This past week was Halloween and the students were definitely wound up a little extra. Instead of doing too much class work, my high school was able to attend a play at the Wilma Theater and have the actors come to class to speak with them. It was really neat week and the students remained engaged in discussion for the whole week.
We learned about Great Zimbabwe as well as European colonization in Africa, and then saw the play The Convert. It was a story of a African tribal woman and her self-removal from her family and culture in order to be a Christian. When the actors came in to speak with our class they were able to have the students share stories of immigration or anytime they felt out of place. It was amazing the see students fully involved in discussion and learning the material very well.
My teacher told me of a teaching strategy/style called foxfire where students relate what they learn in class to out of class experiences. Us being allowed to attend a play, only a few blocks from our school was inline with this new teaching method. I was impressed with its success.
I've been really lucky being in the Philadelphia area and being able to see all of the history around me every day. Not every school gets to pick up and go on a class trip to famous playhouses so I must say I'm really enjoying my time here at the University of Pennsylvania AND in Philadelphia.
No comments:
Post a Comment