I am a Historical Studies major with a concentration in Education and want to teach grades 9-12. It is important to me that I make history classes as engaging as possible for my students. I want my students to discuss ideas with their classmates and understand the material. For these reasons, I chose to explore Discovery Education. The main goal of Discovery Education is to provide fair opportunities for education across the globe. They accomplish this by supplying teachers with valuable resources to make learning enjoyable.
One example is their techbook. The tech book opens up students’ access to perspectives in different periods of history by providing figures with varying backgrounds. The techbook is also translated into two reading levels and in Spanish. This allows ESL students to feel comfortable with the material they are reading and comprehend the lesson better.
The second example is the events that are hosted through Discovery Education. They are virtual meetings that range from field trips to conferences. One event that stands out to me is Hispanic Heritage Month. According to the overview, students will be meeting with Latin American Leaders, learning about Hispanic culture, and viewing multiple documents in Spanish.
I would personally use both of these tools in my classroom. I love that the techbook provides captivating examples for the students. It is also awesome that the text can be translated into different reading levels and Spanish. As stated before this is awesome to engage with ESL students and help them learn by having both materials at their fingertips. In my classroom, I would like the students to work in groups when completing these textbook assignments because it is important for them to engage with one another. I believe that students learn the best from their peers.
The events feature is what caught my attention when looking through the list. I would love to have my students learn about the different cultures around the world they live in. In my classroom, I would like to spend at least a few days tuning into various events that are taking place. I could also do a mini project out of some of the events like journal entries or arts and crafts.
I really like what Discovery Education had to offer educators and their students. I will definitely be incorporating this into my classroom.