Three Ways to Make Your Classroom Work, "Real World" Work

                                                       My Education Niche: Curriculum

My advice for today: make the classroom work, real-world work. Yes. We talk about this over and over.

We say it must be relevant and that students must see the purpose. But how far do we go to bring in
the true “real world” aspect. Here are three ways that I bring the “real world” into my classroom.

1. Invite parents and community members into your classroom, that use your skills every day. If you have a strong
parental support in your classroom, start there. Many times they will love to come in and share what
they do on a daily basis, but have no idea “where to start.” If you are working on a specific unit, share
with them the skills that they need to talk about and how they use those particularly in their daily
occupation. When I teach economics, I ask all of my business owners to come in and talk about the
different ways they run their businesses and organizations. After reading Bridge to Terabithia, and we're building bridges in our science lesson, I ask my engineers to come in and judge the construction process and load-bearing structures. Not only will students see the use for why they are learning a skill, but they may make the “what’s in it for me” connection, knowing they have a desire to follow in one of the career paths brought in. Not only have you shown real-world use, but you’ve strengthened your community connections.

2. "Hire" the students as members of certain occupations and career fields. My mentor teacher taught
the COOLEST unit that I “stole” from her and used throughout the rest of my classroom years. I will
run into students years later and they still ask if I teach “Med School.” Even this past year, during Meet
the Teacher night, prior families asked if I would teach Med School and if their kiddos would be able
to “farm” (during our embryology unit). These are the units that your students remember, the families
remember, that inspire future adventures and bring the real world right into your classroom. With Med
School, we taught each of the body systems – as students excelled and learned more, they “leveled
up” in the medical profession (think gaming mentally with expert points and levels) working their way
from RN to Nurse Practitioner to Medical Doctor…with several steps leading them to Specialist –
allowing them to “choose their specialty” and how they were able to apply their knowledge. Not only
were they able to see the path of a medical professional, but they understood it took hard work to get
there. What steps can you put into your next social studies unit or math unit, that allows students to
see the growth into a new profession?

3. Find literature and current events/news involving the specific topic. When do you teach statistics
and probability? Could you shift it to align with March Madness or the Kentucky Derby? This allows
your students not only to apply it to real-world events, but they can also learn a little about what is
going on in their present day. Would you be able to line up your biology unit in the spring, when you
have a) many newborns at the zoo or b) your greenhouses are starting to reopen and market for the
season? As students realize the time and energy it takes to make sure timing is part of the skill set,
too, then it becomes more intriguing. More like a puzzle that they solve, than a set of skills they
are memorizing.