C4T Number 4 Summary Post

    I had the pleasure of reading and commenting on the "Concrete Classroom" blog. It is the blog of Michael Kaechele. He is a Global Studies teacher in a Michigan high school.
    My first comment was made to his post entitled, "Genocide." In the post, Mr. Kaechele discussed how he was going to introduce and teach the concept of genocide. In the post, he asked people to comment with any ideas, suggestions or other feedback on his lesson. I commented to him that I liked his springboard into the lesson of asking the question, "Why do people hate?" I also thought it was a great idea to have the students interview real victims of genocide to get first-hand impressions of this problem. I also told him that the idea of a student-created video as a summation of the lesson was a fabulous idea that I was sure that the students would enjoy being involved in.
    My second comment was on Mr. Kaechele's post entitled, "I Don't Know Either." This was an update on this previous post, "Genocide." Mr. Kaechele decided to change his introductory question to his lesson to, "Why do people tolerate hate?" In addition, Mr. Kaechele brought in a guest speaker that was one of the "Lost Boys" of Sudan to share his story. He also discussed the scandal at Penn State, relating it to the issue of genocide. The students divided into groups and began their research in order order to complete their final project, which was to produce a mini-documentary. After having some trouble, Mr. Kaechele provided the groups with a template to use for assistance with their research. However, he provided no direction for their final project. He wanted the mini-documentary to be completely student-centered. He hoped his stand-back approach would help his students become creative and have complete ownership in their project, thus instilling a sense of pride in them. I commented to Mr. Kaechele that I liked his idea of inviting a guest speaker as part of his introduction to his lesson on genocide. I also mentioned to him that, although he provided a template for his students to use during their research, I was glad that he left the creation of the final documentary entirely up to them. I told him that by doing this, he inspired his students to be creative thinkers.