Reflection of Unit
Teaching this unit on “The Emergence of the First Global Age” furthered my knowledge of the content, but also my understanding of teaching and my role as a teacher. From struggling to find resources on subjects I was not familiar with to planning lessons that would prompt students to see the bigger picture, this unit proved to be a valuable tool for furthering my growth as a teacher.
Ultimately, my passion in history lies with European studies; so, while I was familiar with topics like the Renaissance and the Reformation, my understanding of Asian and Middle Eastern history was quite limited. Similarly, at this point in the semester, it was clear that my students had similar holes in their knowledge of history; students’ familiarity and knowledge of the non-Western world is almost nonexistent, evident through their lack of prior knowledge and (unfortunately) their lack of interest in these subjects. While I was unable to explicitly interview my students about their knowledge of this unit’s material, by knowing my students and knowing their responses during previous units, I was able to accurately predict students’ difficulty with the content.
I recognized early on during my unit planning that extra reading and research would be needed if I wanted to effectively teach my students; it is one thing to understand and know the material, but it is an entirely different thing to understand the material well enough to teach a class of tenth-grade students. I found that I needed to prepare myself for specific questions that students may have and to put myself in my students’ shoes as I was doing my own research and preparation. I believe that this extra preparation paid off and helped me to be a better teacher to my students.
Furthermore, my coursework at the University of Michigan has been primarily narrow in focus; that is, the classes I have taken have been focused on one country during one period of time. As a result, I had the knowledge of how to teach one topic, but my familiarity with world history—and thus, my experience making connections between these topics and places—was very limited.
Similarly, World Studies can often be a difficult subject for students because of all of the vast number of empires and the long stretch of time the course covers; students easily become overwhelmed by the sheer number of facts and concepts presented to them. Thus, the biggest challenge of planning this unit was figuring out a way to present the material cohesively and prompting students to see the over-arching ideas and themes. Too often is history presented as a series of isolated events; instead, students need to recognize cause-and-effect relationships and change-over-time.
To help students see the larger themes of the unit, I structured my unit around the following thematic question: How and to what extent did networks of exchange transform human societies? Then, I structured each of my daily lessons around a more specific question that helped students understand the thematic question. This was the first unit during my student teaching experience that I implemented Bellwork into students’ daily routine, where students would explicitly respond to the lesson’s focus question. By incorporating questions daily, I was able to help students see the bigger picture and see how each lesson fits in with the larger unit; this proved to be successful, evident through students’ increasing ability to make connections and students’ achievement on their unit tests and essays. I am proud of my efforts to structure the unit with thematic questions; and while this kind of teaching requires extra work and preparation of the teacher, I learned the value and benefit of teaching with questions and big ideas and will continue this practice in the years to come.
Perhaps most importantly, teaching this unit transformed my perspective of the role of teachers and the decisions that they make. More than anything, it is the teacher’s responsibility to meet the needs of the students. That is, teachers need to teach the material in ways that make sense to teenage students; and to do this, it is essential that teachers know their students and each student’s individual learning needs. While planning my unit and my individual lessons, I tried to incorporate a variety of different teaching methods and activities (such as using primary sources, video clips, discussions, lecture notes, interpreting pictures, etc.) based on how my students learn best. By planning my lessons with my students and their learning needs in mind, I was able to be a responsive, more effective teacher.
Ultimately, my passion in history lies with European studies; so, while I was familiar with topics like the Renaissance and the Reformation, my understanding of Asian and Middle Eastern history was quite limited. Similarly, at this point in the semester, it was clear that my students had similar holes in their knowledge of history; students’ familiarity and knowledge of the non-Western world is almost nonexistent, evident through their lack of prior knowledge and (unfortunately) their lack of interest in these subjects. While I was unable to explicitly interview my students about their knowledge of this unit’s material, by knowing my students and knowing their responses during previous units, I was able to accurately predict students’ difficulty with the content.
I recognized early on during my unit planning that extra reading and research would be needed if I wanted to effectively teach my students; it is one thing to understand and know the material, but it is an entirely different thing to understand the material well enough to teach a class of tenth-grade students. I found that I needed to prepare myself for specific questions that students may have and to put myself in my students’ shoes as I was doing my own research and preparation. I believe that this extra preparation paid off and helped me to be a better teacher to my students.
Furthermore, my coursework at the University of Michigan has been primarily narrow in focus; that is, the classes I have taken have been focused on one country during one period of time. As a result, I had the knowledge of how to teach one topic, but my familiarity with world history—and thus, my experience making connections between these topics and places—was very limited.
Similarly, World Studies can often be a difficult subject for students because of all of the vast number of empires and the long stretch of time the course covers; students easily become overwhelmed by the sheer number of facts and concepts presented to them. Thus, the biggest challenge of planning this unit was figuring out a way to present the material cohesively and prompting students to see the over-arching ideas and themes. Too often is history presented as a series of isolated events; instead, students need to recognize cause-and-effect relationships and change-over-time.
To help students see the larger themes of the unit, I structured my unit around the following thematic question: How and to what extent did networks of exchange transform human societies? Then, I structured each of my daily lessons around a more specific question that helped students understand the thematic question. This was the first unit during my student teaching experience that I implemented Bellwork into students’ daily routine, where students would explicitly respond to the lesson’s focus question. By incorporating questions daily, I was able to help students see the bigger picture and see how each lesson fits in with the larger unit; this proved to be successful, evident through students’ increasing ability to make connections and students’ achievement on their unit tests and essays. I am proud of my efforts to structure the unit with thematic questions; and while this kind of teaching requires extra work and preparation of the teacher, I learned the value and benefit of teaching with questions and big ideas and will continue this practice in the years to come.
Perhaps most importantly, teaching this unit transformed my perspective of the role of teachers and the decisions that they make. More than anything, it is the teacher’s responsibility to meet the needs of the students. That is, teachers need to teach the material in ways that make sense to teenage students; and to do this, it is essential that teachers know their students and each student’s individual learning needs. While planning my unit and my individual lessons, I tried to incorporate a variety of different teaching methods and activities (such as using primary sources, video clips, discussions, lecture notes, interpreting pictures, etc.) based on how my students learn best. By planning my lessons with my students and their learning needs in mind, I was able to be a responsive, more effective teacher.