Tag: Learning Through Play

Authentic Project Ideas – Natural Predators or Lack There Of…

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

My husband and I honeymooned in Hawaii over 40 years ago.  We have had the privilege in the last decade, of returning to the Hawaiian islands and visiting many of the Caribbean islands. 

When we returned to Hawaii after four decades, there was an addition to the islands – chickens!  Everywhere.  Tens of thousands.  At sunrise all you heard was the cock-a-doodle-do of the roosters. We saw and heard the same on many of the Caribbean islands.

Authentic Question Number One: Why? (Hint – Hurricanes)
Hurricanes caused many farm animals to get out of farmyards.  The larger animals were rounded up after the storms passed.  But not all of the chickens.  So now the islands are full of chickens. 

Authentic Question Number Two: Why are the chickens thriving? (Hint – natural predators or lack there of) Are the chickens good or bad for the islands?  Is there an ecological impact?  Economic? So many authentic directions to go with this.

In another vein, pythons were somehow released into the Florida Everglades.  This has been a disaster.  Natural predators? Ecological Impact? Economic Impact? What is being done about the pythons?

To end on a lighter note, every time my husband and I ate chicken on these trips, we looked at each other with raised eyebrows…


Authentic Project Ideas – Mardi Gras

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

Back in February, I spent some time in Louisiana and Mississippi. I knew Louisiana, with its French history, celebrated Mardi Gras, and I thought this was the only place in the US that did. I was very surprised to find out there were also Mardi Gras celebrations in Mississippi. I assumed this was because Mississippi was next to Louisiana.

I think the reason that authentic teaching and learning so resonates with me, is that I was taught this way in elementary school (stone age, chisels on stone – the trip through the south was to celebrate my 65th birthday). At an early age, I was encouraged to never assume, to question, research, and learn.

So, back at the hotel, after a particularly productive day of shopping for Mardi Gras beads in Louisiana, I looked up Mardi Gras. What was supposed to be a quick hit on the topic turned into an evening of reading. (During the stone age, you had to find an encyclopedia, or a library…I am still amazed at what I can access in the palm of my hand.)

One search on my phone led to another. I went off in the direction of the history of the early French explorers in North America – I had forgotten that Louisiana originally included much of the south and mid-west. This explained why they were celebrating Mardi Gras in Mississippi. Then, I went off in the direction of the religious significance of Mardi Gras and how it is celebrated in many different places in the US, and in many other countries, not just France. I started to read about some of these countries and their traditions, but I needed to charge my phone!

Start with a picture of Mardi Gras beads. Turn your students loose. Let them authentically question, authentically research, and authentically learn.

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!

Authentic Project Ideas – My Bucket List

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

So if you haven’t figured it out yet, I am a total geek. The Future Birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk has been a stop on my bucket list for a long time.

Yep, according to Star Trek lore, Captain Kirk will be born in Riverside, Iowa on March 22, 2228. The entire town is devoted to this. Banners, markers, and a museum so bad it is fantastic! 

While most students aren’t thinking about a “bucket list,” they can be thinking about places they would like to visit and why? This would be a great authentic geography lesson including research (reading), note taking (writing), math (distance to travel)…and depending on the destination many other subjects could be included, such as science fiction! 

In authentic teaching, boldly go where few teachers have gone before!

Authentic Project Ideas – Routes in the Sky

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

Sitting at the airport watching planes.  So many possible authentic projects with planes. During the holiday season, I heard that the military air routes were opened for commercial traffic to help keep planes on time.  I didn’t realize we had different “routes” in the air.  Sorta like freeways in the sky!
This would be a neat topic for older students to explore.  Actually, two choices; routes in the sky and how to improve air travel.  Actually, tons of authentic topics! 
For younger students, perhaps creating routes for planes to travel on maps. 
Stories about getting stuck at airports – interviewing family members and creating a newspaper article – or writing a fiction story… This authentic project can go in a million different directions. 
Start with a photo…and see where you go! 

Authentic Project Ideas – Dams

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

This is a dam in Iowa. When my husband showed me this picture I didn’t even realize at first that it was a dam. Very attractively done, in my opinion.

This got us talking about the pros and cons of dams. Dams prevent many problems, but they also cause many problems.

Authentic Learning – These ideas can be used at any grade level. With younger students there will be more group produced work.

Read: Gather and read information from several sources. (Good authentic lessons don’t rely on just one source…Why not?)

Write: Take notes about what you are reading.

Math: How many dams are in our country? Create a graph showing numbers for the last decade/century.

Geography: Where are they dams. Create a map. Do they tend to be in one part of the country or all over?

Science: What problems do they prevent and why? What problems do they cause and why? Write a report. Create a poster or tri-board. Write a pamphlet.

Opinion: What do you think? What should we do about current dams/future dams.

Really Authentic Learning: This research may take your students in another direction – water usage, water shortages, conservation…

Authentic Project Ideas-Sandhills

by Eleanor K. Smith, posted in Authentic Project Ideas, Blog, Uncategorized

We recently returned from an amazing trip out west. We saw so many amazing and spectacular sights. The view above got us talking. (Even after 5,000 miles together in our car we were still speaking! The view just opened up a new topic.)

The above photo is of the Sandhills in Nebraska. It is a view we have seen often, in the Outer Banks of North Carolina! We did not expect to see Sand Dunes in landlocked Nebraska. They were covered in prairie grasses, but you could see plenty of sand under the grass.

Authentic project ideas – Explain how the sand got there. What can the land be used for? We saw cattle, hay…any other ideas? Do some research, create a proposal…

We saw many very small towns. As in really small towns. Some rivers and lakes. And mile after mile after mile of open land. As a matter of fact, what we have seen for most of our travels through the Western Plain States of the US has been open land. The population of many of these states is less than many cities on the East Coast. So there is another authentic path to take…. Why do the huge Western Plain States have such low population numbers? What other places in other countries have low population density? Do we really have a population problem on Earth? Couldn’t we just move people around? Why or why not? Lots of research needed, and even more thinking outside of the box.

A New Year

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

I have decided to start the new year with an adaption of my favorite story. Many times, during my teaching career, I gifted a copy of this adaption, and a starfish necklace, to teachers I worked with, to remind them why we we do what we do.

A young boy was walking on the beach, he paused every so often, to pick up an object and throw it into the ocean. A man was watching the young boy. The boy came closer and the man said, “May I ask what you are doing?”

The young boy replied, “Throwing starfish into the ocean. The tide has washed them up onto the beach and they can’t return to the water by themselves. If they don’t get back into the water, they will die.” 

The man replied, “But there must be hundreds of starfish on this beach. I’m afraid you won’t be able to make much of a difference.”

The boy bent down, picked up another starfish and threw it as far as he could into the ocean. Then he turned and said, “It made a difference to that one!”

Adapted from The Star Thrower, by Loren Eiseley (1907 – 1977)

As I have stated many times, this blog started as a means to promote my books. Then it gradually, and authentically changed to be a means for me to post authentic ideas for teaching. So my blog about authentic teaching and learning is totally authentic! I didn’t plan for it to happen, it just did. And because I followed my interests and didn’t remain constrained by the original purpose of this blog, I have continued to grow as an educator, even in retirement.

Not only have I continued to grow as an educator, but I have been able to continue to make a difference in my own little way. Anyone who teaches, understands that we all want to make a difference, in our own little way. I know my blog does that. I get the biggest thrill to see all the different countries that people are from who read my blog. Wow, what a head trip!

Also, writing my books has allowed me to continue to make a difference. All of my books, children’s and adult, are written to educate. And, of course, being asked to write a book about The Jared Box Project – what an honor. Eyen, Tex, and I feel truly privileged that we were able to help spread the word about this amazing project.

So, I begin 2024 by thanking you for allowing me to indulge in my passions, and feel that I am continuing in my own little authentic way to make a small difference in the world.

As educators, it is easy to become overwhelmed with what we are tasked to accomplish.  So, remember the starfish story, try to make a difference, one starfish at a time…

A Most Wonderful Time of Year – Maybe

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

“Giving Back.” This has always been my “theme” for December, and a very authentic one at that. I have shared ideas for giving to others throughout my blog. Most can be found under “Social Awareness and Responsibility Skills.”

For so many, hmmmm, maybe most of us, the holidays is not a Hallmark Holiday Special. (Not knocking them, I love them!) There is definitely a “set up” for most people. The holidays never turn out as you want, or expect them to.

I have always found that giving to others is the highlight of my holiday season. For those who have so much, it is important to give back. And for those who have less, but can still give, it really takes the sting out of the disappointments that might occur.

I hope your holiday season is going well, wherever and whatever you are celebrating! You are making my holiday season brighter by just reading my blog!