Math in Action: Bringing Principles to Life with Authentic Learning

Use slide 12 and introduce the Authentic Learning and Teaching chart. Invite participants to read and reflect on the components and actions listed in the chart. Emphasize that this chart summarizes the specific actions of teachers and students in a classroom when Authenticity is present. After participants have had a minute to look at the chart, facilitate a brief discussion using the following prompts: 

• What characteristics in the Teaching and Learning Practices chart are familiar?

• What characteristics are new or surprising? 

Transition to slide 13 and play the 90 second video on Authenticity to introduce Authenticity and its meaning and purpose. Emphasize how K20 has coined the term Authenticity to summarize what education research has proven to be best practices for teaching and learning and that the resources they will explore later aim to help educators accomplish those best practices in their classrooms. 

Next, use slide 14 to talk about the purpose for and creation of the Principles to Actions by NCTM. Emphasize that the Principles to Actions were created by NCTM to give educators guidance on how to best make math content standards meaningful and successful. NCTM's goal for Principles to Actions was to help educators bring math standards to life through effective teaching practices, policies and school-wide decisions.  

Emphasize that while the K20 center and NCTM independently set out to improve education and classroom practices, their research into best practices resulted in many of the same findings and overlapping research—point to the mind map that the participants constructed earlier in the professional learning and briefly point out 1–2 examples of Components (green cards) and practices (blue cards) that appear very similar through their definitions.

Use slides 15–16 to establish the connection between Teaching and Learning Practices and Authenticity, and their purpose in the math classroom. Using slide 15, explain that Authenticity is the overarching “framework” that guides a teacher’s teaching philosophy. The Effective Teaching and Learning Practices are the practices that are implemented in the classroom that promote those authentic components, and the instructional strategies are the day-to-day ways we go about implementing those practices in a meaningful, engaging classroom.

Using slide 16, ask the question: “How can this model shape how we plan our math instruction?” After a few responses, emphasize that a way this model can shape planning math instruction is through the intentionality and shift in thinking when planning lessons. In Authenticity the goal is to first focus on which authentic component can be improved in the classroom such as “increasing student centered learning” or “better inquiry based learning” for example, then use that to drive the teaching of the standard through more student collaboration or productive discourse. This kind of planning leads to increased student engagement.

Display slides 17–19 to show a sample scenario to walk through with the group. Starting with a K20 Authenticity component that will then inform what teaching and learning practice could be developed and which instructional strategies could support the development of these skills.

• Authenticity Component: Student-Centered Learning

• Practice: Elicit and Use Evidence of Student Thinking

• Strategy: Math Interview