Emilys notes for 3/31

3/31 Book Club Meeting
Bonjour, my fellow history girls! We had a great meeting tonight, with some awesome questions from Danielle. Here are the notes from our discussion this evening.
1. We had a good conversation regarding encyclopedic knowledge and the effect it can have on a lesson and in a classroom. We determined that this kind of knowledge is more than just knowing the definition of something, but being able to understand something in context, which is crucial to content literacy.
2. We discussed if
3. Getting students interested and intrigued to learn - what comes after the hook? How can we keep lessons intriguing? We conveyed some concerns about being able to constantly keep kids engaged in our lessons, and not letting ourselves fall into a "pattern" in the classroom. The best way to do this, we agreed, was to relate our lessons to the lives of our students, even on the most basic level.
4. We discussed the purpose of textbooks, and came to the conclusion that other resources are needed as well. Supplemental information is needed as well. The question is, how do we encourage our students to gain this supplemental information? This led to a discussion regarding field trips to museums and other places of interest, and how these trips seem to stop once students hit high school.

All in all, it was a good night and a good chat.