Group items tagged

All too many Africans in his time were ready to accept the European judgment that Africa had no history or culture worth considering.

hroughout the novel he shows how African cultures vary among themselves and how they change over time. Look for instances of these variations as you read.

Now divide the class into groups of four, and have each group select an African nation to investigate. Explain that each group will be creating a poster on its country. The poster should be divided into four sections, with a small map of the country (with the capital labeled) in the center. The group will be responsible for creating the map, but each member of the group will provide information for each of the four sections: Name origin and information Colonization information Current data and statistics Significant historical events

all a teacher can do – is work with students to create a classroom culture, a climate, a curriculum that will nourish and sustain the fundamental inclinations that everyone starts out with:  to make sense of oneself and the world, to become increasingly competent at tasks that are regarded as consequential, to connect with (and express oneself to) other people. 

I once sat in on several classes taught by Keith Grove at Dover-Sherborn High School near Boston and noticed that such meetings were critical to his teaching; he had come to realize that the feeling of community (and active participation) they produced made whatever time remained for the explicit curriculum far more productive than devoting the whole period to talking at rows of silent kids.  Together the students decided whether to review the homework in small groups or as a whole class.  Together they decided when it made sense to schedule their next test.  (After all, what’s the point of assessment – to have students show you what they know when they’re ready to do so, or to play “gotcha”?)  Interestingly, Grove says that his classes are quite structured even though they’re unusually democratic, and he sees his job as being “in control of putting students in control.”