I really enjoyed last night’s class. I felt as if it was not only super informative, but the activity allowed us to be interactive all while learning just how impactful the jigsaw method can be!
Thank you for allowing us time to brainstorm lesson plan ideas. While I feel somewhat confident in my ability to create a decent lesson plan, I realize I always have something to learn (and always will). Talking things out allowed us to understand how others go about the lesson planning process and provided meaningful insight into ideas I otherwise would not have thought about. Further, talking out my ideas with others allowed me to see gaps I would not have seen/noticed otherwise.
As far as the actual content discussed in class, I am a bit fascinated by the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Most of my fascination comes from my having recently taken a course on the subject, but I never really thought about ways to teach it. Using different forms of documents (maps, letters, etc) really gave deeper meaning to the content. Additionally, jig-sawing out was an extremely effective method for all of us to learn about all of the documents in a fraction of the time. Sure, not everyone in the jigsaw would have as much knowledge about the other documents, but if nothing else, as the teacher, I could take solace in the fact that students were able to take away at least one thing.
If I were to teach on the subject, I would most definitely use the non-fiction piece presented in class in culmination with multiple documents/maps. I feel like this subject is dying to be a PBL :).
Hi Sarah, It is always helpful to talk about lesson planning with others. I am happy you value learning about the perspectives of others in an effort to enhance your own. I like learning this way too.
I am glad you liked the jigsaw approach. Based on the fact you took an earlier class on the topic we studied I can see this must have been a very rich class session for you. You had an opportunity to consider previous knowledge in a whole new way. What a great way to learn! I agree with you that the lesson on the Dust Bowl/Depression is primed and ready for a PBL unit.
Thank you for your reflection.