Ohey, re-#introductions look fun.
I'm an out-on-leave and increasingly likely to be former social studies teacher who moonlights as an amateur researcher into obscure history and weird science, aka I write scifi & fantasy stories where I work really hard to avoid eurocentric perspectives... which means I do a ton of research, which means I ask a lot of questions.
but I try to answer things sometimes too 😅
Welcome new friends!
@eleanorkonik I completely forgot you're a social studies teacher 😂
Can I ask you a social studies teacherly question
@Cyborgneticz of course! always! 💚 I think I've actually answered some of your teaching questions before
@eleanorkonik I'm trying to mix up short projects to practice research (1 hour to research from a list of topics present; week to do this requires academic sources) but I'm wondering if you know any other ones? WWI is boring. I'm going to assign my students different countries during the Treaty of Versailles for a debate
@Cyborgneticz to clarify: you're looking for research project ideas for WWI to make it less boring?
@eleanorkonik Yes or just other student centered short projects which let them pursue their interest but builds some skills.
I've cultivated a decent collection of projects I can use to assess them, but I'm always looking for more.
@eleanorkonik I've been doing a lot to talk about the horrors of war so hopefully that sinks in?
We've done some reading of the science and brutality of gas warfare, and looking at the psychological impacts.
I love that embedded reporter idea ty so much
@Cyborgneticz I'm not super familiar with WWI, but have you considered doing something like a fake newsroom as a group project, where the students write as though they're embedded reporters doing a modern-day newsletter reporting "from the front"? Could even require them to roleplay as commentors.
Sort of a "if you were a journalist and WWI was happening now" kind of activity.
War isn't boring; it's terrifying. They should learn that, imo.