To say that I was not exactly enthused when I first heard that I was losing my Friday to a Fair without rides and games would be an understatement. Sitting around and talking about books that I was probably never going to see again, let alone read, was not my idea of a fun day off after a stressful week. Once again however, Language class did lead me too far astray. I experienced similar thoughts to the idea of writing an autobiographical poem, an assignment I ended up getting a lot of enjoyment out of. I attended three sessions the 2012 Literature Fair and walked away from each one pondering something different.
The first session I attended was Amy von Heyking’s “Literature and Historical Thinking in Social Studies”. As a history and social studies major I felt compelled to attend this session and thought it seemed appropriate that I attend it first. Having completed a Bachelor of Arts in History the concept of “historical thinking” is one I am quite familiar with. However I can remember sitting in many classes in my second and third year wondering why it was the first time I had been introduced to the concept. I had aspirations of attending the Faculty of Education then and told myself if I ever fulfilled my dream of becoming a teacher I would ensure my students were introduced to the concept at a young age.
As Mrs. Von Heyking mentioned in her roundtable, “history is not a report about events that happened in the past.” Rather, it should be looked at as a, “form of inquiry that helps us construct an understanding of our own lives.” She mentioned that this was something that had been accounted for in the new curriculum, one that came into being shortly after our class had graduated. This was of great excitement too me. I think social studies has a bad reputation for being strictly memorization and reporting. As a teacher I hope to teach my students the value of critical thinking and solving problems creatively
The second session I attended was Michael Pollard’s, “Reading Aloud Never Grows Old.” This one overall I felt was just okay. I had hoped it would provide us with a few more strategies or ideas of how to engage older students by reading aloud. It seemed Mr. Pollard’s chief strategy was to just read and allow the material to engage the students themselves. I do believe there is some value in this however. One personal example comes from my memories of high school English/Language Arts class. The only unit that I can really remember enjoying all of high school was the one we did on the Shakespearean play “Macbeth”. The biggest reason for this was that every day we would read aloud the scenes in class, and I was always one of the first to volunteer to read that day. Active participation is the way that I learn best, and that was the best way to keep a lackluster English student such as I engaged for the entire class.
The third and final session I attended was Danny Balderson’s, “Physical Education Literature: Exploring the Opportunities.” The point of discussion that really stuck with me from this roundtable was Danny’s critique of the P.E. curriculum’s lack of nutritional goals. In recent years there has been a huge push for kids to have daily physical activity in order to combat the rising child obesity rates nationwide. Advertisements that advocate a balanced diet for children have been on the television for years, but rarely have I seen the two of them advertised together. I think that many people do not recognize the correlation that exists between eating healthier and the benefits of exercise. From personal experience I do not recall a physical education class that emphasized a nutritional goal. Possibly in health class in elementary, and maybe once in high school, but overall there was very little emphasis on the nutritional aspect. Danny’s criticism really opened my eyes to the possible benefits that increased nutritional goals could have in a curriculum if they were presented creatively and in conjunction with the daily physical activity movement.
One piece of literature that I am excited to read is the book, “Encounter”. It is a mostly fictional book detailing Christopher Columbus’ first arrival in the Taino islands. One of the unique things about the book is that the author chose to present it from the point of view of a native child. Very few times to we see an “event” in history presented from the “conquered’s” perspective. I was intrigued even more when Mrs. Von Heyking pointed out that the author is European. So the book is written from a native perspective through a Eurocentric lens. The language and the way the story is presented is of great intrigue to me and I think would be fun to do with a younger class as a way of practicing historical thinking.
The second piece of literature I am interested in reading is, “Blood and Iron,” one part of the, “I am Canada” series. It tells the story of a young Chinese boy forced to work the railroads in British Columbia. The fact that it is one of the few books of the series not skewed towards war and battle is intriguing too me and I look forward to reading it.
The first session I attended was Amy von Heyking’s “Literature and Historical Thinking in Social Studies”. As a history and social studies major I felt compelled to attend this session and thought it seemed appropriate that I attend it first. Having completed a Bachelor of Arts in History the concept of “historical thinking” is one I am quite familiar with. However I can remember sitting in many classes in my second and third year wondering why it was the first time I had been introduced to the concept. I had aspirations of attending the Faculty of Education then and told myself if I ever fulfilled my dream of becoming a teacher I would ensure my students were introduced to the concept at a young age.
As Mrs. Von Heyking mentioned in her roundtable, “history is not a report about events that happened in the past.” Rather, it should be looked at as a, “form of inquiry that helps us construct an understanding of our own lives.” She mentioned that this was something that had been accounted for in the new curriculum, one that came into being shortly after our class had graduated. This was of great excitement too me. I think social studies has a bad reputation for being strictly memorization and reporting. As a teacher I hope to teach my students the value of critical thinking and solving problems creatively
The second session I attended was Michael Pollard’s, “Reading Aloud Never Grows Old.” This one overall I felt was just okay. I had hoped it would provide us with a few more strategies or ideas of how to engage older students by reading aloud. It seemed Mr. Pollard’s chief strategy was to just read and allow the material to engage the students themselves. I do believe there is some value in this however. One personal example comes from my memories of high school English/Language Arts class. The only unit that I can really remember enjoying all of high school was the one we did on the Shakespearean play “Macbeth”. The biggest reason for this was that every day we would read aloud the scenes in class, and I was always one of the first to volunteer to read that day. Active participation is the way that I learn best, and that was the best way to keep a lackluster English student such as I engaged for the entire class.
The third and final session I attended was Danny Balderson’s, “Physical Education Literature: Exploring the Opportunities.” The point of discussion that really stuck with me from this roundtable was Danny’s critique of the P.E. curriculum’s lack of nutritional goals. In recent years there has been a huge push for kids to have daily physical activity in order to combat the rising child obesity rates nationwide. Advertisements that advocate a balanced diet for children have been on the television for years, but rarely have I seen the two of them advertised together. I think that many people do not recognize the correlation that exists between eating healthier and the benefits of exercise. From personal experience I do not recall a physical education class that emphasized a nutritional goal. Possibly in health class in elementary, and maybe once in high school, but overall there was very little emphasis on the nutritional aspect. Danny’s criticism really opened my eyes to the possible benefits that increased nutritional goals could have in a curriculum if they were presented creatively and in conjunction with the daily physical activity movement.
One piece of literature that I am excited to read is the book, “Encounter”. It is a mostly fictional book detailing Christopher Columbus’ first arrival in the Taino islands. One of the unique things about the book is that the author chose to present it from the point of view of a native child. Very few times to we see an “event” in history presented from the “conquered’s” perspective. I was intrigued even more when Mrs. Von Heyking pointed out that the author is European. So the book is written from a native perspective through a Eurocentric lens. The language and the way the story is presented is of great intrigue to me and I think would be fun to do with a younger class as a way of practicing historical thinking.
The second piece of literature I am interested in reading is, “Blood and Iron,” one part of the, “I am Canada” series. It tells the story of a young Chinese boy forced to work the railroads in British Columbia. The fact that it is one of the few books of the series not skewed towards war and battle is intriguing too me and I look forward to reading it.