history and literature, schmistory and schmiterature
The title doesn't completely reflect my attitude, but it was fun to write, so I left it. Forgive me my slip of silliness.
I may have mentioned this before, but bear with me. I appreciate the way history is dealt with in the classical way. Sans textbook, I must do research--small amounts, to be sure, but still research. This fits intrisically with the idea that a school is people coming together to learn--though I am the teacher, I am also learning. And by always learning myself, I remain ever-fresh in my presentation and attitude. Another advantage to this form is that I am presented with several sources of information that I must reconcile rather than being tempted to assume that the textbook I am using presents the truth rather than the post-modern interpretation of it. What I also like is that the students are not overwhelmed by pages and pages of information that they won't ever remember. Instead, the students focus on memorizing essentially 32 major dates in the segment of history that we study. I fill in information to complete the picture, but they only need to remember the dates and basic facts for each of the 32 history cards that they study. This, of course, is based on the idea that grammar aged students memorize facts very well. If we limit the facts they are responsible for to the most important, they can focus and then remember them. When they reach upper school, they will have a bank of benchmarks around which to build as they expand their study. This has been very freeing for me as a teacher.
Literature, on the other hand is harder. One, because I have the two grades together. Two, because without a textbook (though I despise Literature textbooks) it means I have to be creative and proactive when coming up with projects and questions. Sigh. That is definitely a test of my literature teaching ability. And I wonder if I'm really infusing them with a love for what they're reading. Of course the first books we've read aren't spectacular classics, so many I shouldn't be hard on myself. Still, I wonder. I hope I'm doing this right!
Other than my small turmoil over my effectiveness as a literature teacher for 10 and 11 year-olds, school has gone well. I apologize for not posting in so long--it has been busy and exhaustifying. Since Monday is Labor Day, I hope to take some time and write more about the adventures we've had the last 2 weeks in class. And if anyone has fond memories of history and literature projects from 5th and 6th grade, feel free to pass them along!!!!