Mind. Blown.

Happy Sunday, colleagues! This past week I was scrolling through Twitter when I came across a post from Jennifer Gonzales. Of course, the title got my attention, but the article, itself, was even better.

Buzzword Bling: Putting Substance Behind Our Big Words
Guest post by Typhani Harris, Ph.Dhttps://t.co/dZBcykUCmv#teaching #studentchoice #studentengagement #teachingstrategies #wholechild

— Jennifer Gonzalez (@cultofpedagogy) January 23, 2018

This blog post is 2 1/2 years old but is still very much relevant. A lot of what is spoken in the blog post directly relates to my classroom and my education philosophy: 21st-century learning, real-world projects, and engagement. The part that blew my mind was the piece about how real-world knowledge is when it is real for students, but not necessarily real for teachers.

When I taught Social Studies, and I heard about making curriculum real-world, I struggled. I was frustrated with trying to explain what I considered "modern day" topics while teaching about what happened in the US 300 years ago. The closest I ever felt I got was the very last unit I developed last year when I had the students study a modern event dealing with racism and connect its lineage back to Reconstruction and Jim Crow laws. I felt so successful, and it was the last US history topic I taught over nine years.

After reading this blog post, I realized that I was unintentionally teaching real-world concepts for the last five years! I was doing so by connecting to their real-world NOW. I knew it was a best teaching practice to provide students opportunities to interact and communicate with each other. For some reason, I never thought about how beneficial it was to produce situations (or simulations) that were similar to their lives right now. Those situations/simulations are real-world for THEM (even if they're not real world for us).

What are some ways to design real-world lessons, projects, or units for our students?

• Even though students can't vote, they are interested in today's politics. If you teach Social Studies, compare and contrast political actions in 1789 with the government today. Compare the Presidents and their agendas. How is the Supreme Court different? How is Congress different? As you continue to teach your curriculum (into the 19th and 20th centuries), discuss where the changes happened. Focus on, How did we get here today? 
• Let students write a blog. Sometimes you can give them prompts, but sometimes, let them free write. Let them blog about what they're reading or have them blog about a recent personal Instagram post. If you want students to comment on each others' posts, have them look at vocabulary. Are there any words that might sound better than what they posted? It's a sneaky activity that expands their vocabulary!
• Students are obsessed with Netflix! Do you want them to write a story? Have the students "pitch" their plotline to Netflix executives. Want to make the lesson even more real world? Have a panel (teachers, students, maybe even local filmmakers?!) that discuss their storylines with them, in person, in front of the class. 
• I'm speaking here as a non-math person, but is it possible for students to study algorithms? Is it possible for them to look at how Facebook's news feed has changed (based on the algorithm)? Could they do a scientific study of how (or how often) they see a person on their Instagram feed now that it is no longer based on time of posting?

My challenge to you, this week, is to find a way to make your content more relevant to students TODAY, whether you update a lesson, add technology, or just listen to what students care about today. Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :)

- Rachel

@historicalipad

My Teacherspayteachers website