1. Authentic Learning in the AP English Language & Composition Classroom Madelaine Kingsbury EDLT 536 June 2009

2. No Child Left Behind  Ch anged the educational landscape  Attention being paid to low income and minority students who compromise the majority of the achievement gap  Less attention paid to brighter students

3. FACT! High school drop-outs are not only those students who have problems with academic work. The brightest students also drop out due to boredom, disengagement, and irrelevance of curriculum. Teachers must make sure that bright students are not forgotten in the wake of bringing all students to proficiency.

4. Advanced Placement English Language and Composition  Similar to a freshman composition college course  Offered to high school students in grade 10-12 (depending upon school policy)  Curriculum focuses on rhetoric, argument, and persuasion  Perfect for high-level teenagers who like drama and arguing

5. Authentic Learning: Becoming an Editorial Columnist – STEP ONE  Students will analyze and evaluate a popular (or not-so-popular) columnist.  Students who prefer audio will analyze a TV or radio personality.  Students who prefer visual learning will analyze a photographer or artist.  Goal = determine rhetorical devices used to make a persuasive argument

6. STEP TWO: Show what you know Students will create a profile of their chosen persuasive role model on a class wiki. Profile will highlight strengths, weaknesses, rhetorical devices, and argumentation strategies.

7. STEP THREE: What do you want to fight about? Students will choose a topic relevant to their lives to research and create a persuasive composition which defends an opinion they have about their issue. Example: Student with childhood cancer will research how to treat survivors.

8. STEP FOUR: Learning More Students will perform research and compile a bibliography about their topic of choice. Skills: Identifying valid and credible sources to use as evidence to support an opinion or position

9. STEP FIVE: Make a Stand! Using their preferred method of communication, students will create a persuasive composition defending an opinion or position they have made about their topic. Methods: Editorial column, podcast, video, documentary, commercial, photographs, cartoons

10. Interaction & Feedback Students will post their creations on a wiki. They will then review the work of their classmates and make appropriate comments and feedback supported by credible evidence on a discussion board. Original authors will have the chance to respond to their critics!

11. Relevant Pedagogical Theories  Principles of Learning Sciences: Inquiry, Authenticity, Collaboration, Technology, Construction of Knowledge, Application  Theory of Multiple Intelligences  Identity Status Theory  Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs  Bloom’s Taxonomy

12. Learning Goals Based on standards from: National Council of Teachers of English International Society for Technology in Education The College Board

13. Learning Technology  Wikispaces  Google Docs  Flickr  iTunes Podcasts/University  Evernote

14. Challenges to Authentic Learning  Time  Computer Access/Resources  Student Motivation  Trained Teachers

15. Conclusion Despite the many positives attributes and outcomes of authentic learning, government pundits primarily want to know one thing – what are a school’s test scores? Is the achievement gap closing? Until authentic learning can show an impact on test scores, its influence is limited.