The group presented Ancient China to students ranging from third grade to eighth, which is no easy task. We had all performed an opening activity with the students the week before, which was a fun introduction to the civilizations we would be presenting.
Colleen and Michael hit the ground running, presenting Ancient China with vokis, videos and images. Colleen and Michael worked to bring an old world back to life to young students. They introduced the topic with images of China: dragons, rice fields and ink prints of an ancient way of life.
The students were tired but interested, excited but hesitant. The students were work with come to us after a long, hard day's work of school and adults explaining things. We ask them to give us their attention and respect, which might not sound like much but some feel like a puddle of exhaustion and can barely master either.
The kids drew off of Colleen and Mike's enthusiasm as well. The first initial resistance melted away and became curiosity. Terracotta soldiers got everyone out of their seats to see the images clearer and discussing Confucius wasn't labors-om.
For the Cooperative Learning segment, Group 1 asked the students to really think about the Great Wall.
The group showed off the Great Wall of China and asked the students to work independently and then in small groups to pose a question about the Great Wall and then solve.
I enjoyed watching Colleen and Mike work together as they learned how to teach a classroom of new students and become co-teachers. I gave feedback that focusing on one element of Ancient China would have been more successful and that the Great Wall could have been trotted out a little differently. Such as, did you know that people used to think that The Great Wall of China could be seen from space? Now we know that's not true. What else do we think we know about the Great Wall that isn't true?
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