Group Teach #2

I enjoyed this goups hard work and well represented team work. The first day was good and there was good class discussion. I think it resembled how our class has been going this semester. It was comfortable for us as a class to interact and responed in that way. However, I think the discussion did get a little off topic, and it is hard for me to remember what we did on that first day. But, I do remember leaving the class feeling like there was a well rounded discussion that was very informative.

The second day was my favorite. I really enjoyed the simulation. At first, i will admit I did not like it, because I had no idea what was going on. But, after some time I realized that was the point. I remember looking at my Police Officer and asking if we can go to the bank to get a building permit, and she said no and looked the other way. After five minutes of asking she said, " why? You are just going to rob the bank anyway." I was like what the-- Anyway, a couple more minutes went by and she finally allowed me to go get a permit, however when we got in line I was sent to jail by the sherriff, for no reason at all. This kind of beahvior towards my group got real frustrating and soon we just sat there. We just sat there because we could not successfully accomplish any of our goals.

After the similation was over, we all discussed the groups we were in. I felt this excercise would be great to used with college students but not high school students. The only way I would use this in a High School classroom is if I changed the groups to fit groups of people in my lesson. For example, Native Americans, French, and the British. It would be more "Safe" to use fictional or old unrelated groups to stop any kind of offensive behavior. Because kids can be so mean.

I think and activity like this needs to be administered with care, especially the talk after. It is really important for people to realize stereotypes and empathize with different cultures. However, many things that can be said, can be siad in a offensive way when they really weren't mean to be taken that way. All in all, this activity could work in my class someday, but i would prefer to change the groups from modern social and racial stereotypes to more of a historical empathy lesson.