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Authenticity -- we know it works! There is research to support the value of authentic reading and writing. When students are engaged in real-world problems, scenarios and challenges, they find relevance in the work and become engaged in learning important skills and content. In addition, while students may or may not do stuff for Mr. Miller, they are more likely to engage when there is a real-world audience looking at their work, giving them feedback, and helping them improve. This is just one critical part of project-based learning. However, maybe you aren't ready for fully authentic projects. Where are some good places to start taking the authenticity up a notch in your classroom?

A couple of weeks ago, Samer Rabadi, Edutopia's Community Manager, started this discussion on the Community Bulletin Board: "What Does It Mean to Be a Connected Educator?" He observed that, for many of us, becoming connected educators has transformed our lives. I would certainly agree with that!

Teachers are used to hearing about new ideas in education -- changes in instruction, technology and curriculum that are going to fix what's broken. The trouble is, these changes are so difficult to trust. Many changes are based on ideas that have gained traction through very limited and poorly researched beginnings. One district might see success with a "program," and soon superintendents and principals are sent scrambling to duplicate that approach in their own district, without a full understanding of both data and circumstance. On the flipside, other changes are based entirely on "data," products of number-crunching from funded studies that keep telling us what we already know -- technology makes new things possible, socioeconomic status matters, and literacy skills are everything. Changes here produce clinical, lifeless curricula that mean well but lack the ambition to reach for students' imagination.

When a teacher, school, or district tells parents and community members, "We're going to do Project Based Learning!" the response may vary. You're lucky if some say, "Great news! Students need to be taught differently these days!" but a more typical response might be: What's Project Based Learning?  That's not how I was taught. Why do we need PBL, if (a) our school is already doing well, or (b) what we really need is a better literacy/math program to raise test scores?  Isn't that just a trendy new thing that doesn't really work?  How is this going to affect my child (and me)?  Basically, they're asking for the what, why, and how. Here are some successful strategies we've seen to answer these questions.

"Editor's note: John Larmer, Editor in Chief at the Buck Institute for Education (BIE), contributed to this post. The Common Core has embedded within it some Big Ideas that shift the role of teachers to curriculum designers and managers of an inquiry process. How can project-based learning (PBL) help with this shift? "

Great tips for using social media in the WL class!

New rubrics from BIE synthsizing critical thinking, creativity, communication skills in PBL

Good new post by Andrew Miller on PBL vs. projects, and other myths

Une liste assez complète de ressources sur Alphonse Daudet, y compris les textes de ses œuvres

Beaucoup de ressources sur le Tour de France

fiche pédagogique pour Le Petit Nicolas - la Journée du PN

"Présenter le calendrier des fêtes francophones. Identifier et situer les principales fêtes de chaque mois. Présenter un dossier individualisé spécifiant: Origines historiques de la fête. Traditions liées à ces fêtes. Repas typiques. Vêtements typiques. Chansons"

La baguette ou le «pain français» comme il est appelé par les Belges ou les Québécois, est un véritable symbole de la France au même titre que le vin ou le roquefort. L'engouement des Français pour leur pain est tel que chaque année autour de la Saint-Honoré, qui est le patron des boulangers, se déroule la Fête du pain. Alors voici une fiche pour faire découvrir à vos élèves son histoire, ses caractéristiques et sa fabrication.

Ce dictionnaire ou lexique permet de donner les définitions clé, en usage sur le web, internet, et les réseaux sociaux. De nombreuses terminologies naissent, et nécessitent un éclairage pointu. L'objectif est de permettre à chacun de comprendre les concepts, mots, définitions .

Aide aux étudiants de Français Langue Etrangère dans leur apprentissage

Réseau social éducatif pour échanger et réfléchir sur les ressources, les méthodes et les expériences éducatives autour du FLE

Des exercices pour entraîner les étudiants á la compréhension orale A1 et A2.  Bonne pêche!

Great ideas from Renée for French teachers.