As long as they are open to it, students can learn anywhere. I think that giving students an opportunity to learn out in the real world is the best way for them to learn. Not only will they receive concrete examples of how the content applies to them, but they will practice applying it. Students could work concessions at a basketball game where they are in charge of the register (demonstrating math skills, leadership, and responsibility) as well as keep food stocked (supply and demand.) Going out and observing how plants grow and how animals interact with their environment also offers concrete ways of seeing the world.
I agree with you Courtney! Having kids learn real world skills...out in the real world...is a very important skills. So much can be learned outside of the school buildings.
I TOTALLY agree with you that real world experience is an excellent teaching tool! I don't think anyone can ever get as much out of a textbook as they can when they're participating in an opportunity first hand!
I feel real world skills are so important in the application process. If they don's experience the life experiences that it is harder in the real world to gain skills acceptable to the real worlds view.
I just read an article in my ASHA (Americal Speech Language Hearing Association) journal last night called "Words without Walls" : a private practice trades bricks and mortar for an exclusive focus on telepractice. I think using telepractice for some services (hard to find teachers, rural areas, specialized services) must be considered when looking to the future. Dodge City school district uses telepractice for speech services and I had the opportunity to see it in action last fall. I was somewhat skeptical before the observation but am now a proponent for certain circumstances (high caseload/workload, remote locations, etc). I also think so much can be learned from real life application of skills (work sites, class projects, dramatic retelling, etc) with the basic understanding/foundation being set in a classroom.
Sounds like you found something interesting at the Dodge City School District. Do you know if they they offer other programs through this telepractice program? It sounds like a great idea for out here in this rural area of the state where some resources may not be readily available. It would be really great to have these kids have a starting foundation that is outside the classroom.
I honestly don't know what they would offer around here. Now that I'm back in the middle school I would really like more information on this. I would like to know who I could talk to to find out what is offered. I think it would be a very eye opening experience for our youth to realize what is expected of them when they become young adults and prepare to go into the workforce to earn a living for themselves as well as a family. I think it would also be a refreshing idea to learn in a different way that is not inside a classroom all day long. The kids just might learn something that they never knew and they've been living here in this area the whole time.
That is a hard part of living out in Kansas. There's not much they can do that they aren't already exposed to. If there was a way for them to go to a nearby community they could get new experience. But even getting them out to farm would be good.
Tyce, I don't know what community you live in....but many communities have 4-H clubs (projects provide lots of hands on experience and can be done in a classroom setting). The county extension office, church leadership, and your fellow teachers could probably help point you in the right direction to make some community connections
I like the ideas presented in this chapter where students went out into the community to learn in real-world experiences. I think that would be great for all students. In my district this year at the high school level, people from the community are teaching a class or two dealing with their profession. One person is an architect and the students are working on a project for the school that needs to be built next year. I was a little skeptical at first hearing class would be taught by this person, but it definitely links it to the real world. I think it would be wonderful for the students to begin learning outside of the school building beginning in the 5th grade. Many students do not have experience in the outside world to be able to draw from background knowledge. Getting out into the community through local businesses would give them the background experience they need for life.
It may be a little scary to turn teaching over to a noneducator, but many professionals have a great deal of information to share with students. Who knows which person will inspire a student to achieve great things!
When I was working as the Gifted Facilitator one of the things that I loved having my high school students do was to go out in the communities and shadow in areas they thought they might be interested in going to after high school. It was a great opportunity to see and have hands on experiences to know if this is what they really wanted to do before going off to college and spending semesters and dollars on something that they may end up finding out was not for them. Another activity I loved was when I was in Colby as a SPED teacher something we did I wished we could do here was taking our high needs kids out and doing community based activities twice a month. Students from all over the cooperative in other towns would come to Colby once or twice a month and we would take the kids to a designated restaurant where they would have to order their lunch and use the next dollar generation to pay. Staff was there to support but this was to be a student lead activity. They would sit together and have topics to converse on while eating. After the lunch those students who had APE or PT would either go bowling or to the college and swim for therapy. Those who did not went shopping. Either the IR teacher or a teacher in their school would provide a shopping list and they would go to Walmart or Dillons and work on life skills. Those kids learned more in that community based activity than they did all week sometimes sitting in a classroom. Think back to when we all sat in our college classes and wrote lesson plans that were pages long and presented to our peer’s lessons and then we went out and did your student teaching. Those classrooms were nothing like the real work classrooms and the ones we have now!
I believe learning can occur anywhere. Utilizing the internet has greatly expanded the possibilities. In addition to the internet, students can learn from real world situations that are in their own backyards. I don’t believe one location is better than other, it just matters that students are learning and can see the connection to the real world.
I agree. While Googling Paris, France isn't the same as being there - connecting with a pen pal there offers a new perspective on education and life. With the Internet, those kinds of connections can be even more meaningful than they were in the strictly paper and pencil days.
I believe the most important thing is to help students find something that they actually want to learn about or an interface that they really want to use. That is going to help motivate them to start looking beyond the books and the brick and mortar.
I agree to you both. When teachers use the internet and can give kids background knowledge or just over-all knowledge about a vague subject, it can open up a whole new world of learning that I believe people in my generation and older missed out on.
I would echo that when students (and parents) value learning they can learn anywhere. The cool thing about the real world experience (in my opinion) is that students learn and don't realize it. Students involved in CTE/vocational classes often have many opportunities for hands on learning. My boys were involved in Vo-Ag and part of that curriculum involves an SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience). Students can work in local businesses, raise livestock, raise crops, floriculture.....pretty much anything. I have a kitchen in my room and also have some students involved in woodworking class. They are having fun and don't realize the hands on math skills they are learning as they shop for groceries, measure, etc. I also have a couple of students participating in work study at the hospital and the local grocery store. I have built a rapport with those organizations....and most importantly the students are very willing to work !
Excellent point about the value of education and learning. I think you're right - if education/learning is a priority, it will happen regardless of location.
In my district there are several opportunities for real world experiences. There is job shadowing during the JR year and during SR year there is a trainer/trainee program, which is a little bit like a work study program. When I was in HS in this district we had ITV classes from area schools that offered foreign languages and a few college classes. In the evenings more college classes were offered.
Our distance from an urban area certainly makes out-of-school opportunities more limited. However, these experiences should be as much (or more) about the skills that they are learning than actually what they are doing. At the grade school level, which is where I am, I would love to see more community members asked to come to the school and share what they do. It seems like trips away from the school are pretty scarce these days, but there is no room why teachers aren't asking people in.
Another thought. I think that most people need both. They need the structure - at least in the beginning - of a place to go. A safety net for learning really, where they are taught how to take chances and to overcome mistakes. For most... I believe only then will they be able to learn more unconventionally because they have a base from which to jump.
In our area there does not seem to be alot out there to expose students to, we are lacking in those types of resources compared to other communities but that does not mean they don't exist at all, we just have to be more creative! Since AYP began and our sped students we held accountable to standards and not daily living skills type activities I have not been as diligent with CBI as I was before AYP, that is sad :( because CBI provided my students with instruction outside of the classroom that they would not always get with their families. I do believe in the value of various learning environments, for example how much more are, those kids who take vacations, exposed to versus the ones who never leave town in the summer? As a teacher how can I provide that for my students during the year? It's a shame budget cuts have practically eliminated field trips! Fortunately the internet has opened an entire world for us that was not available prior. I agree with Jerrie in that learning can occur anywhere, we just need to show our students how, encourage them, and expose them. I'm not sure one form is better than the other, I think back to college getting my bachelors degree to teach. That really didn't prepare me for actually teaching and managing a classroom, it helped but experience and guidance were my biggest teachers. I think that is true of most things we go to school to get educated for, the degree gets you in the door but what you do after that is what keeps you in (or not). The examples in this book show schools giving students on-the-job-training- while they are still in school. I like that but wonder if those students were to change jobs would the lack of traditional education help or hurt them?
In one school district I work in, students who can't sit in a formal classroom have the option of taking classwork on the computer for credit. In some ways I feel this is wonderful for those who just aren't able to do the formal way of education at the high school level, yet for some, in my opinion, it doesn't teach them the coping skills for the real world and having a job where you might have to work with someone (teacher/classmate) that you might not like or agree with. I do think the structure at the grade school and middle school are very important, but not so much at the high school level. Plus, with as fast as our world is changing with technology and other job skills that haven't even been created yet, being inside 4 walls all day long may not be the best for some kiddos. Living in western Kansas, though, I think we are at a dis-advantage when compared to bigger cities with magnet schools that allow kids to start job exploration. There is a place (in Minnesota I think) that the Gifted and Talented classroom runs a farm and produces dairy products to sell so the students are learning hands on what it takes to do that job, plus the financial side of marketing. We just don't have resources like that here unfortunately.
Online courses have become so prevalent today. I can attest to that – I have a Master’s Degree, and I didn’t step foot on campus until I graduated. I think some students are motivated and able to learn in an online format without the teacher there to walk them through steps or equations. There are so many online options, some for college credit, and some just for experience. It would be important to mention online schools, since some students choose to get their high school diploma through this type of school. Another option is to help students get work study jobs, so they can use the skills they’ve learned at school in a real-life setting. Many people already mentioned job shadowing or internships. It’s hard to not mention the internet and technology in general. Even my kids mention googling something if we can’t find the answer. Virtually every answer is at our fingertips if we have a wifi connection, and students know this. They can be the driving force of their own learning experiences if they decide what they want to learn and find a credible online source. There are so many options that are great to supplement student learning. I don’t think they are necessarily better, but they are a great way to expand the horizons for students.
I think that learning can occur anywhere and it most definitely doesn't just have to be in the school building. Students can learn so much from their community members, whether that be by job shadowing or going on field trips to see what is in their community. I think that even the smallest of communities has something to offer their students. There are also so many online opportunities for students to experience the world outside of the school building.
When I think especially about special education students, learning in "real world" environments is huge. Being able to see the reason for learning, to build experiences they might not have otherwise had access to, to link what they are learning to what they already know, to have hands-on opportunities, or for teachers to use ethos to make an impression, all good reasons. I have mixed feelings, about online courses. They are not for everyone. If the course requires a student to avoid procrastination, to persist with difficult material, to teach themselves, it may not be a good option for a student who has had difficulty doing this in a regular classroom. I see this sometimes with students who try the learning center after not completing high school. Few have been successful with completing this way. I’ve seen gifted students though, with the opportunity to interact with a professor, have access to coursework they would not otherwise have been able to complete.
The first option that comes to my mind is online programs. When I went through the grad program at FHSU for school psychology, they had our practicum year set up to where a majority of our coursework could be completed online (With the intentions that we wouldn’t be limited on location for our practicum sites in order to still attend school.). However, we still met 1-2 full days a month on campus with our professors and classmates. Personally, I thought it worked out great! However, now they’ve structured the entire program to where you do EVERYTHING completely online. When I first heard about this, it didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t understand how some of the required courses (i.e. our diagnostic and assessment classes) could be delivered in that fashion. I’ve also heard some things from students who are going through the program currently, and I guess it might not be as great as FHSU was hoping it would be. So, with all that being said, I don’t think one style’s better than the other. I think you need to look at what’s being taught and how you can get that across to students the most effectively. If it’s in a traditional manner, great! If not, great! Do whatever works best ☺
I feel real world experiences need to happen within the communities. Living a rural community that is a challenge at times but this gives student huge opportunities to explore their talents. Sometimes students have no idea what they want to do outside of high school because they don't know what is out there to try. My step son is going into the ag field I don't think because that is what he loves but what he knows and feels comfortable with. There are so many opportunities that kids miss out on. There is a world outside of high school and family but it takes exploring the ideas. I think that if they experience it with their friends in high school where their comfort is then it provides a easier transition and mindset.
As long as they are open to it, students can learn anywhere. I think that giving students an opportunity to learn out in the real world is the best way for them to learn. Not only will they receive concrete examples of how the content applies to them, but they will practice applying it. Students could work concessions at a basketball game where they are in charge of the register (demonstrating math skills, leadership, and responsibility) as well as keep food stocked (supply and demand.) Going out and observing how plants grow and how animals interact with their environment also offers concrete ways of seeing the world.
ReplyDeleteI agree that getting out into the real world is the best experience to learn. I feel students would enjoy school more and improve effort.
DeleteI agree with you Courtney! Having kids learn real world skills...out in the real world...is a very important skills. So much can be learned outside of the school buildings.
DeleteI TOTALLY agree with you that real world experience is an excellent teaching tool! I don't think anyone can ever get as much out of a textbook as they can when they're participating in an opportunity first hand!
DeleteI feel real world skills are so important in the application process. If they don's experience the life experiences that it is harder in the real world to gain skills acceptable to the real worlds view.
DeleteI just read an article in my ASHA (Americal Speech Language Hearing Association) journal last night called "Words without Walls" : a private practice trades bricks and mortar for an exclusive focus on telepractice. I think using telepractice for some services (hard to find teachers, rural areas, specialized services) must be considered when looking to the future. Dodge City school district uses telepractice for speech services and I had the opportunity to see it in action last fall. I was somewhat skeptical before the observation but am now a proponent for certain circumstances (high caseload/workload, remote locations, etc). I also think so much can be learned from real life application of skills (work sites, class projects, dramatic retelling, etc) with the basic understanding/foundation being set in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you found something interesting at the Dodge City School District. Do you know if they they offer other programs through this telepractice program? It sounds like a great idea for out here in this rural area of the state where some resources may not be readily available. It would be really great to have these kids have a starting foundation that is outside the classroom.
DeleteI honestly don't know what they would offer around here. Now that I'm back in the middle school I would really like more information on this. I would like to know who I could talk to to find out what is offered. I think it would be a very eye opening experience for our youth to realize what is expected of them when they become young adults and prepare to go into the workforce to earn a living for themselves as well as a family. I think it would also be a refreshing idea to learn in a different way that is not inside a classroom all day long. The kids just might learn something that they never knew and they've been living here in this area the whole time.
ReplyDeleteThat is a hard part of living out in Kansas. There's not much they can do that they aren't already exposed to. If there was a way for them to go to a nearby community they could get new experience. But even getting them out to farm would be good.
DeleteTyce, I don't know what community you live in....but many communities have 4-H clubs (projects provide lots of hands on experience and can be done in a classroom setting). The county extension office, church leadership, and your fellow teachers could probably help point you in the right direction to make some community connections
DeleteI like the ideas presented in this chapter where students went out into the community to learn in real-world experiences. I think that would be great for all students. In my district this year at the high school level, people from the community are teaching a class or two dealing with their profession. One person is an architect and the students are working on a project for the school that needs to be built next year. I was a little skeptical at first hearing class would be taught by this person, but it definitely links it to the real world. I think it would be wonderful for the students to begin learning outside of the school building beginning in the 5th grade. Many students do not have experience in the outside world to be able to draw from background knowledge. Getting out into the community through local businesses would give them the background experience they need for life.
ReplyDeleteIt may be a little scary to turn teaching over to a noneducator, but many professionals have a great deal of information to share with students. Who knows which person will inspire a student to achieve great things!
DeleteWhen I was working as the Gifted Facilitator one of the things that I loved having my high school students do was to go out in the communities and shadow in areas they thought they might be interested in going to after high school. It was a great opportunity to see and have hands on experiences to know if this is what they really wanted to do before going off to college and spending semesters and dollars on something that they may end up finding out was not for them.
ReplyDeleteAnother activity I loved was when I was in Colby as a SPED teacher something we did I wished we could do here was taking our high needs kids out and doing community based activities twice a month. Students from all over the cooperative in other towns would come to Colby once or twice a month and we would take the kids to a designated restaurant where they would have to order their lunch and use the next dollar generation to pay. Staff was there to support but this was to be a student lead activity. They would sit together and have topics to converse on while eating. After the lunch those students who had APE or PT would either go bowling or to the college and swim for therapy. Those who did not went shopping. Either the IR teacher or a teacher in their school would provide a shopping list and they would go to Walmart or Dillons and work on life skills. Those kids learned more in that community based activity than they did all week sometimes sitting in a classroom.
Think back to when we all sat in our college classes and wrote lesson plans that were pages long and presented to our peer’s lessons and then we went out and did your student teaching. Those classrooms were nothing like the real work classrooms and the ones we have now!
I believe learning can occur anywhere. Utilizing the internet has greatly expanded the possibilities. In addition to the internet, students can learn from real world situations that are in their own backyards. I don’t believe one location is better than other, it just matters that students are learning and can see the connection to the real world.
ReplyDeleteI agree. While Googling Paris, France isn't the same as being there - connecting with a pen pal there offers a new perspective on education and life. With the Internet, those kinds of connections can be even more meaningful than they were in the strictly paper and pencil days.
DeleteI believe the most important thing is to help students find something that they actually want to learn about or an interface that they really want to use. That is going to help motivate them to start looking beyond the books and the brick and mortar.
I agree to you both. When teachers use the internet and can give kids background knowledge or just over-all knowledge about a vague subject, it can open up a whole new world of learning that I believe people in my generation and older missed out on.
DeleteI would echo that when students (and parents) value learning they can learn anywhere. The cool thing about the real world experience (in my opinion) is that students learn and don't realize it. Students involved in CTE/vocational classes often have many opportunities for hands on learning. My boys were involved in Vo-Ag and part of that curriculum involves an SAE (Supervised Agriculture Experience). Students can work in local businesses, raise livestock, raise crops, floriculture.....pretty much anything.
ReplyDeleteI have a kitchen in my room and also have some students involved in woodworking class. They are having fun and don't realize the hands on math skills they are learning as they shop for groceries, measure, etc.
I also have a couple of students participating in work study at the hospital and the local grocery store. I have built a rapport with those organizations....and most importantly the students are very willing to work !
Excellent point about the value of education and learning. I think you're right - if education/learning is a priority, it will happen regardless of location.
DeleteIn my district there are several opportunities for real world experiences. There is job shadowing during the JR year and during SR year there is a trainer/trainee program, which is a little bit like a work study program. When I was in HS in this district we had ITV classes from area schools that offered foreign languages and a few college classes. In the evenings more college classes were offered.
ReplyDeleteOur distance from an urban area certainly makes out-of-school opportunities more limited. However, these experiences should be as much (or more) about the skills that they are learning than actually what they are doing. At the grade school level, which is where I am, I would love to see more community members asked to come to the school and share what they do. It seems like trips away from the school are pretty scarce these days, but there is no room why teachers aren't asking people in.
Another thought. I think that most people need both. They need the structure - at least in the beginning - of a place to go. A safety net for learning really, where they are taught how to take chances and to overcome mistakes. For most... I believe only then will they be able to learn more unconventionally because they have a base from which to jump.
ReplyDeleteIn our area there does not seem to be alot out there to expose students to, we are lacking in those types of resources compared to other communities but that does not mean they don't exist at all, we just have to be more creative! Since AYP began and our sped students we held accountable to standards and not daily living skills type activities I have not been as diligent with CBI as I was before AYP, that is sad :( because CBI provided my students with instruction outside of the classroom that they would not always get with their families. I do believe in the value of various learning environments, for example how much more are, those kids who take vacations, exposed to versus the ones who never leave town in the summer? As a teacher how can I provide that for my students during the year? It's a shame budget cuts have practically eliminated field trips! Fortunately the internet has opened an entire world for us that was not available prior. I agree with Jerrie in that learning can occur anywhere, we just need to show our students how, encourage them, and expose them.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure one form is better than the other, I think back to college getting my bachelors degree to teach. That really didn't prepare me for actually teaching and managing a classroom, it helped but experience and guidance were my biggest teachers. I think that is true of most things we go to school to get educated for, the degree gets you in the door but what you do after that is what keeps you in (or not). The examples in this book show schools giving students on-the-job-training- while they are still in school. I like that but wonder if those students were to change jobs would the lack of traditional education help or hurt them?
In one school district I work in, students who can't sit in a formal classroom have the option of taking classwork on the computer for credit. In some ways I feel this is wonderful for those who just aren't able to do the formal way of education at the high school level, yet for some, in my opinion, it doesn't teach them the coping skills for the real world and having a job where you might have to work with someone (teacher/classmate) that you might not like or agree with. I do think the structure at the grade school and middle school are very important, but not so much at the high school level. Plus, with as fast as our world is changing with technology and other job skills that haven't even been created yet, being inside 4 walls all day long may not be the best for some kiddos. Living in western Kansas, though, I think we are at a dis-advantage when compared to bigger cities with magnet schools that allow kids to start job exploration. There is a place (in Minnesota I think) that the Gifted and Talented classroom runs a farm and produces dairy products to sell so the students are learning hands on what it takes to do that job, plus the financial side of marketing. We just don't have resources like that here unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteOnline courses have become so prevalent today. I can attest to that – I have a Master’s Degree, and I didn’t step foot on campus until I graduated. I think some students are motivated and able to learn in an online format without the teacher there to walk them through steps or equations. There are so many online options, some for college credit, and some just for experience. It would be important to mention online schools, since some students choose to get their high school diploma through this type of school.
ReplyDeleteAnother option is to help students get work study jobs, so they can use the skills they’ve learned at school in a real-life setting.
Many people already mentioned job shadowing or internships.
It’s hard to not mention the internet and technology in general. Even my kids mention googling something if we can’t find the answer. Virtually every answer is at our fingertips if we have a wifi connection, and students know this. They can be the driving force of their own learning experiences if they decide what they want to learn and find a credible online source.
There are so many options that are great to supplement student learning. I don’t think they are necessarily better, but they are a great way to expand the horizons for students.
I think that learning can occur anywhere and it most definitely doesn't just have to be in the school building. Students can learn so much from their community members, whether that be by job shadowing or going on field trips to see what is in their community. I think that even the smallest of communities has something to offer their students. There are also so many online opportunities for students to experience the world outside of the school building.
ReplyDeleteWhen I think especially about special education students, learning in "real world" environments is huge. Being able to see the reason for learning, to build experiences they might not have otherwise had access to, to link what they are learning to what they already know, to have hands-on opportunities, or for teachers to use ethos to make an impression, all good reasons. I have mixed feelings, about online courses. They are not for everyone. If the course requires a student to avoid procrastination, to persist with difficult material, to teach themselves, it may not be a good option for a student who has had difficulty doing this in a regular classroom. I see this sometimes with students who try the learning center after not completing high school. Few have been successful with completing this way. I’ve seen gifted students though, with the opportunity to interact with a professor, have access to coursework they would not otherwise have been able to complete.
ReplyDeleteI agree real world environments is huge for the students with special needs. It is something that is totally up to each individual way of learning.
DeleteThe first option that comes to my mind is online programs. When I went through the grad program at FHSU for school psychology, they had our practicum year set up to where a majority of our coursework could be completed online (With the intentions that we wouldn’t be limited on location for our practicum sites in order to still attend school.). However, we still met 1-2 full days a month on campus with our professors and classmates. Personally, I thought it worked out great! However, now they’ve structured the entire program to where you do EVERYTHING completely online. When I first heard about this, it didn’t make sense to me. I didn’t understand how some of the required courses (i.e. our diagnostic and assessment classes) could be delivered in that fashion. I’ve also heard some things from students who are going through the program currently, and I guess it might not be as great as FHSU was hoping it would be. So, with all that being said, I don’t think one style’s better than the other. I think you need to look at what’s being taught and how you can get that across to students the most effectively. If it’s in a traditional manner, great! If not, great! Do whatever works best ☺
ReplyDeleteI feel real world experiences need to happen within the communities. Living a rural community that is a challenge at times but this gives student huge opportunities to explore their talents. Sometimes students have no idea what they want to do outside of high school because they don't know what is out there to try. My step son is going into the ag field I don't think because that is what he loves but what he knows and feels comfortable with. There are so many opportunities that kids miss out on. There is a world outside of high school and family but it takes exploring the ideas. I think that if they experience it with their friends in high school where their comfort is then it provides a easier transition and mindset.
ReplyDelete