I'm trying to be positive here!

Ahoy there mates!

Here goes my initial attempt at blogging. I'll try not to whine although that is what my human side wants very much to do. Honestly, I am in the same boat as the rest of you...a sinking ship. Somebody, please throw me a life jacket! Trying to create a Google account alone resulted in 200 more silver hairs on my head. (I like the sound of silver better than gray. It sounds treasure-like.) That's better than pulling them all out, don't you think? I also feel like a fish out of water when it comes to computer technology. But then, if I truly was a fish I wouldn't have the already mentioned sinking feeling. SOS! Enough of that nonsense! Here goes my positive story. (:-)

I tried a new plan for teaching the history of healthcare this semester that I want to share with you. My three Introduction A classes enjoyed making timelines of the history of healthcare. Students had a lot of fexibility with this project. Each class was divided into eight groups and each group was assigned a time period to research. Given art supplies, the students were required to include the title, dates, life expectancy, and important events and people for their time period. They created and labeled gingerbread-like men and women to represent important people. They drew scrolls, clouds, and other shapes in which to write important events. Some got creative drawing a sword or a mummy to represent their time period. All these small pieces were assembled on a very long sheet of bright paper. Once the layout was complete we glued it all down and drew dividing lines between time periods. We displayed the finished time lines (all three of them) in the classroom.

Next I had a gallery tour handout for them. They completed the handout while viewing the timelines. This way they learned about each time period. All the timelines were displayed for a week. Finally I had my Intro. B students choose the best selections from the three time lines, one for each time period. We cut the timelines apart and assembled the best together in a new timeline. It is now laminated and displayed in our classroom. My students are very proud of their work and learned much more through this activity than any lecture could have offered them.

Additionally, my students each researched a different person in medical history, wrote a paper about that individual, and then presented their findings to the class. Tomorrow my students are watching the video, "Greatest Discoveries in Medicine," which will reinforce many of the people and events they researched.

While I don't always feel good about my lesson plans and activities, based on my students' reactions, I feel this unit was a success.

Catch you all later,
Chicken of the sea,
Joyce