to hear.

One project I have done with my students was called a “Walk About.” This is something I learned about in my college classes and thought it would make a great project for my middle and high school students. Each person chooses a topic of interest to him/her. They then complete several different activities. These activities include research to learn more, a creative endeavor, a practicum, a journal, etc. One student really loved animals. She researched about becoming a veterinarian, volunteered in a veterinarian’s office for several weeks, learned how to take the temperature of a pet, showed the class a Power Point on different pet care tips, and kept a daily journal of her activities. This type of project encourages students to think about what they want to do with their lives and helps start them in that path.

Although this was a huge project that took the entire year, not all projects need to be so time-consuming. Encourage students to come up with a question that intrigues them and then learn more about it. When students learn information for themselves, the process teaches them skills they will use throughout their lives.

Bringing the real world into the classroom means getting students actively involved in their learning. These kinds of experiences enhance student learning, motivate students, and provide a rich source of knowledge and skills that can be used throughout their lives.

Want to respond and share ways you bring the real world into the classroom and/or provide real world type experiences?  Respond to this email and we'll combine them all together in our Idea Share!

Have a great week!

Emma