Tag: Authentic Learning

Authentic teaching as seen from the perspective of Students

I have just received the letter I am sharing with you on the Teacher’s Appreciation Week. Students were asked to write about a teacher that they would like to recognize for this week. I was moved by this letter drafted by two of my students – a 7th grader and 12th grader. I am so ecstatic to find out that they describe me as an authentic teacher! A Feeling of self-alignment mixed with a sense of fulifiment has overwhelmed me! I thought this moment is worth sharing with my blog readers!

Reflections on Authentic Teaching!

Authentic Teaching!

I would like first to clarify what authentic teaching is NOT from my perspective.

  1. Authentic teaching is not synonymous with authentic learning. The latter is well part of the instructional practices of authentic teachers but is not as encompassing as authentic teaching since it only “refers to a wide variety of educational and instructional techniques focused on connecting what students are taught in school to real-world issues, problems, and applications.(“Authentic Learning,”n.d).
  2. Authentic teaching is neither synonymous with the notion of teachers’ authenticity denoting personal traits of teachers. Authentic teaching is far beyond the teacher as a person. Surely, authentic teachers share some critical personal traits but this is only one facet to authentic teaching.
  3. Authentic teaching to me refers to a set of beliefs, attitudes and actions that characterizes authentic teachers in their quest of helping students to come to know. Sergiovanni and Starratt (2002) defines an educational platform as “ a floor of beliefs, opinions, values, and attitudes that provides a foundation for practice” (p.70). The main aspects of the authentic teacher’s educational platform can be represented as follows :

I will detail my definition of the authentic teacher in the coming posts.

Abderrazak Behhar – August 21, 2021.

References:

Authentic learning definition. The Glossary of Education Reform. (2013, September 16). https://www.edglossary.org/authentic-learning/. 

De Bruyckere, P., & Kirschner, P. A. (2016). Authentic teachers: Student criteria perceiving authenticity of teachers. Cogent Education, 3(1), 1247609. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186x.2016.1247609 

Sergiovanni, T. J., & Starratt, R. J. (2002). Supervision: A redefinition (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill.