What a start to the year! In the first few weeks of school, students have come back into my classroom and it's been a thrill to be teaching in-person again.
Students were introduced to a myriad of skills such a team work and communication, analysis and research, and re-learning how to be an effective member of a classroom community.
We started our history lessons with a riddle: Who are the Nacirema? (Hint: Spell is backwards!) Students read an ethnography by Horace Miner, an American Anthropologist who studied and recorded his findings on. specific cultural group. Students used this excerpt to brush up on their reading comprehension and interpretation skills.
As we moved forward with skill-based activities, students were introduced to a major concept which will be super prevalent in out class: de-centering & decolonizing a narrative. We shifted perspectives to start our lessons in American history with a focus on Indigenous Peoples (pre-contact and present). Students did an incredible job actively listening, inquiring, and participating in class discussions about the groups who are indigenous to the geographical borders of the what is now United States.
After we return from a very long weekend, we will move forward with the Columbian Exchange. This is the watershed moment which will propel our narrative forward in American History.