Thursday, October 6, 2011
Connecting School and Home Experiences
My parents have always been concerned with my education. My dad still asks me what I do at school each day and I don't even live at home. My parents took every opportunity to educate my siblings and me. My mom was especially interested in history and I think that is where I got my love of history. My earliest memories of my history education came from visiting museums. Growing up in Utah County meant that my exposure to history, art and science came from the museums at BYU. Two of the most memorable museum exhibits were the Etruscans and Chinese Tombs. Even many, many, many years later I can still remember going to these exhibits with my family. The Etruscan were a civilization that was formed in Italy and later assimilated into Roman Society. The exhibit on China focused on the Imperial burial tombs including the terra cotta soldiers. I can remember being fascinated by everything and wanting to know more about the people that made the objects in the exhibits. In addition to these experiences at the museums, my mom also introduced me to history through historical fiction. I loved reading as a kid (p.s I still do) and my mom would read books and then she would pass the books to me. I was introduced to World War II, the Holocaust, The Revolutionary War by the books my mom would have me read. I can use my experiences as a kid to help my future students develop an interest in history. It is important to use unexpected techniques to help students appreciate what has happened in the past. I gained a love of history through historical fiction. I read a story about history and then I wanted to know what happened in reality. I want my future students to want to know about history and take lessons to his/her life. It will also be important to have the parents of my students reinforce the lessons we are learning at home. I will probably use my students parents, grandparents and other family members to teach history. An interview project would probably be the best way to implement this idea.
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Thanks for an excellent reflection on how your early experiences shaped your desire to become a history teacher. Your posting reminded me of the different ways that history can become "alive" for students--through activities such as personal interviews with family members, through reading historical fiction with engaging and realistic characters, and through visits to museums (or even historical locations) where you get to actually see the artifacts of the time period. All of these activities will have great potential to interest your students in this subject.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be great if you asked students about their own historical experiences too--for instance, at the beginning of the year, you could ask them where they have traveled, what types of family history projects they have participated in, etc. That way, if you come to a particular unit and you know that a student has experience with that subject, you can ask them to share their experiences. For example, if their grandfather fought in the Vietnam War, you could invite him to class; if a student has been to Australia, you could invite her to share their experiences with the country, and so forth. I think activities like this could tap into students' background experiences with social studies, just as you have found ways to tap into your background experiences with social studies.