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Teaching strategies (T12)

1/21/03 Dan, veteran teacher, Arkansas
One thing I like to do in the classroom is to begin class with a teaser of some kind. One I have used in the study of the Middle Ages is to refer William's conquest of England to the events of D-Day and ask the students to look up each event in the text and explain what is somewhat ironic about the two events. This leads to a discussion of what a Norman is, etc.

I feel that you must attach any new information to something that is at least familiar to the student. In my experience, vocabulary plays the greatest role in the increase of knowledge. It seems to me that there are only two ways to have a thought. One either converts a mental picture into a word or converts a word into a mental picture.Try to have a thought about anything and see if it requires these two actions.If this is true, then the greater one's vocabulary the greater one's thought processes will be. So, by attaching new ideas to old knowledge (read mental pictures and already known facts) it becomes easier for the student to process the information.

Back to my original idea, at this particular moment most of the students have seen Saving Private Ryan or some other movie surrounding WWII; so, I use that info to work into the fact that William launched his invasion from Normandy and the Allies returned to that site to invade Fortress Europe. Ironic? At least, maybe.

I do not hold with the notion that content is less important than learning the how to's. Both are significant in the process. Ed Hirsch isn't totally right nor is he totally wrong! Cultural Illiteracy is a problem; but the inability to problem-solve is likewise a problem.
However, without the vocabulary of Western thought, I don't think a history student can think well enough to solve a problem.