Category: Authentic Teaching

Giving Back

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills, Uncategorized

This is the time of year when I always share a family story…

When I was 12-years-old, my great-grandfather gave me Avon face powder for a holiday gift. Needless to say, I was disappointed by this gift. Instead of lecturing me about being ungrateful, or exchanging the powder for a different gift, my mother agreed that this was not a great gift for a girl my age. She suggested that perhaps there was a woman somewhere, that might not be getting gifts for the holidays, who would appreciate this gift.

This was before the internet, Giving Trees, etc., and it took many phone calls for my mother to find an agency that was collecting gifts for needy families. We ended up “adopting” a family for the holidays. Our whole family picked out gifts for this family. This was a tradition we continued throughout my childhood, and a tradition I continued with my own children, and now my grandchildren.

With the internet, Toys for Tots, Giving Trees… There are so many ways for children to become authentically engaged in the spirit of the holidays. Children can be given examples of ways to make the holidays special for others, can choose to engage in these activities/organizations, or come up with new authentic ideas.

It doesn’t need to cost a lot, or anything, to make someone else happy during the holidays. A handmade card, delivered to someone you know, or don’t know, can make a difference to someone else during the holiday season. And what a great lesson for your students to learn.

Happy December! Happy Authentic Teaching!

Ignite the Fire – a Newsletter

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Resources and Materials, Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

My blog serves two purposes: it keeps me involved in education post-retirement, and it is a resource that does not cost educators money. As I have stated many times, I am passionate about authentic learning. My blog gives me ways to channel this continued passion, and give a little bit back to the field of education that gave so much to me.

The person who introduced me to authentic learning, my former principal and forever friend, Peggy Pastor, has started a newsletter that serves the same two purposes for her. I am putting words in her mouth, but I think I know her well enough to do that. Her newsletter “explores how educators foster a dynamic, supportive classroom climate that prioritizes fulfillment and lifelong learning.”

It is co-written by a former co-worker of mine, Mary Ruth McGinn, who exemplified how to bring authentic learning into a classroom. I believe this newsletter serves the same two purposes for her.

I learned a googol from both of these ladies – one of my six-year-old grandson’s favorite new words – that means ten to the power of 100, or a whole lot!

Click on the link below for access to their newsletter. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Ignite the Fire on Substack

Learning Takes Place When Engagement Takes Place

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

The title of this blog may seem obvious, but it is an often overlooked requirement to effective teaching. If students are not engaged, they will not learn.

Hopefully, we are moving away from the day when much of learning was memorizing facts. Drill all weekend, use as many mnemonic devices as you can, pass the test on Monday, and forget everything you memorized on Tuesday.

If learning isn’t meaningful, if it isn’t authentic, and it isn’t real learning.

With the ability to access facts at our fingertips – I just looked up how to spell mnemonic on my cell phone – we don’t need to memorize facts anymore. However, we need to have our students master an even more difficult skill – how to think. By engaging students in authentic activities that mean something to them, they will internalize this skill. How to think.

I recently moved to Colorado and now live at 7,000 feet. My baking skills were totally destroyed with our move to a high elevation. This high-altitude baking is serious stuff. My county-fair blue ribbon cookies become mush that only my husband would eat – he will eat anything so that isn’t saying much.

I am truly motivated to learn how to bake at high-altitude, and I am engaged in this learning. Not only do I want to be able to bake cookies for my family to enjoy, but I want to win ribbons at our county fair next summer. Have I mentioned before that I will do anything for a trophy, medal, or ribbon?

I asked my new neighbors for baking advice, and then baked several disasterous batches of cookies – that only before-mentioned husband will eat. I memorized their advice, but didn’t internalize it. I didn’t understand why I was doing what I was doing, and couldn’t trouble shoot what wasn’t working.

I began researching on-line. Every article I read had different advice, which I finally figured out was because after 3,000 feet, every additional 500 feet changes how you deal with the altitude. I attended our local Colorado county fair last month – where I won several craft ribbons – crafts not being affected by altitude. I read all the cookie labels and tried to figure out what these bakers were doing to handle the high-altitude.

I am happy to report that I am making progress. I am doing lots of baking – authentic experiences, authentic learning. I am really beginning to understand how to tweak recipes to achieve success at this elevation. My grandchildren will once again eat my cookies. And I have definitely internalized what I have learned.

I will let you know next summer if I win any baking ribbons!

Authentic Teaching – Data Presentation

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

I just saw a very confusing graphic on a news program.  This got me thinking about the importance of charts, graphs, and other ways to present data.  Part of every authentic project is presenting your project, your conclusions, suggestions, findings…

A discussion of ways to present your authentic project is extremely important.  An important part of every authentic project is the hard data and/or plans. What is the most appropriate/innovative way to present your data/plans?  How do you check to make sure your presentation is clear, attention catching, honest?…

This is a hugely important topic that should be discussed frequently throughout every authentic project.  And a great way to bring in your math curriculum goals re charts, graphs, etc.

*My husband suggested I create a graph to show my on-line shopping per day. Excellent idea. I will count by one hundred to label the y axis. This will place all my daily shopping around the zero…

Authentic Teaching – Do What Works for You!

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Books for Parents, Books for Teachers, Uncategorized

When working on this blog, I sometimes feel that I am straying from how we defined and implemented authentic teaching in the books I wrote with Peggy (my former and forever principal). Then I remember that in keeping my blog authentic, it is going to evolve over time!

When we originally started to work with authentic learning, we were focusing on Project-Based Learning literature. Our school counselor then made the case that what we were really striving for was authentic teaching and learning. In reality, it is semantics.

The steps to achieve authentic teaching and learning, in my opinion, are also semantics. It is what works for you, your beliefs as an educator, your environment, and your student’s needs.

So, don’t feel that this won’t work for you, if you want/need to approach this differently. That’s the point. What you do should be authentic for you. Your approach to teaching needs to work for you. Take any of my ideas that you like and modify them any way that you want to. Don’t get bogged down in semantics. Take what makes sense to you, and run with it.

Shameless promotion here: I am still really proud of One School’s Journey, Further Down the Path by Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor.

Parents Teaching Authentically

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

I love winter! I love snow! Which may seem strange as I grew up in South Florida. I have just always loved the colder weather. (My mother won’t visit me in Pennsylvania, except during the summer months, so she definitely does not agree with me!)

However, snow does present problems for parents, especially during snow days when the schools are closed. If you are at home with your kids during a snow day, this is a golden opportunity to do some authentic teaching.

Plan and write a schedule for the day. Bake and have your kids read the recipes and measure everything. (Even little ones can find numbers in recipes and count out cups, etc.) Trouble shoot how to walk the dog. Discuss how the snow may be impacting an eldelry neighbor, and make plans to help. Read/research/study some meteorology – why does it snow? Watch the weather on tv – great teaching tool.

Most importantly – practice thinking out loud. We are constantly making decisions, and our thought processes/problem solving skills can be taught authentically by thinking out loud. Talk through what you are thinking, in front of your kids.

And, see ya in June, Mom!

Authentic Teaching vs Authentic Projects

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Books for Teachers, Uncategorized

Every once in awhile, I feel a need to revisit what constitutes an authentic project. An authentic project starts with a driving question, or a photo, a class discussion, a current event… Something triggers discussion. From there, you and the class investigate. This is all part of authentic teaching and learning. It may stop there. Lack of interest, information, motivation…

If you and the class decide to pursue this topic, it can lead to an authentic project. You decide as a group, how to pursue this. What you decide now may change, and hopefully will, that is authenticity. Different students might want to pursue different angles on this project. That is what you want. You are still in charge, you are driving discussion, and even more importantly, listening to and guiding your students.

Meanwhile, you, as the educator, are processing how to tie your curriculum goals into where the class is headed. Sounds daunting, but remember, your students are engaged and motivated, so you have the mental space to look for all the curriculum opportunities. Trust me, take the leap, this works!

This is a very simplified introduction to something I strongly believe in. Just a reminder, I am very proud of my book, written with my former and forever principal, Peggy Pastor. One School’s Journey, Further Down the Path, is an entertaining and easy read (I am not biased – OK I am) that explains authentic teaching and learning. It is available on Amazon, both in print and on Kindle. I am not pushing this book to make money, any money we make from this book, we both donate to The Jared Box Project, another passion of mine. I truly believe in authentic teaching and learning, and am passionate about getting this information out!

One School’s Journey, Further Down the Path by Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor

Available on Amazon

Authentic Teaching – Field Trips

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Books for Teachers, Uncategorized

We recently returned from our first trip to Philadelphia.  YES, we ran up the Rocky Steps!  OK, my husband did, but someone had to photograph him…  What an amazing, beautiful, historical city.

As it was almost summer, the city was crawling with kids on end-of-year field trips.
The kids were all having fun, and hopefully learning too.  But, I recalled a point that my principal and I made in One School’s Journey – Further Down the Path by Eleanor K. Smith and Margaret Pastor…shameless self-promotion of our book here.   Peggy and I felt that you would get more bang for the buck if your field trip started a unit instead of ending it.

Field trips are often waved as the carrot at the end of an academic unit.  Do a good job, and we can go to Philadelphia at the end of this unit.  But for authentic learning, how about starting in Philadelphia.  Have that authentic experience at the beginning.  Then let the kids decide what they want to follow up on.  The context is authentic.  The experience is authentic.  The learning will be authentic. 

And the photo below is of my Rocky Steps experience – taken by my husband from the top!


Teaching Authentically to a Class Full of Learners

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

The question repeatedly comes up about how one teacher can possibly manage a class-full of students working on a class-full of different projects. The answer is the teacher can’t and shouldn’t!

Authentic projects should come from a student’s own experiences and interests, but should be based on a common starting point and common curriculum goals. 

For example, if you are chartered to teach a curriculum objective about how our economy works, and what can impact it, you will most likely have some students do a project about Taylor Swift, while others might pursue a project about football (and coincidentally, both are intertwined at the time I am writing this). Others might explore interest rates, time of year – there are so many things that impact our economy – that’s the point. 

I would somehow manage to make my project about figure skating – that would be hard to show how this sport impacts the economy – but that is part of authentic learning. Maybe at the end I will find out there is limited to no impact. That’s fine, I learned something, didn’t I! (And mentioning figure skating in this blog allowed me to finally post a photo I took of my favorite figure skaters!)

The teacher keeps presenting lessons about how the economy works, based on age-level and curriculum objectives. Then the teacher directs traffic, offers suggestions, and assists with problem-solving. ”Assists” being the key word. 

So, the teacher plans the lessons about how our economy works, and then sits back, listens, and drinks coffee. Seriously, the more engaged your students are, the more time you have to listen, really listen, to your students – and drink coffee. By listening, you are getting ideas for future lessons, and by drinking coffee you are super energized and excited about their projects! And they are super excited as well, as they are learning the concept through research that excites and engages them. Engagement soars, learning soars, learning is retained, curriculum goals are met.

Happy Authentic Teaching

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Teaching, Blog, Uncategorized

I have had this photo on my laptop for two years, and twice I have forgotten about it, and not posted a blog about it during the holiday season. So, please pardon this post in April, or consider it a “Happy Authentic Teaching” post.

This is a wreath that hangs every year at a hotel near where we live. I absolutely love this wreath. To me it represents everything that good teaching should be. Our charter is to teach reading, writing, math, social studies, and science. Throw in some of the creative arts, and some physical education…. But this is leaving out our most important charter. Teaching children how to think. Not what to think, but HOW TO THINK. How to research, record, understand, relay, improve…

And I look at this wreath, this wonderful square wreath, and I smile! A wonderful teacher taught this designer how to think!