I found the work of Joy Hakin to be very interesting and easy to follow. The book is very different form the typical Social Studies texts I am used to seeing. The usual texts are just information explaining a time period. Joy gives you background and then includes inserts giving a different perspective or an event that occurred within. This varies the type of writing and helps relate the time period to actual events. I think this would benefit both left and right brained learners. It does follow a sequence but also jumps around with inserts, maps, quotes, and art.
The chapter headlines are more then just dates, the pictures are actual artwork from the time period, and the definitions explain the words relevant to the time period. This all makes an easier read, more interesting, and easy to follow. This is not a "read a few pages and answer questions text." It is something that students can enjoy and hopefully relate to, not something they will memorize and forget a week later.
You are right, Mike, the format of Joy Hakim's books make them so easy to follow. It's interesting that the articles are very different, but flow together to give you a taste of the period - not like any Social Studies texts I either had as a student or a teacher. The personal struggles and triumphs Hakim relates are very interesting and thought-provoking.
ReplyDeleteThe comment "read a few pages and answer questions text" strikes a chord with many of us. Many of us were taught in a lecture format and had teachers who used the read and answer questions style as the ONLY way that information was shared. For students who learn in varying ways, this was a disaster and often turned off students who needed more of a hands-on approach. Hakim's text makes me think of new and interesting ways to present information. Primary sources, trivia games using facts from her book (Jeopardy, Concentration, etc), and the use of political cartoons and colonial songs as springboards for discussion are exciting ways that we can use this text to enhance our teaching.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Most of the time spent reading a textbook is me forcing myself to turn the page. This style of writing was much more intriguing. If I think that, I am sure more students would too.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that you see that the way Hakim presents information encourages us to find more complex means of assessing student understanding than the traditional test formats. I also like that you can see that this text provides you with not only an alternate to the tradional text format but also a model for creating engaging activities and materials for your classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe challenge is to do this in a way that works for both left and right brain learners, with both inductive and deductive learning. I'll admit that I need either a timeline or overview background reading (like Wood will be) so that I can then fit in the individual stories. Others will prefer to build their understanding of a time period from the stories. I'm not a huge fan of lectures, but there are unfortunately times when they are the best way to ensure that everyone has at least a common baseline knowledge. So, we project coordinators share information about which speakers are engaging and which are dreadful, in order to spare you sitting through the dreadful ones!
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