Reality Check

Last year my students completed an electronic portfolio to demonstrate their learning and growth in the health competencies. The students created a webpage that had pages for each competency followed by uploaded assignments that were considered artifacts. These artifacts, or assignments, showed evidence that these students had met the competencies. Along with the artifacts students had to write reflections about each artifact explaining what the assignment was and how the process of completing the assignment/assessment/project helped them meet the competency. We also included a page called, "Health in My Life." This page was devoted to students reflecting on experiences they felt were valuable in the course and how they would use what they learned to live healthy lives in the future. It was neat reading them because many students reflected on the assignments that were most valuable and the life skills that they said they gained from them. Some of the things they mentioned included: Food Shopping on a Budget, Fitness Planning, Supplement Analysis, Addiction Analysis, Eating Disorder Analysis, Restaurant Project called Eat This Not That, and more.

Lesson Learned:

Keep your assignments and your lessons relevant to real life as often as possible. Students are more likely to be engaged if it something of personal relevance to them or they can use in their future. Many students shared with me that they were glad that they had the chance to practice shopping for groceries because they have never had to do it before. They learned a lot of strategies for shopping with a limited budget and they also learned how to plan out healthy meals while making their food last all week so that it wasn't wasted. What assignments do you give that are teaching life skills or information for the future?