Week 24: A Journey of a Thousand Miles
Of all of the weeks of this school year, I can hands down say this was my favorite week of all. It was my favorite because I had the distinct pleasure of seeing each of you take on the role of an educator as you determined what would be the most engaging way to get your classmates involved in the topics you selected.
I hope from the experience you were able to see how difficult it is to craft an interactive lesson that is also educational. As you learned, a good lesson requires as much effort as it does to train for a marathon, perfect a dance technique, or develop a skill. There is both a science and an art to the craft of teaching. There is also a whole lot of elbow grease involved. Teaching is hard work, and anyone who says it isn't, is lying or taking shortcuts.
As for shortcuts, some of you put in more work with these projects than others, and it showed in your presentations. Like with most things in life, those who put in the most work benefited most from the assignment.
At the beginning of this process, I told you one of my main objectives for the assignment was that I wanted to remember your presentation a decade from now. In retrospect, I can say, emphatically, that I will never forget the presentations I saw this week, and I don't want you guys to forget them either. To help you remember, I am including some images from the groups.
Through your innovative expressions, I was able to ride a bus ride with Rosa Parks, wear a bracelet in honor of the Little Rock Nine, watch a reenactment of their integration, sit in the prison cell of MLK, look inside Emmett Till's casket, search for clues regarding his murder, imagine what Ruby Bridges might have felt like on her first day of school, listen to some awesome tunes from the 60's, play (and win- might I add) a game of The Price is Right, witness a murder trial complete with a judge's robe, and watch Cameron Goodnow destroy a cardboard box. These are just to name a few. The list could go on for a thousand miles (that's hyperbole-if you have been paying attention).
I hope you all enjoy the pictures.
Thanks for the journey,
Mrs. Bell
