Teacher overview - Journals

The journal entries recorded reinforces student’s group thinking, imagination, deductive reasoning and writing skills. It is important to emphasize that aside from having a basic notion of the time periods and cultural shifts there are really no "wrong" answers in the journals. In fact I occasionally put odd artifacts in the bins with no prescribed purpose to show that often archaeologists are just working with best guesses. I always felt it was important for students to feel that the bins were an open ended detective story in which all interpretations were considered plausible, so they could take risks with their speculations. This ability to take risks reinforced their self-directed strategies in the class, as I had experienced that the more fun and openness the students felt towards taking risks with their speculations, the more creative their thinking became.

My experience with the journals and presentations is that the student’s stories varied a great deal from very literal reporting to often romantic and personal speculation on what the individuals in the sites may have been like. This is really the fun and magic of the class. The sharing of the journals in presentation often amazed me in the student’s creativity, scope and depth of analysis. My role as a teacher during this process was one of asking question, provoking thoughts and interpretations, enjoying their ideas and communicating my appreciation