My history and social studies pedagogy touches both 20th Century U.S. History as well as Latin American and African History. I have taught all areas of these subjects as a secondary school teacher. Below is a sample of part of a lesson taught from the Latin American Studies area. My teaching style is to use research, reading, and vocabulary mixed with technology, the arts and creativity in order to help the student process a historical frame of reference. By presenting short, relevant pieces in a Powerpoint slide, followed by engaging images to stimulate the imagination, important elements of the lesson are introduced. It is essential that the student be able to relate some aspect of the subject's life and times back to that student's own world. I think that through reading the assigned text, reflection and classroom discussion, the assignment below encourages the student to investigate what it might have been like to be an indigenous citizen in central Mexico during the Spanish Conquest of the 17th century.
Sample Assignment A: A Day In The Life of An Indigenous Citizen
 |  |
 |  |
Assignment:
A Day in the Life of . . .
Instructions: Your assignment is to create a day in the life of a post-colonial citizen during the Spanish conquest of Mexico, in the time that Hernando Cortes invades the region. Your creation must describe the following aspects of the citizen’s civilization:
· Gender
· Family Position
· Area that they lived in
· Occupation
· Specifics of their religion
· Their class rank
· Era of time in which they lived
· A name for the citizen
More specifically, you must describe in detail what a day in this person’s life might look like.
Successful projects will include the following important aspects:
-
a clear description of the citizen
(what they look like, what where they lived looks like, what their
occupation is, when they lived, what their name is,
a description of their
family)
-
their class ranking
(a description of who they are in the society and what some of the tasks
are that would be associated with that class)
-
some artwork that illustrates what/how you
see the citizen
(this can be drawn, traced, or copied from the Internet, with citations provided)
-
details about where they live
(this part can be printed from the Internet, with citations, of course)
Your project can be in Powerpoint, Word, Photostory, or Animoto and must be:
- at least 2 full pages, double-spaced in Word
- at least 2 slides in Powerpoint
- at least 5 images in Photostory or Animoto
- spell-checked and proofread
- accurate
- interesting
- and creative
