How Can We Make Lessons Relevant to Students' Lives?

Learning can't always be fun and interesting, but it must always be relevant. This is at the core of my educational philosophy. But what does "relevant to students' lives" really look like in the classroom?

Let's look at Webster's definitions of the word relevant:
(a) Having a significant and demonstrable bearing on the matter at hand
(b) Affording evidence tending to prove or disprove the matter at issue or under discussion
(c) Having social relevance

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Relevance in learning is not only about the "matter at hand", the age, and/or the intellectual level of our students, it's also about social relevance. Inarguably, we can analogize the material so learners can assimilate the content, but a crucial aspect of relevance is presenting lessons that contain true, authentic, updated information, applicable in the "real world", theirs ideally, but certainly to society at large.

One of the ways we can help students find relevance in lesson plans is to tear down classroom walls and virtually connect with classrooms and experts outside of the school building. Here are some ways I have facilitated connections without having to leave the building:

Global Communications & Collaborations. From across the district to across the globe, students collaborated on projects with other learners using technology. In my early teaching days, students connected via discussion boards and chat rooms. These days, we videoconference and use Google tools. When time zone differences prevent real-time communication, we've shared video recordings and blog posts for partner classes to view and read as convenient and respond accordingly.

Paired Reading. Pairing fictional reading with informational text is a great way to bring relevance to academic content. Pairing current events or non-fiction reading with academic content takes learning to a whole new level. Add a Skype session with an author or an individual featured in an article can energize a unit. Last year, I connected a Spanish teacher at my school with a professional translator who had been featured in this LA Times article. Students were reading a fictional novel and the plot closely resembled the content of the article. After reading the post, I emailed the writer who connected me with the individual. After a few emails and a Skype call, I introduced him to my teacher and we planned a lesson that brought the novel to life.

Virtual Guest Speakers. This works perfectly in Career & Technical Education courses, but it can work in any content. Regardless of our subject area, we are all preparing students for the workplace. When young people hear from industry experts how their content connects with real life, it energizes our lessons and helps students find meaning and purpose to their work. While an in-person speaker is ideal, time and travel sometimes make scheduling classroom visits difficult. Furthermore, when connecting virtually, our students can hear from people all over the world. And as remote work becomes ubiquitous, getting students comfortable with remote conversations is very valuable.

Most of my learners have found these experiences to be fun and interesting, but there were always moments that were not so enjoyable. My goal in connecting with other classrooms, pairing content and bringing in virtual speakers is not about enjoyment, but about making content relevant. And relevance is about bridging gaps and moving our students forward in their learning journey.