The second day of classes was yesterday.

We did first contact, and it again went pretty well. This was my first test of the new approach and so far I like the results. The students read textbook chapters on pre-contact Indians and on early exploration. They then wrote about 200 words (some went way over that) on "Was the Columbian Exchange a Good thing or a Bad thing?" As I had hoped, students were primed to talk and wanted to talk. And, as I hoped, many of the students figured out that it was a loaded question - the CE was terrible for Native Americans especially in the short run. It was a good thing for the world as a whole in the long run.

From that broad overview we then went into the details of the cultures of the 4 continents, talked about Spain and the Aztecs, and then talked about divisions in Native American and in European Societies. I did cover the Iroquois Confederacy in both classes, I did not get through the Reformation in the second class. So, Tuesday I will need to open Jamestown with a review of the Reformation, make that pro-forma in the morning class and more extensive in the afternoon class, and then plan a bonus section for the morning class that will bring the two back into sync.

I think that the afternoon class ran behind for a couple of reasons - I was tired and moving more slowly, the students were more talkative and less to the point, and I was forcing the class to follow the steps that the morning section had taken. I need to let the second class flow more freely - as long as I still hit my high points. Oh, I also got the ending time off by 5 minutes - otherwise I would have trimmed earlier and gotten the Reformation in.

The homework is ok. I started sorting through it and have graded a dozen or so. I spent office hours making sense of my index cards. Later this weekend I will get to make my grading spreadsheet. I also have to find the packing box with my manilla folders - too many loose papers in the backpack.

And now, having painted a closet and blogged once, I get to go write.

Posted by Red Ted at September 5, 2003 11:16 AM | TrackBack