Authentic Instruction and Authentic Assessment

1. Authentic Instruction and Authentic Assessment By Adam H. Bezinovich

2. Authentic Instruction • Instruction that uses tasks that are not the traditional way to teach. • Authentic Tasks take more time to complete than a traditional lesson. • Students will learn information in way that is meaningful, and directly applicable to the real world. • Authentic Tasks are not used a lot in school even though research shows that the use of authentic tasks can be quite beneficial to student learning.

3. Authentic Instruction • For meaningful learning to occur students need to be involved in tasks that are relevant and interesting to the students. • When students learn new information through use of an authentic task, they can easily relate it to information they have learned before.

4. Authentic Instruction • Students will need time to adjust to learning in an Authentic Instruction Classroom. • Authentic Instruction usually involves Authentic Learning Experiences that are interdisciplinary. • Teachers act more as coaches or guides in classroom that use Authentic Instruction • Students will work in groups and use higher order thinking skills when participating in Authentic Instruction Learning Experiences

5. Authentic Instruction • Learning uses a hands on approach • Students will create a final product that is relevant and applicable to the real world • Instruction allows students to learn at a pace comfortable for them, and allows for them to ask questions when needed and work when no questions are present.

6. Authentic Instruction • When students participate in Authentic Instruction Lessons they will use higher order thinking skills • Authentic Instruction should connect school learning objectives to the student’s lives and interests in order to motivate students to learn.

7. Authentic Assessment • A way to assess student’s understanding in a non-traditional manner. • Most Traditional Assessments expect students to recall information or facts. • Authentic Assessment expects students to demonstrate their knowledge in a real world application.

8. Authentic Assessments • Authentic Assessments can take many different forms. • Authentic Assessments tests students non-rote skills, and their ability to apply their knowledge to real world problems and situations. • Some teachers use Performance Assessments, Short Investigations, Open Response Questions, and Portfolios.

9. Authentic Assessment • Teachers tend to develop Authentic Assessment Task before designing the unit • A teacher does not need to choose between Traditional Assessment and Authentic Assessment. • A teacher should use both Authentic Assessment and Traditional Assessment in order to assess their students

10. Authentic Assessment • Teachers that use Traditional Assessment are encouraged to not teach to the test. • Teachers that use Authentic Assessment are encouraged to teach the test. • Since Authentic Assessment uses performance based assessments students will need to see how to properly perform a Authentic Assessment

11. Resources • http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-methods-and-management/educational-testing/4911.html • http://www.education.com/reference/article/authentic-tasks/ • http://www.cec.sped.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Experiential_Learning&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=24&ContentID=4697 • http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=2&n=2 • http://www.roe11.k12.il.us/GES%20Stuff/Day%204/Content/Authentic%20Multi-level%20Instruction-Peterson.pdf • http://www.roe11.k12.il.us/GES%20Stuff/Day%204/Content/Authentic%20Multi-level%20Instruction-Peterson.pdf • http://jfmueller.faculty.noctrl.edu/toolbox/whatisit.htm