{"id":43,"date":"2012-11-14T11:36:58","date_gmt":"2012-11-14T11:36:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/?p=43"},"modified":"2012-11-14T11:36:58","modified_gmt":"2012-11-14T11:36:58","slug":"what-is-authenticity-in-the-21st-century-english-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohort21.com\/garthnichols\/21st-century-skills\/what-is-authenticity-in-the-21st-century-english-class\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Authenticity in the 21st Century English Class?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Susan Davis writing for “Getting Smart<\/a>” begins her blog post on “Teaching Authentic Writing\u00a0in a Socially Mediated World<\/a>”\u00a0with this idea: “…I don\u2019t know where to start. You see, I\u2019ve completely bought into the idea that what we teach our students should be authentic, that is, tangible and real in ways that are meaningful and purposeful\u00a0for our students.<\/em>” \u00a0I like how she problematizes what authenticity means by questioning its traditional roots. When\u00a0examining the common core curriculum that she is required to teach, she comes to the realization that “They just don\u2019t resonate for me or my students in today\u2019s world<\/em>.”<\/p>\n

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\nI believe that this is a common issue for many teachers, particularly in the language arts, and traditionally liberal arts stream. Biography, Philosophy, History and Theology (BPHT) seems to have been lost in the push for more Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) courses. With STEM resources like PBS’s STEM Education Resource Center<\/a>\u00a0there is a real investment into student success around these disciplines. However, Chris Cogle, writing for Ocala.com<\/a> writes: “As a scientist, my most important skills are reading and writing. Being a scholar means that I read gigabytes of articles, essays and books every day.<\/em>” His point is that we have to be very careful of not sacrificing good reading and writing for solely STEM learning.<\/p>\n

So, what does this have to do with English class and authentic audiences. I think that we owe it to our students to reexamine what an “authentic audience” means in the 21st Century. It’s no longer just parents, school community groups, or peers. It has expanded with the use of blogs and social media so that our students can write with an incredible reach. Publishing used to be a million-miles away for our students, but no longer. There are a myriad of self-publishing tools on the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Susan Davis also brought me to this website “Taking IT Global<\/a>” whose tag line is “inspire, inform, involve”. It is about getting youth engaged in creating positive change. I think that this speaks to the heart of what authenticity is in the 21st century. It is not longer about writing and broadcasting, it is about writing and connecting.<\/p>\n

But I’ll leave you with what Susan Davis suggests as authenticity. It is a great place to start when reconsidering what your students can reach for.<\/p>\n

“How such writing is made authentic depends on the context of how it is introduced in each learning environment, and, of course, this is where things get tricky. Tricky or not, here is my tentative list:<\/em><\/p>\n