Lesson 6 Reflection: Constructivism

Part 1: Discuss your experience working through the French Revolution activity.

I enjoyed the readings and activity, I think this seems like an ideal way to learn history, though it can be difficult for students. When Albert Chan and I use primary documents in a fashion similar to this in our ALCUSH class we typically have students summarize the document before drawing conclusions from what they have read. We have found that this added step often forces students to read a bit more closely - especially when reading texts with challenging language like Jonathan Edwards's Puritan sermon "In the Hands of an Angry God".

Part 2: Constructivist Lesson Outline. How does the goal of the lesson influence / affect the tools used? What advantages do you see the tools used by your students give them over a more traditional approach?

The way I teach literature relies on students formulating their own ideas, and so my lessons often take forms similar to this. This is not to say that there are no wrong answers, but only that there are potentially multiple textually supported possible "right" answers. In terms of my goals and the tools I use, the readings and assignments are structured to push students to think for themselves, but I think I need to be more intentional about including goals and using tools to facilitate more comprehensive and differentiated ways for students to communicate the great ideas they are coming up with. I hope that after this class I will begin to experiment more with using web 2.0 tools to help my students express their ideas.