As the United States celebrates its 248th birthday, I think it might be a great time to look at where we are as a country, and what is going on in the world. No, I don’t intend to get into this in this blog. Everyone has their own views, insights, and feelings about our country/world today. But, I think we all can agree that right now, and always, the world could use a little kindness. It is so important to teach children (and young adults) the importance of doing something for others. Nothing makes me feel better than helping others. (This is one of the major reasons I write my blog, maybe I ..read more

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 ..read more

“Train Tracks” I saw this unusual contrail, which made me think about a possible blog, with the driving question, “What caused this unusual pattern that looks like train tracks in the sky?” (Although after a few minutes, it looked like a picket fence, and then tire treads!) However, this made me think that a better/additional authentic project could be to develop a creative writing project about train tracks in the sky! This reminded me that with all authentic projects, there can easily be a creative writing piece incorporated.  Studying clouds, ask the question, “How could we incorporate ..read more

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.  Th ..read more

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 t ..read more

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 c ..read more

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 ..read more

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 abo ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more