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This IS the "Real World"

"I love it when my alarm goes off and I can hear the music while I'm still asleep.
It's cool when the real world is in my dreams."

So said my 8 year old son this morning. It reminded me of a saying I once heard (and can no longer remember the source) about everything being the real world. As we live and breathe and think and dream, we do it all in the time and space that is our life. All of it is the real world.

I avoid using the "real world" phrase with my students as though what happens in school is fake, not real, only rehersal for when life begins after school. I am more likely to say something like, "in the big wide world..." or "you'll see this elsewhere..."

By breaking the barrier between "that world" and "this world" we can merge the two and bring our dreams together in the same time and space as the lives we are living.

Posted by milesmac on December 22nd, 2011 Posted in Pedagogy Tagged as: ,,

2 Comments

  1. Gwen Duralek says:
    January 9, 2013 at 4:55 AM

    My thoughts exactly! As much as others may use that phrase in school (my students, included), I try to illustrate how school is reality for all of us in that moment. It doesn't get more real world than what we do daily. I love your alt phrases; I use "when you leave this place" or "when you're working" or "when you're at college" and I'll definitely incorporate them into my repertoire.

    Reply

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