Caught in a maelstrom?

Reading the articles about authentic assessment reminds me of what feels right about teaching. It emphasizes the importance of preparing our students for life, by not only focusing on passing on basic skills, but the importance of developing our students' confidence in themselves as learners. Just like out in the real world, true accomplishment feeds confidence and motivation. Authentic assessment, reflecting authentic instruction allows our students to take basic skills and use them as tools to build deep understanding of math, science, our social world and literacy.

However, as the state focuses on piecemeal knowledge and basic skills, it is easy to allow our lessons to also focus on knowledge at this level. We must be intentional about balancing our classroom by focusing on authentic instruction, followed by authentic assessment that uses and teaches basic knowledge within the context of real life experiences that students can connect with and carry with them.