Tag: Student motivation

Authentic Teaching – Practices 2

Task Value

Rationale: Authentic Teachers should invite students to find value in the learning task by helping them understand its importance, utility, interest, and cost – whether the task is valuable or not (Ormrod, 2016). In practice, Authentic Teachers are expected, on the one hand, to scaffold students’ learning as needed to increase their sense of competence and self-efficacy. On the other hand, they should encourage students to value what is to be learned by sharing with them their own views, encouraging critical discussions, explaining how what they are learning is impacting their future lives, and instilling in them a love for knowledge (Ormrod, 2016).

Procedure:

— Prior to learning a major task, Authentic Teachers ask students to answer the following questions: 

  1. Importance: Is the task important? How does it connect with your prior knowledge and skills?
  1. Utility: Is the task useful? How is it relevant to real life context? How does it reflect the intended dispositions?
  1. Interest: Is the task interesting? How would the task foster your personal growth?
  1. Cost: What impact can the task have on your learning now, in the near and far future ? How is the task contributing to your academic success? 

— Encourage students to share their answers in pairs, small groups, or with the whole class. 

Assessment: encourage students to include their reflections in their journals or portfolios so that they can refer to them later for self-assessment and/or self-motivation.

A follow up alternative : the same questions could be used as a post reflection ( formative assessment):

  1. Has the task been important? How has it consolidated your prior knowledge and skills?
  1. Has the task been useful? How is it relevant to real life context? Has it fostered the intended dispositions ?
  1. Has the task  been interesting? How has the task fostered your personal growth?
  1. How has learning the task contributed to your academic growth?

Reference:

Ormrod, J. E. (2016). Human learning (7th ed.). Harlow, Essex, England: Pearson.