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An important read as we work to reinvent schools and make sure we measure authentic learning with more authentic measures than bubble trouble. ;-)

It is great to watch this Webmaking 101 course for journalists evolve. jess Klein wants to "create authentic learning experiences around webmaking projects." This is a brainstorm about how to teach journalists the basics of html, css, and copyright authentically. I'm looking for the site. I love it. The site would strip out everything but the text and let the journalists add things back in.

Welcome to the Culturally Authentic Pictorial Lexicon, CAPL, the source for authentic images for language learning. As a language teacher and learner, I always seek to connect language, culture, and meaning. This site represents my interest to not only write about language learning, but provide concrete examples.

Article from Jay Matthews of the Washington Post on Authentic Learning. 

Great article about the partnership between University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and our latest Flat Classroom Project, NetGenEd. This sort of arrangement in which preservice teachers served as expert advisors and judges for the project provided real, authentic learning experiences for both students and participants. We skyped into Eric's classroom a few times to talk to his students about pedagogy and they did a great job providing feedback and input on the project. It would make sense that many more preservice programs are going to want to put in authentic distance learning experiences for their preservice teachers and there are many teachers who need high quality feedback and educator review and interaction for their projects.

So what's wrong? In short, the common thread I see throughout all the failures is quite simply a lack of empathy. There is no authentic encounter with students, or what Martin Buber called "a genuine meeting." When we use all the right methods, and we still fail, it is most likely because we are encountering our students as objects and not as the rich and complex individuals that they are. When we do not bring our authentic selves to the classroom and open up to an authentic encounter with our students and the topic at hand we fail, regardless of the methods we choose.

So often when we talk about schools, students, parents and teachers, we discuss things in arm-lengths type of way. We discuss how they need to have richer and more meaningful learning experiences, how we need to provide them with the opportunities to use the technological tools in authentic learning experiences. What we don't discuss is how schools need to be places of living not just of learning. They need to be places of community where children can experience life-lessons not just academic lessons. The story that follows is about one such event that took place at our school this past year.

Will you help Silvia Tolisano's students by letting them know what screencasts you want them to record? Thank you for taking a moment. This is a great project she's doing for these 6th graders. She does such a wonderful job of helping students develop an authentic audience.

We know that your busy and don't always have time to search and sift through the good and the not so online. Find useful articles and Ideas from about Problem Based and Inquiry Based Learning at the Authentic Classroom Paper.li. Subscribe to get a new addition everyday

keynote speech from ulearn11

Learning goes deep. Evidence of higher order thinking.  Real and substantive conversations.  Personal learning.  Autonomy, mastery, purpose, choice, self-direction. 21st century skills integration. Reflecting

Another one of my students has been writing and sharing on the Kindle Kids Corner. Here's an interview she did about trends in Young Adult fiction and I agree with so much of what she's written. This is another example of how authentic projects can transform a student. This happened to come out of one of my favorite kindle book sites - Kindle Nation Daily and an email conversation I had with the author Steven Windwalker (penname.) 

In this must-read post, Lisa Myers says so many things right. So many of us teachers have shocked that people have seen into the heart of who we are but why did some teachers have to die for people to see it? "No, for most of us, our all does not include a sacrificial death, but it does include a sacrificial life. It means working a full day at school then continuing that work at home well into the evening as we grade papers and prepare materials that will lead to authentic learning in the classroom. That's our surface work. At a deeper level, however, we also do the following:""

This is an example of a consent form for research for a research student done at the University of Georgia. If you are a researcher, you'll want to check with your university as to the proper way to format and secure permissions, however, as students become researchers, I have questions about securing permission for research. This is an area we need to discuss and understand because students can now be viable, authentic researchers and perhaps may have links to more accurate data collection techniques than researchers. What happens when researchers partner with students to collect data? A whole new world of research is opening up, so research forms are worth collecting.

Wow. to celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday, the King Center has shared 200,000 papers belonging to him. Such research is a powerful tool for scholars and teachers. Do you realize that your students are able to do authentic research and discover things not seen if they are able to navigate such resources?

Examples of how wolfram alpha can be used in the classroom. From math to physics to research and economics, you can use this data crunching engine in very powerful ways. Another important tool for students and authentic researchers of all ages.

ePals and th Smithsonian are sponsoring their third Invent It challenge where students address real world problems with inventions. The projects are due on April 11. Sign up now and plan this authentic project into your classroom this spring.

"Students from all over the world can collaborate in their classrooms and at home to create and publish books using Classroom Authors web based publishing application." Very cool website -- this from the publisher "Our software was developed working with Colombia University Teacher's College and over 40 classrooms with the purpose of engaging students in the writing process through collaborative book publishing." This looks to be a very cool website and another way to have students publish books and have an authentic audience.

The student blogging challenge starts next week. Here's the page to register your class. Remember, you can choose which challenges to participate in. It's a great way to build an authentic audience for your students!