In reflecting on the idea of creating significant learning experiences, I feel like it's an idea so big I can barely begin to grasp it. So, we shall start with the basics. What do we mean by "significant"?
Merriam Webster says,
1: having meaning ( "a significant glance" )
2: having or likely to have influence or effect
3: probably caused by something other than chance (in statistics)
I like those first two, especially the second one. I like the idea of the education the students in our classroom get having a lasting effect on them, that it means something to them, that it's useful to them. More than that, it's important that while they're in my class they know that what they're learning is important and useful, that its relevance is made clear to them.
My mentor teacher has been working on integrating informational texts into her class. She's doing a unit about Alaska right now, and they just started a novel called "Days of Gold" that's about the Alaska gold rush. But before that, they read some nonfiction (informational) stuff about the Alaska gold rush. This was crafty of her for a couple reasons that relates to our idea of significant learning experiences. First, their understanding of the ins and outs of the Alaska gold rush means that they'll be understanding things about the people and places mentioned in "Days of Gold" and the students will understand how they can learn from nonfiction texts and that will help them find relevance. Secondly, teaching informational text is new to my mentor teacher (because of Common Core), and she told me "I never realized how much help my students needed with reading nonfiction texts!" She felt like it was one of the most important (read: significant) elements of her class. The ability to read informational texts is arguably just as or more valuable than being able to read creative writing. Textbooks, for one. Technical writing if the student ends up going into any STEM-related field. Research. Informational texts are everywhere, and students need to know how to read them.
That's a significant learning experience. That's applicable to the students' experiences outside of the classroom.
I appreciate the definition breakdown of significant, the past week I have been pondering what exactly it means in relevance to our class and lessons. I also appreciate how nonfiction is finally making more of an appearance in the classroom! I know that it is something that I would have benefitted from growing up. The beautiful thing about it is that regardless of what the subject is, there is research to back it up. I have been trying to figure out ways to bring outside subjects into the English classroom, I figured history and art were easy, but what about science and math? The use of some nonfiction text and even the use of statistics of some kind can bring the math and science into the English classroom. AND this way, there is a bigger chance to grab the interests of the students who enjoy math and science!
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