At Orange High School I was placed in Mr. Chordas' 10th grade AP Euro Class (Advanced Placement European History Class). Being a history major myself, with area of concentration being European history I think they placed me in the best possible class which i found to be very interesting and I must admit I got carried away. The topic of the class discussion for the day (which lasted almost two hours) was trench warfare in the European battlegrounds of World War I. When I entered the classroom the discussion had already started. There were two groups of students sitting at opposing sides of the classroom facing each other. Half the students on the one side and half the students on the other side (on the east and west sides of the classroom). The teacher's desk was close to the southern wall of the classroom and then there was one more desk in the opposite direction (northern side of the classroom) where the group discussion leader for the day sat and basically "taught" his class. So basically everyone could see everyone. Everyone was facing each other. The classroom was decorated with different historic artwork from the students and other students who took history there. Everything from pictures of the US presidents and small descriptions of them, a timeline of World War II battles and main events, quotes from Mahatma Ghandhi, pictures of Ancient Greek and Chinese historic sites and the terracotta soldiers in the forbidden city in Beijing. A true history classroom!
The classroom had about sixteen students in total who paid close attention to their fellow classmate attempting to ask them questions concerning their previous day homework readings and their in class conversation on World War I. One of the opening questions made from the student who was the "lecturer" for the day was: " How do you define glory?" and then " To some, being within the trench was described as a living hell. What is your own personal "hell"?" I could tell that the questions were specifically given by the teacher to the students to prepare at home for two purposes: a) so they can obviously get familiar with the kind of life soldiers and civilians in Europe were facing during the First World War and b) to get them to relate to this historic past through their own personal experiences of every day life. For example one student replied that she is frightened of cramped spaces, because she is claustrophobic. She also said that she is afraid of the sight of blood. The teacher immediately told her that the French, British and German troops fighting in battles like Ypres and the Somme had to live in tiny, narrow trenches for months, were dead bodies would rot next to them for days and days, were sanitation was horrific and soldiers would get sick from infections. He also told her that it was impossible for the to leave that place, because the moment they stuck their head out of the trench a bullet was most likely to take it off. I thought it was fascinating how the questions proposed by the teacher concerning trench warfare in World War I were introduced in such as a way so as to help the students relate them too their own personal life and experiences.
So, the student at the one desk facing the others would ask questions and he would choose his classmates who raised their hand to respond. Having a friend and classmate of their own age asking the question, I believe was motivation for the students, who ALL responded at some time during the class, and did not feel intimated or worried of making a mistake. The teacher, on the opposing side of the room, was kind of the moderator of the conversation that took part, would state his opinion on occasion and also would show some pictures of the war and of the battlegrounds on the classroom screen while the conversation continued and changed topic or area of historic interest. The teacher in a way was a student, and would even occasionally ask his student who was the lecturer for the day answer one of his questions, and he raised his hand as well! He became a part of the class, and I thought that was excellent, and motivated his students very much, making them feel like his equals in class rather than his "subordinates". And I could tell the students were learning the material from their enthusiasm in wanting to answer the questions.
There were a couple of negatives that I would like to point out from my observation. The first was that the class was way too long (almost two hours!), to the point that it made it tiring even for me, and I could tell after the first hour the enthusiasm started to deteriorate and the students started talking to each other and lost interest. It is hard talking about trenches in World War I for two hours. The teacher should have either given them a small break, shown them a video or some fun pictures from the war, or just changed the subject. The conversation although very interesting, was just a bit unnecessarily long. the other thing I noticed was despite his excellent technique of making the actual students run the class discussion and it was successful to a good extent, he himself was a little too distant and quiet, which is part of the reason I believe he followed this technique. He would sit at his desk, stood up once the whole time to fix his computer, asked a couple of questions or gave a couple of instructions and that was it. I personally believe in the enthusiasm of the teacher. I feel it is more motivating when the teacher talks more, and makes jokes, and is an actual part of the lesson. I feel that the teacher can and to some extent should come down to the level of the students and not be intimidating to them, but it should also be evident that HE is the instructor as well.
In general though it was a very interesting and unique experience for me to visit class (especially a history class!) in an American high school, and I could definitely in the future see myself having a class like that of my own. The students were very respectful, interested, and made excellent historic observations, and I myself enjoyed seeing them fascinated by some of the things I myself have been fascinated with for a very long time.
No comments:
Post a Comment