After tonights class I was able to reflect about the things that were big take aways and the things that I still wonder about. Both of the activities that we did in class tonight seemed like very practical hands on lessons that I would feel extremely comfortable doing in my own class.
The grouping of the documents and having us use our investigative skills to determine the time line of the items that we had, followed by the group discussion was a wonderful way to take information and place it outside of a textbook. As a learner who needs to be activity doing something for it to make sense to me this was a wonderful way for me to see how this can direct a lesson. Taking the information that has previously been taught through text that may have no personal connection, and placing real life items in front of students (myself) made me extremely invested in the activity. I do wonder however, how to gather these kinds of documents? Would I allow students to go home and ask relatives or would I do this activity as an introduction to unit as a way of prompting them to begin thinking about that era? We were able to stay focused on the items in front of us, but should I be worried that I may not have students full attention if they do not have a wide knowledge of the time period?
I know that each student will process through things in different ways and at different speeds, but tonights activities were perfect for my style of learning 🙂