Artifact bag

Today we shared our artifact bags. In the bags each of us chose items to place in the bags that would help teach our lessons. My lesson was based off the globe and direction. The artifacts I chose were a compass, a map with longitude and latitude, and a picture of Christopher Columbus's ships. The objects each held a meaning to the lesson I previously taught to a 5th grade class.

Using artifacts bags help to engage the students in hands on learning. I think that there are many different ways to incorporate the artifact bags into a lesson. One way  I created a lesson based on the artifact bag was to have my students create their own artifact bags based off of learning about Christopher Columbus and Globes. The students will Create a bag based off of one of these topics. The Students will then share their bags with the class or a group of peers. The expectation is that the students should be able to guess what the artifacts are representing and what topic the student chose. Although this is one way I created a lesson based off of Artifact bags there are may other ways Artifact Bags can be made into a lesson.

fieldwork experience

During my fieldwork experience I got to teach students and learn about cooperative, inquiry,  and direct lessons. I enjoyed the cooperative learning the most. The students got to work together to complete their lesson.  The students created songs or wrote about the globe and Christopher Columbus. The purpose of Inquiry lesson is to have students work together and learn through themselves.


Another thing I learned during my fieldwork experience is that it is important for you to have a way to assess your students. During my fieldwork experience I did not have enough time to complete our assessments because of this is did not have a way to check if my students were understanding the lessons I taught them. Although I got to assess the students through check for understandings and them sharing their songs and writings I did not have physical papers to help check the students understanding.

Poverty Simulation

This past wednesday I got the opportunity to attend the Poverty Simulation. During this time I got to experience what it is like living in poverty. I was a 14 year old twin and while I was still attending school I was worrying about how we were going to eat, how we were going to pay the bills and if my brother was making enough money for us. During the simulation I even decided to "sell drugs" aka sugar packets as a way to make money for my family. I also resorted to stealing bus passes so we wouldn't have to pay for more. Seeing how I acted just during a simulation gave me an understanding that you are going to do whatever it takes just to get your family by. It was an eye opener that we live in a country that people have to do illegal things to keep making money for their family. Although I know I can't do it alone I hope that one day there will be a day where families don't have to suffer from living in poverty.