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Viatouch
Teacher Articles
Teaching Tips
Collecting Authentic Texts
by Kathryn Long
Summer and vacation time for many schools—teachers and students alike—will be here soon. What a great opportunity to collect useful materials for the following school year! Let's say you are planning a trip to Gettysburg, or perhaps you'll venture out West to explore many natural wonders like Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon. While there, why not collect brochures and local literature to make a collection of authentic texts?
Authentic text is a term often used by educators to include any reading material found out there in "the real world." In this category you might find job manuals, applications, menus, product directions, brochures, and sales fliers. The list goes on. Why would you find them useful in the classroom?
Authentic texts are the materials that students will come in contact with everyday outside of the classroom and beyond graduation for the rest of their lives. These materials can provide that connection from classroom lessons to real life because they're relevant. Relevance is the key to motivating students, to stirring their interest.
Brochures and local literature can be used to promote valuable skills students need to transition from high school to post-secondary life. Learning from authentic texts may involve practical activities like reading and filling out job applications. In addition, new places and new situations can be explored while sitting in the classroom by using authentic texts. For example, these materials can be used to create certain scenarios where the students may take on a role as employer or job seeker, tourist guide or researcher, and so on. From there the teacher may instruct them to:
On another note, when you are traveling to those interesting sites, why not pick up a few souvenirs, too? Objects of all kinds can create a wonderful writing prompt. Let's say your vacation takes you to the seashore. You collect some shells, a starfish, maybe a bottle of sand, and a few trinkets at a local tourist shop. Put them in a box and pass it around the classroom. Instruct the students to create a story based on the objects, written or told aloud.
The idea is simple. Most reading materials or souvenirs cost little or nothing, and they provide material for some very creative lessons. While these lessons engage all types of learners—-visual, auditory, and kinesthetic—they also reach all levels of readers. Mementos from your vacation add interest. Best of all, they present practical, personalized activities that motivate students to learn.
Kathryn Long has been a high school educator for fifteen years. She is also the author of two published novels. Her advice on writing can be found on her blog site:
http://www.kjlong-teacherwriter.blogspot.com.
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