The Project

Hey all,
I hope the reading and researching is treating you well. Before we get to far into this thing I wanted to post a few of my thoughts on the project.

I knew at some point in my student teaching time period I would have to do a project with my classes. It was quite a struggle for me to decide how I wanted those projects to go. I could assign each group a civilization or a person and have them complete a checklist of things, make a poster and call it good. To me, that sounded really boring and easy. I wanted to find a way for you to pick your own topic.

Having each of you pick your own topic was also a struggle, I did not want repeats nor did I want people picking the easiest thing "just to get it done," I struggled to find a constructive way for each of you to pick your own topics. I eventually decided on having each person pick a section out of the textbook and pose questions to the class from that section. Starting the project this way provided us with a variety of topics to explore.

To me, starting a project with a question is much better than starting a project with a checklist. If I were to hand out topics and a checklist, I would be willing to bet that more than half of you would quickly scan to find the answers slop them down on a poster and call it done. Another great thing about answering a question instead of going down a checklist, is that you get to interpret the past, you get to decided what the answer is, it's all up to! ( I would look at some evidence and others ideas before answering) I feel that by trying to answer a question, in any way that you see fit, it becomes more than a history project, it becomes personal. That is why you are trying to answer a question.

HOW TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION:
One of the first days of class we discussed, what is history, who wrote history and why history matters....We also discussed History versus the Past. We concluded that history is always changing and the past is not. This is due to the fact the people read about the past and other's views of the past and create their own view of the past. By having you answer your own question, I am in a sense, making you create your own history, your own interpretation of the past.
If your question was "What was the significance of the Phoenician alphabet?" You get to decide what the significance of the Phoenician alphabet was, not the textbook, not your silly history teach, but you! You get to interpret the past and decide what made it so significant. That is how to answer your question.

If this was not helpful please let me know and I will do my best to explain it to you in person.
Cheers!
Dan