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Running head: TEACHING FOR THE REAL WORLD 1Teaching for the Real World: Incorporating Relevant Topics and TechnologyKyle WebbUniversity of Regina

TEACHING FOR THE REAL WORLD 2

Teaching for the Real World: Incorporating Relevant Topics and Technology

Just over a year ago I decided I wanted to pursue a career in education. Since then, manypeople have asked me why I wanted to become a teacher. At first, I was not entirely sure why Iwanted to. I would tell them that I wanted to make a difference, to work with children, to haveas many holidays as possible, and to be able coach sports.

Don’t get me wrong, t

hose are allthings that still motivate me to become a teacher. However, now I attribute my desire to teach tosomething much different: I want to be a better teacher than my teachers ever were. Myteachers were behind in the times and did not always have the passion and enthusiasm I hopedfor. I do not feel that they prepared me to live in the world of today. I can barely apply anythingI learned in school to the real world and I am very inadequate when it comes to usingtechnology. My students will not suffer through an education experience similar to mine. I willbe a better teacher by using relevant, real-world problems and examples and I will incorporatethe incredible tools of technology that are at my disposal.For me, the most difficult aspect of school was applying what I was learning to the worldI was living in. Whenever a classmate of mine

asked “Why are we learning this?”

we typicallygot a response similar to

“

beca

use it will be on your exam”.

What motivation is there forstudents to retain knowledge if the only reason they are learning is because it will be on theirexam? Students do not want to learn what will be on their exam, they want to know how it

connects to their lives in the “real world”

(Burden, 2000). If a teacher can illustrate a purpose toa particular lesson, the students are more likely to dig deeper and expand their interest in thesubject matter (Curtis, 2001). Eventually, using this approach will encourage students to makeconnections to other lessons they have learned and apply a greater amount of knowledge whentrying to solve a problem (Curtis, 2001).

TEACHING FOR THE REAL WORLD 3This lack of real world applications will be addressed when I begin to teach. If I can givemy students reasons to learn, they will retain their knowledge rather than dismissing itimmediately after their exam (Curtis, 2001). I will give my students the framework to applyeverything they learn within the walls of my classroom to the vast world outside of those walls.I want my students to be able to do more than pass the final exam; I want them to connect theirclassroom experiences to their real-world experiences (Linking the real world, 2002). It makes

sense to say that “lessons related to real issues in a community have greater meaning to studentsthan textbook ones”

(Linking the real world, 2002, para. 17). When students can build on theireducation outside of class, school will feel like less of a chore and will be more exciting.Learning will become an everyday practice when students can start applying their schoolknowledge outside of school.Having real life applications to schoolwork will unquestionably motivate students tolearn. Elliot Solloway, a University of Michigan professor, suggests that motivation can also beincreased when technology is implemented into lessons (Kiedrowski, Smale, & Gounko, 2009).Tools like the internet can be used to link students to the real world (Linking the real world,2002). These tools make teaching more effective and interesting by better illustrating conceptsand help appeal to the imagination and creative minds of students.Technology is a bigger part of the world than it has ever been in the past. In the 2004-2005 school year, there was over $7-billion spent on technology in the United States (Leonard &Leonard, 2006). However, most technology still sits and collects dust (Leonard & Leonard,2006). When I was a high school student, technology was a large part of my everyday life, butnever a part of my education

. Perhaps my teachers weren’t

confident or educated well enoughto effectively use the tools available to them. According to Leonard and Leonard, many teachers