Message from rosanna_elgohary

[Anonymous]

I am going to use the same activity with my kids when they are studying Ancient China in their 6th grade history class. This will be a reinforcement to those lessons but also help them in debating skills, showing evidence for any academic activity, and perhaps take the good from all 4 philosophies and use them in real life. I really enjoyed the activity of debating the 4 philosophies with Prof. Dube playing devil's advocate. The end result was a reinforcement to what we studied and it was very motivating to continue; I didn't want to stop.
Qin Shi Huang Di is one of my favorite subjects to teach about, not that he was great in kindness but that he attained power, his means of doing so, and maintaining that power to keep his people in control. The Great Wall is a point of interest for me because of the sacrafice of the Chinese people to accomplish such a project. I have seen the Saqquara and Giza Pyramids of Egypt and I hope to be able to walk as much of the Great Wall as possible. Having these experiences and then sharing them with my students make it more personal for them. I feel I develop a sense of interest because they see my excitement and want to have a similiar experience. The difference is that I hope to inspire them even more by educating them prior to them actually going there. I want them to know what they are looking at when they look at it and value its signifigance.
I always tell the story about the fish story and how it was a disguise to cover up the Emperor's death when he was being transported back to one of his palaces. It was amazing how loyal those close to him where for fear he would destroy them, but even their fear in his death. They were afraid that chaos would take place and then another would come to take power. My kids think that using the fish was a clever way to keep his death a secret.
I believe more in the hierarchy way of doing things perhaps because of my upbringing and in the society we Americans live in. I also believe that government is not the ultimate, final, absolute say so, because when they have it all, they abuse it. They need to have a watchdog too. American society would suffer from legalism being the only way to govern, I believe that America could benefit from all 4 schools of thought; taking the good and throwing out the bad, but then who would constitute what is good and bad from those philosophies?
I really like this class because it is challenging to learn again and it feels good to not only teach and give out, but also to learn and take in. I plan to incorporate many of these activities in my class to help my kids have more insight and make learning fun for them.