Today my American History was involved in the first day of a two-day simulation activity about the Great Depression. This activity requires them to pair up and make financial based decisions like the ones people would have had to in the Great Depression. They start with $110 and must pay bills, care for their family, and decide where to scrimp and save in order to make it to the end of four rounds with money left over. Day one is very basic, but students start to feel the pressure of not having enough money. It is very interesting to see their reactions to consequences of not paying their bills or not having enough money to buy what they think they need. It is activities like these that really help students to engage in a time period that they cannot personally witness and learn about what people had to deal with, even if it isn't exactly what it would be like in real life. I wish I had time for more activities like this or that I was creative enough to come up with more...I found this one on the Internet.
While students enjoy these activities and seem to be engaged in their learning, it leaves me feeling out of control and constantly trying to referee the learning process. A project/activity based classroom tends to be more student centered, which is great for hands-on learners, but at the same time is very loud and chaotic. What I find myself doing more is talking loudly, repeating myself, and having to go around the room to trouble shoot a lot more than normal. What I really hate, is when I break down and threaten to remove the activity from the class if the volume or extra screwing around doesn't come to an end. In many cases it is an empty threat and would often remove the exciting learning opportunity in exchange for a lecture based lesson. I wish there was a better way to make this type of learning more controlled. Maybe the way it is happening is alright and I just need to relax and understand that. I'm not exactly sure what to do about the control side of classroom activities.
Project/activity based learning is always a goal of mine and doesn't always include the disruption of a simulation. Today my 7th graders had an opportunity to be a bit more creative with their assignment than a normal worksheet may be. They had to create a soundtrack of five songs about Benelux. The songs could not be from the country or simply just songs that were popular in the countries, but instead they must be songs that describe the country. They must list the song title, artist, and a description of how the song is a descriptor. For example, they could select Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend by Marilyn Monroe and explained that Antwerp is world famous for their diamond cutting industry. These kinds of activities require students to use their technology to search songs and create an album while using the information taken down as notes during the class period. These types of activities are more controlled and can be quietly completed unlike a simulation or group based discussion/interaction.
The simulation from American History is interactive with history and fun for students, but at the same time so are creative projects like the soundtrack assignment. Both require knowledge and decision making, but at different control levels. I like an interactive classroom and I like both kinds of activities, but I feel like the chaos is counterproductive. Sometimes I find myself wondering if control during an activity can be taught or if it is just the way things are supposed to be. The confusion and control issues are definitely something I need to work out when it comes the activities used in my classroom. History without active learning would be a boring lecture class and counterproductive to my goal of making history fun.
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