The Authenticity of Research

We speak so often of making learning authentic for our students, but what does that mean? What should we be teaching them to help them prosper in their next life? Is it recognizing rhyme scheme and personification? Probably not. But there are some valuable English lessons that can help our students in the future. Research and presentation are two of those such lessons.

Students should be taught how to discern bias in texts. Teenagers these days, it seems, believe anything in writing. Its as if its on the web, it must be true, even though they know that people put up rumors and lies all the time. But if the page so much as looks official, then it must be fact. Wikipedia has been the bane of educators in recent years. Students use it as a source, yet the very definition of a wiki is a readable, writeable space. This is not a lesson that should be discounted lightly. Students can explore Wikipedia for fact and opinion. Students can even go so far as to edit pages with their own knowledge. Classes can work together to create their own wikispace that will reflect student learning (see www.nhsenglishiii.wikispaces.com for how I am using this).

Students should also learn how to evaluate websites. If students plan to continue breathing, they need to know how to find reliable information on the web. The Internet is not going away. I don't believe that it will totally replace books--there's something sacred about the turning of a page. But the Internet is only going to grow, as is the information available on it. It is more important that students know how to determine the reliability of a web page than it is that they can document it. I don't discount the MLA lesson--I'll conduct one myself tomorrow--but let's weigh things appropriately. How many professions insist that you document your sources? Yet how important is it that, as adults, we be able to evaluate the information we're being given?

I'm going to tie research in with persuasion in my next teaching unit. I've started with several quickwrites (to be shared later) to get the persuasive wheels rolling. Students will be required to evaluate webpages based on their subject of persuasion. This will be a great way to start their research and also get them thinking about reliable sources. Wish me luck--we're using the laptop carts and you never know if they'll work or not!