Teachers: Good class Tuesday night. Hope your week is going well. It has been quiet at Camp Hill since Monday.
I want to take a moment to reflect on J&C's lesson. Specifically I would like you to comment on thier exercises. How effective was the:
Music to open the lesson...did it hook and link? Did it bring us in for a landing?
Review the textbook exercise...
Debate...
Read the article (John Brown) exerise.
See you next week. Wes promises to deliver the best lesson ever.
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5 comments:
The music at the beginning of the lesson worked well. For me, music always sets a certain mood;which could ultimately foster more efficient learning in the classroom if use appropriately. I also thought the student centered activities were effective for engaging and conveying the material.
The text book activity allowed for active comparison and analysis of the material. This kind of exploration would work well in the classroom. Instead of telling the students about the differences, it allowed for them to discover the difference for themselves. This, to me, is always an effective way to get students engaged in the material.
The use of a debate was another effective student centered activity. Enrolling students in roll playing and debate provides for an active classroom. This strategy is great for really getting students into the material.
It enables them to learn through empathy and discussion.
Overall, I believe effective teaching strategies were demonstrated. I would have used either of the activities in my own classroom. The only thing I could suggest for change is more teacher facilitation. It seemed at times that the group was not as involved in the activities as they could have been. Otherwise, great teaching!!
The music at the beginning of the lesson was great for getting all of us on task, and focused in on the nights topic. As the music was playing, I was thinking about what it meant, and how that song could reflect the upcoming lesson. This really did get my attention well. This would work great in a classroom. If students walk into class and have something that immediately gets their attention, it could keep them from chatting and being off task for a few minutes. This would be a great way to manage the classroom for the first few minutes.
I thought the textbook exercise was great because the students were actively involved in researching what was being discussed. By utilizing various books, we were able to compare texts to see different viewpoints, and see which books were the most effective teaching tools. This exercise would be much better than simply lecturing or throwing up a powerpoint presentation, and I would definitely use it in my classroom.
As far as the debate goes, I thought it went well. I think it is useful to incorporate group work so students can hear other peoples points of view and biased opinions. This opens them up to other ideas and could possibly teach them to understand other peoples thinking. The debate went smoothly in our class, made it an interesting and fun lesson, and is a great example of one we could employ in our own classrooms. The John Brown exercise was good too, and very informative. In a high school classroom it would be useful to have the students read a paragraph at a time, and out loud. That was a few pages, and perhaps some students wouldn't even read it, so at least they could hear it if read loudly. The lesson was effective in all aspects, and the group used a wide variety of teaching techniques that I enjoyed. If I had to change anything, simply because it is a night class, I would have rather read the article after the music, and finished up with an interactive activity. Good job!
I liked the song Josh had chosen as it set the stage for what was going to follow in the lesson and having the lyrics on the screen was nice as students could read if they weren't able to hear what was going on. While although I wasn't the student this time, music at the beginning of the lesson usually brings me to my school mode and often wonder why this song is being played.
While reading these chapters and continuously seeing Loewen talk about what is missing in textbooks that I decided to look for myself. I think that in order to believe what Loewen is telling us what is wrong with the textbooks, one needs to examine their own textbook. I hoped that everyone got something out of this exercise and understand that one event in history brings about many different ways people perceive that event, and in the end, have it be taught in many ways and usually leaving out what can be considered the truth.
I thought the debate could have gone better, but I think that with a class our size, it went fairly smooth. I enjoyed how the students were keeping to their role and not letting their own beliefs stand in the way of what was trying to be accomplished. I think there were at times when the discussion got carried away, but with the questions Josh posed were able to everyone back together.
I think the John Brown article had a vast amount of information that is and could be interesting to students, however the downside was the length of the article, but I think that after reading an article like this, it allows for a good discussion and opinions.
By the looks of the students in the class, I was able to see the students actively participating and working with us on our activities.
I enjoyed the lesson as a whole. The music was a good start to the lesson. As a student I was drawn into the lesson quickly. This then allowed them to transition into discussion and activities. The activity with the textbooks was a very interesting one in that many of the textbooks were very different. This really helps to reinforce the ideas in Loewen's book.
Once the discussion was brought into a debate everyone was prepared for it. The debate seemed to go rather well. Everyone was involved and the teachers did a good job at trying to direct the debate in the right direction. The class as a whole went very well. Good Job.
I wish we would have had more time because the music idea is a great opening activity to get students minds warmed up. Overall there was a lot of student centered activity which is great because you are more inclined to remember what you are actively doing. What they did that was good was bring the group back after each segment and ask good questions to keep the lesson moving. Their questions were great at provoking thought.I may have had more teacher involvement into the debate just to ensure staying on topic. Overall a great exercise one that I will probably use in my classroom one day.
The text book activity was a real eye opener that provided some great thinking material and they both did a good job coming around to the groups and facilitating any ideas.
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