ELA in the 21c: Writing for Authentic Audiences

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“Learning is creation, not consumption. Knowledge is not something a learner absorbs, but something a learner creates.” – George Couros

I’ve talked about the 21st century classroom and hidden curriculum objectives, such as the 6 C’s of education. In this post, I dive deeper into these concepts, relating to the ELA classroom.

The value of authentic connections is at the core of my teaching philosophy. The further I get in my training, the more concrete this idea has become. Brandon School Division teacher, Tyler Letkeman joined us in #I4Ed to discuss the transformation in his ELA curriculum that was inspired by the book, 180 Days. Tyler’s goal to make the most out of student writing by leveraging technology and authentic audiences.

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Authenticity. What does that mean, exactly? Let’s dig in a bit. Authentic literacy involves a writer (the creator) and a reader (the audience). Authentic audiences have a HUGE impact on motivation! Can you relate to the difficult tasks of motivating students? The struggle is real. When the only eyes to read their work are the teacher’s, authenticity and motivation are low. But with an authentic audience, learners have a reason to polish their work and to share it with their family/friends, community and people all over the world.

Authentic tasks are foundational to Tyler’s programming. Learners work on four core writing tasks. Just four. Now, think back to your own learning experiences. How many one-and-done tasks did you complete and never look at again? Students are doing a lot of writing, sure, but are they doing a lot of learning? I don’t think so. With just four authentic writing tasks, learners are deeply engaged in the writing cycle - conferencing, reflecting and polishing their work into a piece they’re proud of and ready to publish to the world.

When incorporating authentic audiences into your classroom, consider this hierarchy as presented in my Instructional Methods class with Krista McDivitt. It’s unreasonable to expect every task to fall into the top tier, but try to shift learners to more authentic learning experiences.

    5 - Present work in service to the world
    4 - Present work to an audience capable of critiquing
    3 - Present work for the community
    2 - Present work to parents/peers
    1 - Present work to the teacher

There are many ways to utilize authentic audiences, especially with the digital tools available at our fingertips. Here’s a few ideas:

1. Blogs are easy (and free!) to set up and can be utilized in many ways. Perhaps students each use a blog to reflect on their course work, just like we’re doing for #I4Ed. Maybe you decide to take on a class (or school) blog where learners collaborate to develop content.
2. Podcasts are a great platform for students to explore their voice and share ideas. You likely already have the technology available in your school to get recording.
3. Launch an online campaign and inspire students to take action and support social issues or world problems they’re passionate about and are relevant today.
4. Publish a children’s book or series and integrate cross-curricular connections with art, writing and authentic audiences. Tyler uses www.blurb.com to bring student work to life, publishing a book for each student.

Authenticity is not limited to the ELA class either. In my next practicum, I’m planning a whole-class wiki project for Drafting. My goal is to transform the existing print materials into a living, student-centered resource; a project to support future classes and grow with each new group.

Got some of your own ideas to bring authenticity into the classroom? Comment below and let’s collaborate!

“Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. ” – Albert Einstein