Authentic Instruction Analysis

As we prepare our students to be twenty-first century workers, our classrooms need to adapt also. Authentic teaching provides the opportunity for students to push their students through relatable content to deeply understand the material. Additionally, integrating technology fosters critical thinking and engagement. Authentic instruction fosters original, creative thinking within our students through four standards. Implementing the four standards of authentic teaching allows teachers to seamlessly transition their instruction.
Authentic instruction consists of four standards: higher order thinking, depth of knowledge, substantive conversation, and connectedness to the world. Higher order thinking requires students to manipulate information
Traditional teaching demonstrates little value to students lives other than needing to understand the material to move onto the next skill or concept. An authentic lesson that allows students to incorporate their own experiences to solve public problems embodies higher order thinking, deep understanding, and conversation. Consequently, students become more engaged in the learning, allowing a deeper understanding of content. Miller (2013) defends this idea by stating: 'When students are engaged in real-world problems, scenarios and challenges, they find relevance in the work and become engaged in learning important skills and content." Authentic instruction embodies all four of these characteristics. Each characteristic needs at least one or all of the others for support. One way for teachers to easily incorporate authentic instruction is through
The thought of teaching every standard utilizing authentic strategies is overwhelming. However, focusing on two or three concepts that are evident the whole year make this more manageable. Additionally, utilizing one or two characteristics of authentic instruction within a lesson rather than all four at once, makes the transition seamless. One way I incorporate higher order thinking within my lessons is prompting my students through questioning. Asking students questions such as "Why does this happen rather than....?" or "How could we create a rule that works for all scenarios?" allows students to analyze their logic to create explanations. Moreover, using questioning to have students take previous knowledge and apply it in a new scenario will increase student's depth of knowledge. Moreover, implementing activities that connect student learning to real world forces students to analyze and elaborate on their knowledge. This can be most seen in a project where I had students apply their understanding of linear functions to plan for a dinner dance. Students were required to interpret information provided by various bands and caterers to determine which would be best company to use. Upon students using their knowledge of linear functions to find cost per person, start up fees, and future costs, students had to write a letter to the principal stating their