Few classroom events are more satisfying to a teacher than when that one student says something that brings it all together and the rest of the class joins in with OOooohhhhh! A recent from something I added to WHP 1200-Present Unit 2, is when one one my students, learning about Aztec Engineering in this History Channel Video asked, "bit what if somebody wanted to mess with them, couldn't they just cut off the aqueducts from the shore?" As the lesson progressed, other kids started thinking along the same lines, calling out hints and clues to Cortes, like "he can block the causeways!" (which he took to heart and practice. What are some Aha! moments you can share that show that they are making these connections and THINKING?
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Today I had a couple of kids raise their hands to share something that THEIR PARTNER said at their table that they thought was really brilliant, and that made me feel so nice, both that they were excited about each other's thoughts, and that I had built an environment where kids felt enough of a sense of community to do that. The content today was about how African traditions can still be seen in many aspects of Colombian culture, and how that was related to resistance to enslavement, and a bunch of students were talking about this idea that attempting to preserve culture in and of itself is an act of resistance, and the fact that we can still see it today is a testament to the fact that it worked. It was really wonderful.
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Those moments are the BEST!
A similar great moment is when you are able to take a potentially embarrassing aha moment and normalize it. For example, the other day when doing a version of "Big History on a Football Field" a student was trying to guess where dinosaurs should go. He was astonished to find out that humans were not around yet in the age of dinosaurs. First, I was so glad to have him make this connection when he must have not done that in science class before. Next, I was pleased that others saw it as an opportunity to expose how Hollywood messes with logic in Sci-Fi movies. This wasn't embarrassing at all, but more of an "I know, huh?" moment for education.
