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!
The Educational Journey 