Unit 5 Reflection

Reflection: Unit 5

            My students had been asking me for the weeks leading up to October 31^st why Halloween was considered to be an “evil” holiday according to Christians. A few of them have relatives or close friends that don’t celebrate the holiday because they view it as a pagan celebration of sorts. My students were confused, and they asked if I could possibly bring an explanation into their lessons. On another note, this week is composed of three half days and early outs plus orientations, short blocks, and rallies, so it has been a nightmare trying to get everyone grounded and on task. Leading up to these days, I assessed my lesson planning and schedule and made sure that I could fit in a lesson on Halloween origins. I fit one! It is short, but it is a concise way to answer their questions until the rally that afternoon.

           

            I rarely use PowerPoint presentations because I think that I tend to put too many words on the slides, and sometimes the students get a little sleepy because of the darkness in the room; however, on this occasion, I used PowerPoint, and I think it worked well. The visuals of the pictures and being able to see unusual words like druid, Samhain, and mumming and guising were good for clarification. Some of the words they had heard before, but may not have been sure of their textbook definitions. As much as I searched for legitimate photos of Samhain rituals, they don’t often take place, so finding visuals was harder. I did find a few pictures of altars and divination relics that served as nice background pieces. The students asked if I could put the PowerPoint in our class drive so that it could be shared with their friends as explanations behind the back-story of Halloween and why it has evolved as a holiday, so I was pleased in that regard. I also liked that they were seriously intrigued and happy to understand this information.

While some of the academic language was different with the Celtic words and translations, they were still hooked, and I think that I explained the information thoroughly, but not to the point of exhaustion. Since the classes were only thirty three minutes or something like that, I tried to fit as much material in, but I also tried not to make it a strictly historical or religious presentation. It wasn’t overwhelming, and it wasn’t underwhelming, and the students were pleased to finally have their questions answered. The information was easy to deliver, and I think I did it well and at a pace that was reasonable considering the length of the class, their attention spans during this wacky week, and the description of the material. It is something I find interesting, and I think that helps with the delivery. I also enjoyed that they contributed some of their more local musings to the conversation once they were comfortable with the material. I know a good bit about Day of the Dead, but how they related it back to Samhain was a good cross cultural reference that I was impressed with.

Although I liked the PowerPoint idea with showcasing this material, I am also aware that it is an easy way to fall into a void without follow up questions or activities. As this was the kind of slideshow meant for fun and answering previous questions, I did not create nay worksheets or any ways for the students to illustrate their comprehension. Part of me thinks that I should have done a follow up activity, but the classes were short, and there was a wacky schedule so I justified not doing an activity and showing movie clips from a popular Halloween film. I think if I had a longer amount of time to work with and could have done a follow up activity, then I would have had them write ghost stories or do social media profiles based on made up Celts preparing for Samhain. Maybe I’ll keep that in mind for next year.

Another part of me thinks that I still put too much information on the PowerPoint as I basically copied and pasted my notes, but it was meant for answering lingering questions and doubts. PowerPoints are not familiar territory for me seeing as how I have taught foreign language and theology, and neither really requires PowerPoint. Spanish is all about practice and practice. Theology is all about storytelling. As a result, it is difficult to find a way to fit PowerPoints in the lesson plans.