Education students come to visit -- more than once

Back in July, I had the pleasure of spending an afternoon with a group of M.Ed. students. Whenever Education students come to the Archives, the prof and I have great fun as we work so well together. This is an opportunity for me to co-teach a class. The students were given ample time to do their activity (modelled after http://archivallessons.blogspot.ca/2013/03/more-than-just-pretty-face.html, which was created for a History class) with five groups of records that were challenging and applicable to their curriculum studies course. After completing the activity, the class discussed primary sources in the grade school curriculum. My assessment is that the class was both engaged and challenged. That said, the students were a bit anxious about the activity at first, which is to be expected (see soap box below). My teaching method may not be what they had anticipated in an archives.

SOAP BOX: My method in class is to give few detailed instructions about the activity. Instructions are on the handout after all. I opt to talk less and give more time to work with the sources. That makes students uncomfortable. But being uncomfortable is part of the process. Even if I explain the activity in great detail and set up the sources with lots of information, I have observed that the students are still uncomfortable. Why? This is often their first time with primary documents; the first time in an archives; anxiety is high. Each student has to come to terms with these circumstances on their own. My approach is to treat them like adults instead of coddling them. Give them the tools they need and let them go to it. I am always in the room to answer questions and provide one-on-one support if needed. END

The professor thought the July class was successful. So much so that she brought her two other Education classes back in October to do the same activity. Again, I selected sources that were relevant to the curriculum for their target grade-levels (elementary and secondary). This time, I set up the activity as a competition between the five groups in each class. They accepted the challenge and blew us away with their ideas for potential displays. During both classes, the room was an explosion of noise! It was rewarding to facilitate those classes.

NOTE: How do I judge if my lessons are successful? By noise level. I feel that noise level equals student engagement. I encourage all my classes to be noisy during the activity. The Archives is closed during my classes, so no one is being disturbed—it’s all good.