Jace Flores Student Teacher Blog

Category: Learning Experiences

Simulations

Just as I like movies for being able to visualize events and themes in a way that few other formats can, I like simulations for similar reasons. I think being able to have first hand experience of some form of what an event is like is a powerful tool in expressing the importance and emotions of said event. We only got around to doing one full simulation, which was an Ellis Island simulation where the kids simulated what it was like being a late 19th century immigrant. We set up two checkpoints, one for medical inspection and one for legal inspection, which most immigrants had to go through before either being detained or allowed into the country. Some kids had 1st or 2nd class tickets and were allowed straight through, but 3rd class (the vast majority) had to pass through the checkpoints. Brian and I managed the flow of the students to make sure there was a steady stream of students to the checkpoints and that enough immigrants were passing through the checkpoints. I thought this was a good exercise because it gave a glimpse into the process, the backgrounds (each immigrant student had a little card with background info) and the emotions (stress of going through the checkpoints, excitement at making it through, sadness at not) of being a late 19th century immigrant. Simulations make for powerful tools to build on regular content to really get across the information in a tangible fashion.

December 15, 2024
Learning The People

Perhaps this does not fit the category to a T, but I think it is worth talking about anyways. It is obvious that when it comes to learning in school the immediate thought is learning content in some way, which makes sense given it is the primary purpose of school. However, I think an integral part of school is learning the people. The teachers are not just spewers of facts and the students are not just receptables of facts. They are all full humans, and I think people like to hear about each others lives.

Now it is not that everyone needs to know the major truths of everyone around them. I don’t think it would be wise for everyone to go trauma dumping or long soliloquys on how we became the people we are today. At the same time, it is fun when we learn little things about each other. What we like to do for fun, the little quirks we have, the pets we care for, thoughts on the best restaurant in the area, etc. These little factoids build rapport and build towards that community I love to mention so so so much in these blog posts. Learning about each other makes it easier to learn about the content because there is that bond and connection. The connection of being actually human. I mean who has not thought before how a fair few teachers we have come off more like robots then real people? Piercing through that help makes for a richer learning experience in the actual knowledge being taught.

I don’t think the selfie posted above that was taken for me to remember this trio would be possible if we did not have mutual learning about each other. Why the hell would they care about me enough to take a selfie if they knew nothing about me as a person? And when I see this picture I immediately recall all the intricacies these three have because I learned about them as well. The worth of this is seen in the comments students like this left for me after my last day, where among compliments of my affability were compliments of teaching them. I think that is a clear vindication of the importance of learning about each other as people in order to learn the content to its fullest extent.

December 13, 2024
Reconstruction Creative Writing

The above is part of a creative writing assignment I assigned to my students during the Reconstruction unit. After covering the hard facts and content of this period I wanted to give the kids the freedom to express the information they had learned in a medium where they had practically complete control. The only parameter was they had to pretend they were writing about Reconstruction as if they were actually there. It was an opportunity for them to flex their writing capabilities and in a way express themselves in how they like to think of things and the world and such. The assignment also served the purpose of having them reflect on what they knew/remembered about Reconstruction, and they had the freedom to ask questions to me and Brian as well as look up information. So it was a stealth research/retention assignment where they had the freedom to approach it as they saw fit. Now not every entry was as great as the one linked above, but it demonstrates what the kids could do on their own initiative just a prompt and some information.

November 27, 2024